NATIONAL BOOKSTORE Socorro C.

Ramos is the matriarch of National Bookstore, the Philippines leading retailer of books, office supplies, and greeting cards. In 1965, she and her husband Jose set up a nine-story building along Avenida Rizal which would be the very first National Bookstore. What has become the Ramos family business has not stopped growing since, having opened Powerbooks, a now popular specialty bookstore, in 1996. In 1940, Socorro Ramos, barely 18, started working as a salesgirl at a Goodwill Bookstore branch owned by her brother in Escolta, Manila. Because of her selling skills, Ramos was put in charge of the store. Her story is truly an inspiring one as she built the business National Book Store from scratch with a lot of challenges and hurdles as she and her husband Jose Ramos literally built and rebuilt the business three times from scratch. Thats the true entrepreneurial spirit with enough courage and determination. Nanay Coring or Maria Socorro Cancio in her early years was born in Sta. Cruz, Laguna on September 23, 1923. Ever she was young, she grew up in an entrepreneurial environment as one of the six children born to entrepreneur parents and grandmother. Her parents used to ran a store selling a lot of stuffs from slippers to clothes and a lot more while her grandmother had a market stall where the young Socorro got used to seeing customers withdraw items on credit. Unfortunately, her grandmother did not manage the business carefully not maintaining a list of those items availed on credit and their business fell. After that event, they went to Manila. Her mother struggled hard to feed six children and the young Socorro considered herself as lucky if she got money from her mother. Her elder sisters helped the family by working in a candy and bubble gum factory and she spent her summer doing summer jobs too. In one instance, young Socorro was hired to peel off the paper used in old cigarettes so that it can be reuse to make new fresh cigarette sticks. She received 5 centavos per pack of cigarettes. But the young Socorro started her entrepreneurial skills and hired kids and their neighborhood paying them 5 centavos for every two pack of cigarettes leveraging her efforts. Since then, the young Socorro was on her way to become an entrepreneur as early as 10 years old! Immediately after graduating from Arellano High School, she worked as a salesgirl at Goodwill Book Store owned by the family of her present husband Jose Ramos. Socorros brother Manuel married one of the Ramos children and in 1940, they needed someone to look after the branch they set up along Escolta Street, on the ground floor of Panciteria National. Jose Ramos took over it and asked Socorro to work on him in that branch. They renamed it as National Book Store. Their love story began but her parents were against with it as Socorro was just 18 years old back then. She was told to stay in the province to keep away from marrying Jose Ramos. But as they say, true love never dies, the young Socorro with just 11 pesos in her pocket, struggled to went back to Manila to marry Jose. Because of this act, her family was so furious and angry that

they considered her dead already. It was short-lived though lasting only until Socorro gave birth to her twins named Alfredo, who is now the President of National Book Store and Benjamin, now the Vice President. As mentioned above, the business National Book Store faced a lot of challenges as it was built and rebuilt three times from scratch! First, Socorro admitted that it was not easy to start the business from scratch. She recalled that during the Japanese occupation, they would look on each and every book title on sale. If they found questionable books, they would just tear the pages off leaving them useless. So instead of selling books, Socorro and Jose decided to fill their bookshelves with stuffs from candies, soap, slippers, papers, and cigarettes. During the war, she would transfer goods to her smaller stores. Second, when the Japanese were driven away, it was now the time for the Americans. Their National Book Store stall in Escolta was damaged in the war. They recovered a bit by selling unused greeting cards and uncensored books, which they had hidden in their home. Third, in 1945, they relocated their National Book Store previously located at Escolta to Avenida. The business is doing quite well during first few post-war school years but unfortunately, three years after, a typhoon blew the roof of their store and they were left with soaked books and stuffs that were worthless. Again, for the third time, they have to start from zero. They struggled hard to rebuilt National Book Store for the third time. But since then, every centavo that they earned were used to buy the lot where the Rizal Avenue Branch of National Book Store stands to this day. Today, National Book Store is considered as the largest chain of bookstores in the country. They have ventured into several businesses already such as a convenience-type store named NBS Book Express, publishing companies named Cacho-Hermanos printing press, Anvil Books and Capitol-Atlas Publishing, another book store named Powerbooks, music store named Tower Records and Music One, Gift Gate, the home of Hello Kitty and Swatch, and a department store named Crossings department store. Socorros children and relatives ran all these. Socorro Ramos life and success story and the challenges that she faced with her business National Book Store business was another inspiring story. In fact, it was recognized when she was chosen as the Ernst and Youngs Philippine Entrepreneur of the Year in 2005. Today, at the age of 85, Socorro Ramos or Nanay Coring acts as the General Manager of National Book Store. And she told that the core values in her success are to keep learning, being actively involved in the business, being able to read changes and act on them immediately, and most of all, never give up!

