Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Finals Reaction Paper on "Peso slightly up as traders anticipate local currency to appreciate"

Peso slightly up as traders anticipate local currency to appreciate 

By Michelle Remo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 18:16:00 05/18/2011

MANILA, Philippines—The peso inched up on Wednesday as some investors believed that Asian economies would be performing well despite challenges in the external environment, traders said.
Traders also said some investors took advantage of the recent depreciation of the peso by buying the local currency and peso-denominated securities as they were anticipating appreciation in the weeks or months head.
The local currency closed at 43.23 against the USdollar on Wednesday, up by 5.5 centavos from the previous day's finish of 43.285:$1.
Intraday high hit 43.17:$1, while intraday low settled at 43.24:$1. Volume of trade amounted to $579 million from $748.8 million previously.
Traders said the debt crisis in the Euro zone has been causing some investors to be jittery, although the general outlook of investors for Asian markets has remained positive so that projections of the year still point to a peso that is stronger than its value in 2010.


Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Lady Gaga and Kesha's Back-to-Back Concert in the Philippines!

<iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Xcr-zfHaCYg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xcr-zfHaCYg


Production Staff/Cast

Belen, Fhoebe                         – Main character                           – Props Master 
Cedeno, Al Therese               – Dancer/Promo girl                   – Music Director/Synthesizer/Choreographer
Gadingan, Denise                   – Sales lady @ Ticketnet            – Contribution to the Script
Jover, Thea                              – Sales lady @ Music Store       – Casting Director/Synthesizer/Documenter
Lacatan, Thesamae               – TV Show Host                             – Contribution to the Script
Merced, Stephanie                – Sales lady @ Ticketnet            – Documenter
Nantes, Michelle                    – Dancer/Promo girl                                      
Pelayo, Mary Grace              – TV Show Host                              – Contribution to the Script
Sy, Vicelle                                 – Dancer/Promo girl                                      
Yodong, Mariz                        – Dancer/Promo girl                    – Contribution to the Script


Production


ü  How the idea came to life
o    The group really didn’t have a concrete idea or concept in mind for the said role-play. It’s funny since during our first meeting, all of the other groups were busy discussing their ideas and how they’ll carry out these ideas... while our group we were just laughing at a couple of jokes by our members. But even before the laughing came, we had no actual discussion. Some of the members tried to contribute a couple of ideas, but it always ended up with the said member delivering a monologue with no one listening.
o    Anyhow, the group agreed to do a Lady Gaga/Kesha spin-off that focused on Shortage and Surplus of tickets and CDs by the said artists. Several revisions were actually made before the group settled with this idea. Originally, it was meant to be a Lady Gaga/Justin Bieber spin-off, then it became Lady Gaga/Jovit, to Lady Gaga/Rebecca Black (for the love of God) until we settled with the current idea and developed it more from then on.

ü  The economic problem
o    While other groups focused on Perfect Competition (two groups did) and Monopoly, our group, as I’ve mentioned a while ago, focused on Shortage(a situation wherein the quantity demanded exceeds the quantity supplied) and Surplus(a situation wherein the quantity supplied exceeds the quantity demanded). The group thoroughly discussed the ways on how we’d be able to solve such problems in the context of our role-play, which we had difficulty in doing so since the idea was quite complex and none of us ever encountered such. Good thing we were able to manage.

ü  Acting approach
o    As much as possible, all of the group members tried to act in a way that was deemed natural and humorous. I believe we were able to deliver it the way we meant it to be understood by the audience. Most lines were constructed in a way as to contain wit and at the same time, humor.

 Synthesis

The scenario begins when Fhoebe decides to watch TV one boring day in her house. Shuffling through several channels, she settles watching “Hot News Ngayon”. Being popular and influential people, the hosts of this show, particularly Ms. Crazy serves as her incentives to consider whether she’ll come to a concert or not, or whether she’ll choose Lady Gaga or Kesha. Ms. Crazy informs Bretchen of how an impostor and how gaga Kesha is for copying Lady Gaga’s style.

Fhoebe calls the outlet of Kesha's tickets and finds out that no one has bought any ticket yet. Meanwhile, in Lady Gaga's ticket outlet the reciever gets so many calls that when Fhoebe calls only one V.I.P. pass was left and so she grabs the once- in-a-lifetime chance. In this part the one determinant which shifts the demand-- the tastes is at work. People preferred watching the original Lady Gaga than the impostor Kesha. Also, there was a clear distinction between the surplus in Kesha's tickets while a shortage in Lady Gaga's(well, in the case for those callers who were supposedly after Fhoebe).

