C S R : C O N N E C T I N G T W O W O R L D S

CSR:CONNECTING TWO WORLDS

The Alumni Magazine of the Asian Insitute of Management Second Quar ter 2010 Vol. 5 Issue 2

Principal Hosts

THE CSR conference that helps you sustain your CSR activities and improve your business results!

60+ expert speakers and moderators from 12 countries & 500+ delegates from 18 countries are expected to attend

Will you be there?

Worldwide CSR Thinkingand Experience

Featured Events

Asian CSR Awards 2010

Asian CSR Expo 2010

Meeting of Minds

Optional Field Visits

The INTEL-AIM Corporate Responsibility AwardC O R P O R A T E

R E S P O N S I B I L I T Y A W A R D

Improving business competitiveness through CSR

Conference Partners

Strategic Corporate Partner

SINCE ITS FOUNDING IN 1968, PRODUCING PROFESSIONAL, entrepreneurial and socially responsible leaders and managers for Asia has remained at the core of AIM’s mission. Designing its education programs so that they contribute to this mission is the continuing challenge.

Both the MBA and the MDM programs have introduced courses that focus on the social impact of business and political decisions. The Center for Development Management (CDM) requires analysis of poverty alleviation programs, the coherence of their plans, their impact, and their sustainability.

The establishment of AIM’s Centers of Excellence has reinforced its ability to address issues of public policy, social development and institutional governance. With the launch of the AIM-Ramon V. del Rosario, Sr. Center for Corporate Social Responsibility (RVR CSR Center) in July 2000, the Institute opened a new avenue for developing business and development executives attuned to their accountability for the communities with which they engage.

Research on CSR’s impact and relevance to Asian corporations and society has produced case studies, monographs and training modules for AIM’s degree and executive courses. In the process, AIM has emerged as an authority in the region on the issues of corporate social responsibility. On its 9th offering now, the Asian Forum on Corporate Responsibility, which AIM and the RVR CSR Center convenes each year, attracts the biggest group of CSR advocates and practitioners in the region.

By highlighting innovative programs and best practices in CSR by corporations operating in Asia, the Asian Forum on CSR promotes CSR as a key business strategy in addressing social needs and concerns. The Asian CSR Awards bestowed during the Forum recognize and honor companies in Asia for effective and innovative CSR programs in Environmental Excellence, Support and Improvement of Education, Poverty Alleviation, Best Workplace Practices and Health Concerns. (http://www.asianforumcsr.com/)

The 2010 Asian Forum on CSR, falling on the 10th anniversary of the AIM RVR CSR Center, will take place in Malaysia in October. The theme on which it will focus addresses the main challenge to CSR advocates: Improving Business Competitiveness through CSR.

It is our hope that AIM graduates have received the orientation during their time with the Institute and the practice during their corporate careers to consider profit and societal benefit as mutually reinforcing objectives.

Research on CSR’s impact and relevance to Asian corporations and society has produced case studies, monographs and training modules for AIM’s degree and executive courses. In the process, AIM has emerged as an authority in the region on the issues of corporate social responsibility.

P R E S I D E N T ’ S M E S S A G E

PRESIDENT, ASIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT

Edilberto de Jesús

Leader

S E C O N D Q U A R T E R V O L U M E 5 I S S U E 2

The AIM Alumni Leadership Magazine (AIM Leader) is a quarterly publication of

the Asian Institute of Management with editorial office at the Alumni Relations Office,

Asian Institute of Management, 123 Paseo de Roxas, Makati City, 1260 Philippines Telephone No.: 892.4011 locals 331, 540 and 533 Telefax: 893.7410 | Email: aimalumni@aim.edu

Copyright 2007, AIM Alumni Leadership Magazine. All rights reserved. Reproduction in any manner,

in whole or in print, in English or other languages, without written permission is prohibited.