SHOEMART'S SUPERMALLS Shoemart (SM) Shoemart, as SM was originally known as, is the Philippines' leader in the retail industry and comprises of the SM Group of Companies. SM Group, is a retail giant with 38,600 employees and annual revenues of $1.7 billion. SM Prime Holdings, Inc. (PSE: SMPH), a part of the SM Group of Companies, is the largest shopping mall operator in the Philippines. And guess what? The owner of it all, Chinese-Filipino Henry Sy, Sr., the Philippines' "Retail King," is the richest man in the country (14th wealthiest person in Southeast Asia [Forbes, 2006], 74th richest in the Asia and Australia region [Forbes, 2006], and 355th wealthiest in the world [Forbes, 2007]). Henry Sy, Sr., Philippines' "Retail King" The tycoon, or taipan as known in Asia, is a long way from his humble start. His impoverished family left China when Sy was twelve years old and opened a corner grocery in Manila. Sy later sold shoes, traveling 40 hours by propeller plane to New York just to get them. But his diligence and hard work payed off. He soon picked up retailing ideas in the U.S. and started his own store. By 1985, Sy had expanded, opening a department store. He has been expanding ever since. "I make things happen," he says. Forbes states that Sy is worth US$4 billion, but some estimate Sy's assets to total US$5 billion [Forbes, 2007]. Others estimate that he controls 40-60% of companies worth more than US$15 billion, but such claims have not been verified. Sy presides over a conglomerate that relies on sales of low-priced consumer goods to prosper even in recession. His air-conditioned Megamalls have turned traditional Sunday afternoon family time into shopping expeditions. Although, perhaps the Philippines' equivalent of Sam Walton's Wal-mart in the United States, Sy's SM Group proves to produce more sophisticated, modern, and quality compounds. All in the Family Management SM Group's management team is composed of Teresita, President of Shoemart Inc. and Chairman of Banco de Oro Universal Bank, the familys main retail and commercial banking interests; Henry Jr., President of SM Investments Corporation and Senior Vice President of SM Prime Holdings, Inc. and who keeps an eye for new ventures; Hans, head of mall construction and operations; Herbert, in-charge of SM Supermarket; Elizabeth, Senior Vice President for marketing; and Harley, SM Primes Senior Vice President and Treasurer. All children adhere to the disciplined work ethics expounded by the father. Furthermore, they have developed into experts in their respective fields. But no matter how successful the company has proved to be, Sy's children realize that their all-