After Fhoebe claims her ticket at the mall, she checks if there were still Lady Gaga’s CD's left for sale in the music store. The saleslady apologizes for all of Lady Gaga's CD's were sold out and convinces her to buy Kesha's CD instead. She even included freebies such as an additional copy of the CD to the additional copy of the CD, a limited edition Kesha Tupperware, and a limited edition Kesha spoon and fork just so the infamous Kesha would sell, at least. For crying out loud, Fhoebe says that she wanted only Lady Gaga showing her V.I.P. pass as an evidence and that she won't even make use of the Kesha CD when she gets one. This time again, Kesha's CD's were in a surplus while Lady Gaga's were in a shortage. Fhoebe leaves the store as satisfied as ever, anticipating the day when she'll be feet away from her favorite artist.





Sunday, May 1, 2011

Midterm Reaction Paper on "Focus on Your Customer's Customer"

Focus on Your Customer's Customer

Much of the conversation about customer-centricity focuses on business-to-consumer (B2C) firms. And while these companies were the first to acknowledge the business benefits of delivering a great customer experience, business-to-business (B2B) organizations are increasingly getting in on the game. Companies like Salesforce.com, Philips, and Oracle have appointed chief customer officers, while many other B2B players have embarked on enterprise-wide efforts to improve their marketing, sales, and support interactions.
These customer experience management initiatives can be complex. B2B companies serve a more complicated set of customer roles — including influencers, purchasers, and implementers — whose needs vary significantly. Often, the best way for B2B companies to satisfy the multitude of business customers is to focus on the needs of their customers' customers.
That's exactly what Portuguese airport operator ANA Aeroportos de Portugal did in its quest to attract more major airlines and connecting routes. To understand the work, first you need to understand an airport's business model: its real customer isn't travelers, but the airlines that rent the gates and terminals, much like a mall owner leases space to retailers.
ANA was facing fierce competition in the European market, and its executives realized that they needed to complement their focus on airline relationships and infrastructure initiatives — think baggage transfers and runway maintenance, the kind of behind-the-scenes logistical details that appeal to airlines — with new initiatives focused on the roughly 24,000 airline passengers that pass through ANA's eight airports each day.
In 2008, ANA engaged Engine Service Design in a multiyear project to help the organization understand passengers' needs and expectations throughout the travel experience — and to translate those insights into a new vision for airport passenger services. The team kicked off by conducting in-airport interviews with travelers. Their findings quickly confirmed that ANA's focus on its customers' customers would benefit the airlines, as well. Why? Travelers saw the airport experience as a whole, and often they didn't know where the airport's services ended and the airlines' began.
The primary research also identified six underlying passenger needs and desires. These included wanting more control across the various stages of their journeys, and feeling an increased sense of Portuguese culture throughout the airport environment. From these needs, Engine and ANA identified three roles that defined how the airports should behave: the advisor, a knowledgeable resource that helps passengers arrive prepared; the companion, a helpful guide who knows what passengers like; and the hero, a friend who provides help when passengers need it the most.
After defining the passenger services strategy, Engine and ANA designed a set of service offerings that supported the three airport behavioral roles. These included:
• My Family: Services to help reduce stress for families traveling with small children, such as breastfeeding facilities, locker and stroller rental, and children's play areas.
• Travel Together: Customizable spaces and complete baggage management for passengers traveling in groups for events ranging from industry conferences to vacations.
• ANA PODs: Dedicated environments designed to meet passengers' various needs throughout their time at the airport. For example, the Escape POD provides for entertainment and relaxation during downtime, while the Connect POD provides onward travel information and destination support.
• Greenway Plus: A fast-track corridor for airport security targeted at business travelers, complemented by valet services, private lounge access, and baggage delivery.
• My Airport: A technology platform that makes airport information available through the Web and mobile devices and connects passengers with airport service providers.
Because the quality of service-based interactions is so dependent on both frontline and behind-the-scenes employees, new services almost always require significant changes within the organization. As Engine co-founder Oliver King has said, "A great service comes from a great organization." To this end, ANA will measure the initiative's success not only by hard metrics like increased revenue, but also by the organization's ability to sustain its fundamental shift in focus from airport operations to the delivery of passenger-centered services. Since the project's inception, several major workstreams have begun to reconfigure core functions at all levels of the organization, establish a services management team, and develop new internal practices and service standards. For example, ANA plans to train all its frontline staff on how to deliver passenger-centric service experiences — and hopes to extend this training to its partners' personnel, as well, in order to ensure a seamless passenger experience across the entire airport.
These programs, coupled with the project team's collaboration with personnel from each of ANA's eight locations, are reshaping the airport operator's corporate culture so that passenger service is embedded in every action and decision.
ANA is currently piloting the new family areas, ANA PODs, and security screening services across its airports and gathering passenger feedback. Project coordinator Francisco Pita says: "In the new age of airport business, 'owning the passenger' and providing excellent service quality are becoming critical to ensure profitable and sustainable growth. This project provided ANA with an extraordinary set of strategic and tactical tools to face these challenges."
Kerry Bodine is a Principal Analyst at Forrester Research where she serves Customer Experience professionals.