ISSN 1908-1081

EDITORIAL TEAM

Greg AtienzaEDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Susan Africa-ManikanASSOCIATE EDITOR

Sherbet Katigbak-ManaliliMANAGING EDITOR

Haji Zulkifly BaharomSENIOR OVERSEAS CORRESPONDENT

Maritess Aniago-Espiritu Khristine Revilla

Voltaire MasangkayAmy NeronaJun Javellana

ALUMNI RELATIONS OFFICE STAFF

Prof. Felipe AlfonsoNonette Climaco

Christopher CordeyProf. Ernesto D. Garilao

Madhulika GuptaProf. Maya Balatazar Herrera

Tabitha HerreraMeghann LeeGina Lopez

Dato Paduka Timothy OngRose Cheryl Orbigo

Richard YudinChito ZunigaCONTRIBUTORS

Chili DogsDESIGN & ART DIRECTION

Jopet PunoJovel LorenzoPHOTOGRAPHERS

Fran NgRommel Joson

Chili DogsILLUSTRATORS

Lexmedia DigitalPRINTING

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

Edilberto de JesúsPRESIDENT OF THE INSTITUTE

Victoria LicuananDEAN OF THE INSTITUTE

Datuk Ir. Mohd Annas Hj. Mohd Nor. CHAIRMAN,

FEDERATION OF AIM ALUMNI ASSOCIATION, INC.

Ofelia Odilao-BisnarCHAIRMAN,

AIM ALUMNI ASSOCIATION – PHILIPPINE CHAPTER

Marvee Celi-BonoanEXECUTIVE MANAGING DIRECTOR,

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH FOUNDATION

Greg AtienzaEXECUTIVE MANAGING DIRECTOR,

ALUMNI RELATIONS OFFICE

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NEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

COMMENCEMENT:Go forth—Contribute your Meaning to the world . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

FAREWELL: Remembering Bobby Lim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

INSIGHTS: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . On Cleaning the Pasig RiverA Conversation on CSR with Mr. Ishaat HussainNUVALI’s Solid Commitment to Corporate Social ResponsibilityCan the Luxury and Beauty industries afford not to be concerned?Validating Corporate Social Responsibility

COVER STORY: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Connecting Two WorldsNew Generation, New ModelYes, we can, and by golly, we will!Revisiting the CSR Value Proposition: Measuring ImpactThe Asian CSR Awards

SHOWCASE: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Guam: The Asian Face of the U.S.A.Making A Difference Through DAHONDoing Good In Business Matters: CSR In The PhilippinesCorporate Social Responsibility In Asia:

Getting It Done The Intel Way

CLASS NOTES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . END NOTES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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COV ER ILLUSTR ATION BY ROMMEL JOSON

32TWOConnecting

WORLDS

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, AIM ALUMNI LEADERSHIP MAGAZINEEXECUTIVE MANAGING DIRECTOR, ALUMNI RELATIONS OFFICESECRETARY GENERAL, FEDERATION OF AIM ALUMNI ASSOCIATIONS, INC.

Greg Atienza

OUR CASEROOM EXPERIENCES HAVE TAUGHT US THAT THE ESSENCE of true business success is profit. However, to achieve the true meaning of achievement, businesses should engage in meaningful endeavors to improve the quality of individual lives, assist in the progress of communities other than establishing wealth for their respective stakeholders. Add to this our ethical and moral responsibility towards our fellow workers as well as the environment in which we operate.

Indeed, the definition of corporate social responsibility ranges from “a commitment to contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of our workforce”, to “a process that guides all company activities in the protection and promotion of international human rights, labour and environmental standards and compliance with legal requirements within its operations.” (www.nexeninc.com/Sustainability/glossary.asp and http://www.bench-marks.org/glossary.shtml)

As AIM alumni, the process, and more importantly, the commitment should not be strange to us. Time and again we have been reminded during our AIM student days to “make a difference in our societies”. As a clarion call of our AIM mission, it becomes not only a corporate responsibility to address myriad social issues of our respective societies such as poverty, environment, education, health among many others, but an individual duty as well.