in-the-family management style is becoming outdated. Like so many of Asia's big business clans, a generational shift and the stresses of running an increasingly complex company are forcing the insular Sys to open up more and more to outsiders. "For my father, the organization is the family," says Sy's eldest daughter, Teresita Sy-Coson, whom the family calls "Tessie." But "in the future, you'll see more professional managers," she adds. Although Henry Sy, Sr. wants to go slow on hiring outsiders, since kin can be counted on for their loyalty after all, the business has simply become too large for just a few people to manage. SM's Growth Today, the empire continues to grow in size and sophistication. Currently, it has 28 operating malls totaling a gross floor area of 2.7 million square meters. SM Prime Holdings, Inc. has amassed a land bank of 130 hectares in 14 different strategic locations. SMPH posted an 8.6% increase in net income to P4.62 billion from P4.26 billion. This is due to a healthy increase in gross revenues, by 15.99% to P10.21 billion from P8.80 billion. Rental income, which contributed 80.14% of the Company's revenues, rose by 17.18% to P8.18 billion from P6.98 billion. This was due to rentals from three additional SM Supermalls opened in the last quarter of 2003, namely, SM City Lucena, SM City Baguio and SM City Marilao and the opening of SM City Dasmarinas and SM City Batangas in 2004. On the other hand cinema ticket sales increased by 11.26% to P1.50 billion from P1.34 billion. Other sources of revenue grew 12.01% to P532.52 million from P475.43 million. Sy controls the Banco de Oro Universal Bank and China Banking Corporation. He recently bought the remaining 66% of Equitable PCI Bank, the Philippines 3rd largest lender which he already had a 34% stake before the purchase and will soon merge it to Banco de Oro Universal Bank. This merger would create the Philippines's largest financial institution. The Sy family has a personal stake of $2.6 billion in these 3 banks. Mr.Sy also owns 12% of San Miguel Corporation, Southeast Asia's biggest food and beverage conglomerate at an estimated worth of $500 million. SM Supermalls, owned by SM Prime Holdings, Inc., is the largest chain of shopping malls in the Philippines, having 28 malls across the country and three overseas branches in Jinjiang and Xiamen, China and one in Guam. SM Prime Holdings, Inc.'s main sources of revenues include rental income from mall and food courts, cinema ticket sales and amusement income from bowling and ice-skating. SM Prime Holdings, Inc. consists of the SM Supermalls, Standalone Appliance Centers, Specialty Shopping Malls, Standalone department stores, and Standalone supermarkets. SM Supermalls List Philippine Branches: [SM City North EDSA, SM City Sta. Mesa (SM Centerpoint), SM Megamall (SM Ortigas), SM City Cebu, SM Southmall (SM Las Pinas), SM City Bacoor, SM City Fairview, SM City Iloilo, SM City Manila, SM City Pampanga, SM City Sucat (SM Supercenter Sucat), SM City Davao, SM City Bicutan, SM City Cagayan De Oro, SM City Lucena, SM City Marilao, SM City Baguio, SM City Dasmarinas, SM City Batangas, SM City San Lazaro, SM Supercenter Valenzuela, SM Supercenter Molino, SM City Santa Rosa, SM City Clark, SM Mall

of Asia, SM Supercenter Pasig, SM City Lipa, SM City Bacolod, SM City Taytay, SM Supercenter Muntinlupa, SM Supercenter Baliuag, SM City Marikina, SM City Naga, SM City Calamba, SM City Tarlac, SM City Urdaneta, SM City Laoag, SM Supercenter San Pablo, SM Supercenter Rosales, SM City Dagupan, SM Supercenter Meycauayan, SM Supercenter Tagaytay, SM Supercenter Dumaguete]

Branches in China [SM North Xiamen, SM South Xiamen, SM Chuan] Branch in Guam[SM Guam] Standalone Appliance Centers [SAC Rockwell Power Plant Mall, SAC V-Mall Greenhills] Specialty Shopping Malls [The Podium] Standalone Department Stores [SM Quiapo, SM Cubao, SM Makati, SM Harrison Plaza, SM Iloilo-Delgado, SM Anilao Beach] Standalone Supermarkets [SM SaveMore Iloilo-Jaro Town Square, SM SaveMore Muntinlupa, SM SaveMore Angono, SM SaveMore Marikina, SM Super Hypermarket Iloilo-Jaro, SM Super Hypermarket Mabolo, SM Super Hypermarket Carmen, SM Super Hypermarket Mactan] Of these malls, SM Mall of Asia is the largest shopping mall in the Philippines and the 7th largest shopping mall in the world in terms of gross floor size. SM's Future Down the road, the Sys also want to diversify into commercial real estate and tourist resorts. Having managers with personal stakes in the company's success is what gives SM its backbone, Sy maintains. But Tessie and her siblings, like many in Asia's younger generation, also want the luxury of enjoying their success. After their father recedes from the business, they'll run the company by committee, the children say, though many in Manila expect Tessie to take the lead. She envisions a different role for the family, in which they provide oversight while professional managers handle day-to-day operations. Then "we can sit back and relax," Tessie hopes