As the AIM-Ramon V. del Rosario, Sr. Center for Corporate Social Responsibility (RVR CSR Center) celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, the AIMLeader acknowledges the Center’s laudable strides in bringing to the fore unique programs and best practices, as well as recognizing corporations engaged in CSR as part of its core strategy.

I thank our generous alumni who have shared their various insights on social responsibility in this issue, and I extend my personal invitation to all to attend the Asian Forum on Corporate Social Responsibility in Malaysia, scheduled in October this year (http://www.asianforumcsr.com).

By using talents and resources used in creating wealth, I am confident that the alumni can use these same gifts in creating and sustaining programs that can make a difference in our societies. For in improving the lives of individuals, the true meaning and essence of success is discerned.

By using talents and resources used in creating wealth, I am confident that the alumni can use these same gifts in creating and sustaining programs that can make a difference in our societies. For in improving the lives of individuals, the true meaning and essence of success is discerned.

F R O M T H E E D I T O R - I N - C H I E F

A I M L e a d e r M a g a z i n e | S e c o n d Q u a r t e r 2 0 1 0 5

LAST APRIL 24, 2010 marked a step towards a new light as 31 new professionals graduated from Asian Institute of Management’s Master in Management (MM) program, after eleven months of extensive research, 400 case studies, sleep-less nights and determination to find better solutions. These graduates come from India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Vietnam. Also, three profes-sionals from Master in Business Administration (MBA) and three professionals from Executive

Master in Business Administra-tion (EMBA) graduated.

In a message to the gradu-ates, AIM President Edilberto de Jesús said that one of the main problems of the modern society is not the lack but the glut of information. One of the challenges for AIM is to prepare the students to cope with it and to enhance their ability to move fast from analysis to action.

Graduation guest speaker Professor Ernesto Garilao, MM 1982 shared that what makes the new MM graduates different from

the previous batches was how they rediscovered themselves through the AIM experience. Amidst the information overload from the world, AIM creates a journey of personal transforma-tion to develop the students’ full potential as well as to realize their personal purpose to have societal impact.

In response from the gradu-ates, Mark Rivera (with Distinc-tion) emphasized how grateful he is to have studied in AIM. It taught him a very important lesson that one must have the

New MM Graduates

Darden Announces Partnership with AIM

humility to actively listen and ask questions that empowers everyone in the society to move forward. Manik Sehgal of India related his response from the message of President de Jesús, where MM students learned how to create greater knowledge out of the flow of information.

For 42 years, AIM has been the country’s premiere graduate school of management that has been developing leaders and managers. The W. Sycip Graduate School of Business offers degree in Masters in Management which is an eleven month program designed to to tackle different stages of situation-al assessment, strategy formula-tion, and implementation.

Founded in 1954, the Uni-versity of Virginia Darden School of Business improves society by developing principled leaders in the world of practical affairs.

ASIAN INSTITUTE OF Management (AIM) and the University of Virginia Darden School of Business announces the signing of their partnership.

Mr. Edilberto C. de Jesús, president of AIM, traveled to Darden for the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the two schools.

“AIM is well known to us as a leader in graduate manage-ment in Asia,” said Darden’s Dean Bob Bruner, “and we are kindred spirits in the way we create classroom experiences.”

Like Darden, AIM uses the case method as a primary mode

of learning in its programs. AIM was founded in Makati City in 1968 with a grant from the Ford Foundation; its case method curriculum was devel-oped with an advisory group from Harvard University.

“AIM and Darden share roots,” said de Jesús, “and we look to learn from the experi-ence of Darden as the field of graduate management educa-tion evolves.”

The two schools will engage in joint faculty research, joint case writing, exchange programs for graduate students, collaborative executive educa-tion programs and scholars from both schools will be invited to participate in conferences and lectures.

“From AIM, we at Darden seek to deepen our perspective on the Philippines and East Asia,” said Bruner. “The Philippines has enjoyed remarkable growth, which stretches the creativity of business leaders, and more ma-ture economies like the United States can learn from this.”

President de Jesús and Dean Bruner

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A MEETING OF EDUCATION and finance experts from Asia and Europe studying the impact of the recent financial crisis on higher education has concluded that Asian countries were less severely affected by the Asian

financial crisis of 1997. The 23 experts meeting at

the 1st Asia-Europe Education Workshop, The Impact of the Financial Crisis to Higher Education, confirmed this by a number of case studies

presented by the Asian participants.

Also identified were additional data needed to provide appropriate policy inputs and recommendations. To address this gap, a

AIM and Asia-Europe Foundation Team Up for the 1st Asia-Europe Education Workshop

AIM WSGSB signs MOU with LCF

ON JANUARY 19, 2010, AN MOU was signed between the AIM W. SyCip Graduate School of Business (WSGSB) and the League of Corporate Founda-tions (LCF) that detailed the field project program of the stu-dents with LCF member-organ-izations. The LCF is a member-ship association of 75 operating and grant-making corporate foundations and corporations, seeking to provide business solu-tions to social problems in the Philippines through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

To ensure that the MBA stu-dents are exposed to actual CSR practices of corporations, the WSGSB and LCF collaborated to promote practical learning among the students through a field project program.

The program was a part of the Business Leadership and Responsibility (BLR) Seminar that was conducted by the core faculty of the AIM Ramon V. del Rosario Center for Corporate Social Responsibil-ity. The course objective of BLR focuses on Centering Leadership around Self-Knowledge, Per-sonal Responsibility and Global Citizenship. In the course of the seminar, students underwent a series of CSR lectures and case discussions, where students gained theoretical and practical knowledge on how CSR can be formulated and implemented.

The MBA BLR Field Project Program provided the students with the opportunity to: (1)par-ticipate in actual CSR programs of organizations, (2)be exposed

to actual problems and issues concerning the formulation, im-plementation and/or evaluation of CSR strategies and programs, and (3)apply the lessons learned in their other MBA classes.

During the Program, the students were assigned to CSR programs that they assessed in terms of strategy formulation, implementation, and evaluation.

A total of 18 teams participated in the program

with 12 organizations from LCF. These organizations included: Ayala Foundation, BPI Foundation, Coca-Cola Foundation, Energy Development Corporation, Figaro Coffee, Globe Telecommunications, Manila Water Co. Inc., Petron Corporation, Pilipinas Shell Foundation, Splash Foundation, Team Energy Corporation, and the Zuellig Foundation.

mechanism to assist in compiling and comparing data as well as monitor trends (i.e., funding structures) could be explored and discussed amongst Asian and European higher education stakeholders.

The recommendations of the Workshop, which took place on March 25-26, 2010, shall contribute to two upcoming initiatives of the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF)—the Connecting Civil Society Conference on the eve of the 8th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Summit of Heads of State and Government (Brussels, October 2010), and the 2nd ASEM Rectors’ Conference (Seoul, October 2010).

The event was the first in a series of Asia-Europe Education Workshops under the auspices of ASEF’s ASEM Education Hub (AEH), which aims at promoting higher education co-operation among ASEM member-states. For more information on AEH, kindly visit the ASEF website: http://www.asef.org.

From left: Lydia Enrile-Sarmiento (LCF CSRI Chairperson), Jerome V. Bernas (LCF Executive Director), Cecille Alcantara (LCF President), Edilber to C. de Jesús (AIM President), Ricardo A. Lim (WSGSB Associate Dean), and Horacio M. Borromeo (Program Director, MBA Cohor t 5)

6 I N S I G H T S C O M M E N C E M E N T C O V E R S T O R Y S H O W C A S E C L A S S N O T E S E N D N O T E Snew s6

Mark Locsin for sound record-ing, line producer Tetz Salvador, cinematographer Dan Villegas, assistant director Alan Forte, production designer Bianca Dadivas, and script continuity supervisor Onay Sales.

The award was given at the festival’s Closing Award Ceremo-ny in May. In June, “Sabungero” was screened at the 2010 Filipino Film Festival in New York City, which coincided with the city’s Filipino Independence Day Parade. The screening was held at the Producers’ Club theater from June 11 thru June 20. “Sabungero” was among 18 films, including some shorts, invited to the festival.