JOLLIBEE Tony Tan Caktiongs Jollibee has been one of the most admired, most copied, most innovative and most professionally-run company here in the Philippines. It has been the number one fastfood chain overtaking giants such as Mc Donalds and Kentucky Fried Chicken or KFC. Tony Tan Caktiongs Life and his Jollibee company is another rags to riches story of an entrepreneur that truly inspires everyone. Tony was the third of seven siblings born to poor parents who migrated from the Fujian province in China to look for a better life here in the Philippines. His father began as a chef in a Chinese Temple. Not later on his father was invited to open a restaurant business in Davao so the whole family moved south. All together, they helped one another in managing the restaurant business which in turn became profitable. This allowed young Tony to return back to Manila and pursue his course Chemical Engineering at the University of Santo Tomas (UST). In 1975, Tony and his colleagues went on a visit to a Magnolia Ice Cream plant located in Quezon City and learned that it was offering franchise when he saw a poster for it. By the month of May, with his family savings, he took P350,000 to grab the franchise opportunity and opened two Magnolia ice cream parlors named Cubao Ice Cream House located near the Coronet Theater, and Quiapo Ice Cream House located beside the bridge the one going to ilalim near a Mercury Drug outlet. They all worked hands-on but as the business propels, they noticed they could not do it all so they started to set up an organization hired store managers, and trained people. Tony started with just two ice cream. Then after two years, he offered chicken and hamburger sandwiches, because customers were telling them they didnt want to be eating ice cream all the time. They prepared the food in the back kitchen, and soon noticed that people were lining up more for hamburgers than for ice cream. Then in 1978, when they already had six ice cream parlors, they asked themselves: Why dont we change into a hamburger house? That was also the time they decided to incorporate and realized thet they needed a brand name. They were looking for a symbol that would represent the group, and because Tony was very impressed with Disneyland characters, they decided on a bee. The bee is a busy creature that produces honey one of lifes sweetest things. They thought it would be a very good symbol to represent everybody. They decided they would all be very busy and happy at the same time, because if they were busy but not happy, it wouldnt be worth it. Thats why they put the word jolly and just changed the y into I to form a brand name JOLLIBEE.

It wasnt long before we heard that the multinationals were coming in including McDonalds. Friends started asking us if we were going to get a McDonalds franchise but I remember saying, if you franchise, you cant grow outside the Philippines, says Tony. McDonalds came in 1982, but they didnt feel threatened because they were a little nave and Jollibee was doing very well. They found McDonalds to be very good at everything, but it didnt know the local culture. They knew the Filipinos taste buds and what he liked in food, so they offered him flavorful and good-tasting products. He likes pasta, so they started offering spaghetti. He likes chicken, so they came up with good fried chicken by mixing different flavors. They also knew something important all along: Filipino taste is sweet. This is very Filipino very Asian. He said: If we eat anything sweet; we dont really think its sweet; but try giving it to a foreigner and theyd be surprised. Tony narrates: Filipinos also like to smell their food before they eat it. They want to be sure it smells delicious before they take a bite. Sometimes they would open a kettle and say, whats this? It smells good! This was proved by the Langhap-Sarap advertising campaign by Basic [Footcone and Belding]. They did it for us initially for the hamburger, and when it became successful, we started using it as a campaign slogan for the other products. It didnt take them long to introduce new products when they were starting out. The family members would discuss what new products customers would like, and without much marketing theyd bring something out like spaghetti. Tonys sister is also a good cook, so she would come up with a new recipe, they would comment on it, and then shed fix the recipe before they started offering it. Before, it was simple. Now, theres a formal structure. Theres a big Research and Development (R&D) department and a marketing department. The marketing department gets inputs from customers and the products they like, and then communicate that to R&D. R&D then develops it. We have an internal taste panel that taste the food and comment on it, and when a formulation is needed they do it. The next step is a consumer panel test. We have the product taste-tested by consumers, and if its okay, we test the product in a few stores. Before it was easy, but now it takes three to six months to roll out a new product. Another timeconsuming process is training our people on how to prepare and serve the new product. says Tony. Jollibee group has also become bigger. Now they have Chowking, Greenwich, Delifrance, and the recently acquired Red Ribbon. Greenwich pizza started as an over-thecounter pizza store at the Greenhills Shopping Center in San Juan, Metro Manila, in 1971. One time, the founder approached Tony to ask if they were interested at that time she has 50 kiosks and having difficulty managing the business when she asked them if they were interested, Tony said, why not? Lets form a joint venture. They took over the management in 1994, but they retained the taste of her products because it suits the local market. On the other hand, they took over Chowking in 2000 because Chinese food is also very popular among Filipinos, but there was no good company serving the market. So they took over and worked on it. Delifrance is doing so-so. And the reason is because were still not used to eating bread as a meal therefore, the market is limited to the AB classes. It cant grow into a mass-market type. Our latest acquisition was Red Ribbon Bakeshop last 2005 to include cakes, rolls, breads

and pastries in their line of products. For us to sustain a good growth rate on a long-term basis, we have to continue acquiring businesses, Tony relates. They had to let go of Binggo. They found that the convenience store was in a totally different industry. At one time, they had around 20 stores, but they found it hard supplying them because the volume they were buying for them was just too small to attract good suppliers. They had to let it go. Theyre also bullish on China because theyve acquired Yonghe King and its 91 stores. Its making money. So theres no pressure to turn it around; the challenge is how to expand the brand. China is huge; its like having several countries in one country. If we do well, we can have several thousand stores there. If Jollibee has more than 500 stores for 80 million Filipinos, how many stores can you put up for 1.3 Billion Chinese? Kentucky Fried Chicken alone is opening 200 stores a year in China. Its doing very well, says Tony. Many countries share our taste in food, and the opportunity is in going to China, India and Indonesia- countries with large populations. We usually do a very broad 10-year horizon but its not detailed. We have a five-year plan, a three-year plan, and a one-year plan. We have plans for China and India, but if we want to go to India, well need a long-term plan. We might have to start putting Indian people into the organization and it would probably take at least three years before we sent them back. In China, we had an opportunity to break into the market with Yonghe, but because our people didnt speak the language, we had to hire translators to help us out. We still send our people there, but they have to work with translators. We also need good people here. Were lucky to be the leader, but its still a competitive market. You cant afford mistakes because customers will leave if theyre not happy with you. The food business is still very basic. Its still about taste. Its still about How did you serve me? Is your place nice? Am I treated well? Do I get value? If you think about it, if were going out to eat, these ar e the basic things we look out for, but the execution is the difficult part. Its not like other businesses where its the concept or the knowledge thats difficult. Here, theres no secret; its very easy, but its the execution thats hard. If you ask a lot of restaurant, they know all these things. Executing day by day is whats hard., Tony continues. When asked whats the secret of Jollibees success, Tony says: If you have to ask, the secret of Jollibees success is sharing. We share our success with people; we give good compensation; we share any honor that comes our way. Actually, this idea of sharing didnt come from me. It came from a friend. He said: You know why youre successful? You know how to share. A lot of people do not share, but in Jollibee you share a lot with your people. Truly, Tony Tan Caktiong is another exemplar example of an inspiring entrepreneur. He had all the achievements from Management Man of the Year in 2002 to an Agora Award for Outstanding Marketing Achievement, from a Triple A Alumni Award from the Asian Institute of Management to a Ten Outstanding Young Men Award for Entrepreneurship. And to cap it all, he also won the World Entrepreneur of The Year 2004 by Ernst & Young besting other 31 world entrepreneur competitors.

On July 25, 2007, Jollibee Group launched Tio Pepes Karinderia in EDSA Central in Mandaluyong, its pilot restaurant to professionalize Filipinos Carinderia Industry. As of 2007, Jollibee had under its wing 1,385 stores in the country: Jollibee (583); Chowking (367); Greenwich (237); Red Ribbon (163); and Delifrance (35) Overseas, Jollibee Group has 174 stores: Yonghe King in China (102); Jollibee in US (12); Red Ribbon in US (19); Chowking in US (12); Chowking in Dubai (7); Chowking in Indonesia (5); Jollibee in Other Countries (16) and one Chun Shui Tang, a teahouse in Taiwan.