“Sabungero” will have a regular run in selected theaters

in San Francisco, Los Angeles and other key cities in the US in the fall.

Troy Bernardo, together with Felix Frank, who also worked on the images of “Sabungero,” is cur-rently working on the documen-tary, “From Soil to Soul,” which is

WHILE “SABUNGERO,” known internationally as “The Cockfighter,” was granted the Aloha Accolade Award for Excellence in Filmmaking at the 2010 Honolulu International Film Festival last month, joining the latest wave of Philippine independent movies to be recognized abroad, it garnered yet another recognition: the Golden Palm Award at the 2010 Mexico International Film Festival.

“Sabungero” (http://www.sabungeromovie.com/) sheds light on the country’s often-misunderstood cockfighting subculture. The story, originally written by Troy Bernardo, MBM 1993 and further devel-oped by Luz Inocian, was put to film by directors Miguel Kaimo and Rozie Laurel Delgado, and produced by JC and Fay Bernar-do—most of whom have gone into the movies for the first time.

The movie includes acting heavy-weights: Joel Torre, Ricky Davao, Nonie Buencamino, Rob-ert Arevalo, Leo Martinez, Mark Gil, Maritoni Fernandez, Sid Lucero and Edwin Nombre.

Aside from the stellar cast, the production also includes an impressive line-up for its crew:

“Sabungero” Receives International Awards

TRIPLE A AWARDEE TAN Sri Abdul Aziz Zainal, MM 1996 is confident that his 40 years service in the military will help him face new chal-lenges in France. The 59-year old former Malaysian Armed Forces (ATM) chief left for Paris on May 28 to become the new Malaysian ambassador to France.

Abdul Aziz Accepts New Challenges in France

Philippine Vice President Jejomar Binay

A L U M N I N E W S M A K E R S

JEJOMAR “JOJO” Cabauatan Binay, TMP 1996 was inaugurated as the 15th Vice President of the Philippines on June 30, 2010 at the Quirino Grandstand. As appointed by President Benigno Aquino III, Binay will be the new chairman of the Housing Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC).

Vice President Binay served as mayor of Makati City from 1986 to 1998 and from 2001 to 2010. He graduated from the University of the Philippines, with a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Bachelor of Laws. He took further studies in Public Administration at the University of the Philippines and Law at the University of Santo Tomas after passing the bar exams in 1968. He completed the Top Management Program from the Asian Institute of Management in 1996.

about the Don Bosco Foundation for Sustainable Development and its biodynamic farming initiative in Mindanao.

7A I M L e a d e r M a g a z i n e | S e c o n d Q u a r t e r 2 0 1 0

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NeGoSem sa AIM

opportunity for the Institute to introduce the “Entrep Boardwalk” as part of the AIM MBA project. The MBA 2010 students’ unique ideas were showcased to the alumni and guests who were invited to be part of the seminar.

The participants gained a lot of knowledge, inspira-tion and ideas from the guest speakers. It was a day full of learnings and instilled goals to pursue in every participant, making the Negosem sa AIM, the 4th offering of the AAAIM LEADers Forum a successful seminar on entrepreneurship.

The event was made pos-sible through the support of SMART, Security Bank Corpora-tion and PLDT SME Nation.

THE ALUMNI ASSOCIA-tion of AIM-Philippine Chapter (AAAIM) together with the Phil-ippine Center for Entrepreneur-ship (PCE) held a special edition of the monthly AAAIM LEAD-ers Forum last April 16, 2010. “NeGoSem sa AIM” was held at the Stephen Fuller Hall of Asian Institute of Management. With the theme “LEAP: Living your Entrepreneurship Ambition, Posible!” the seminar brought to-gether successful entrepreneurs who shared their expertise with the AIM alumni, non-alumni and staff from the Institute.

Master of Ceremonies was special project officer of the PCE,

Mr. Paul Andrew Gorgonio, who introduced the guest speakers and their respective topics. AIM Prof. Titos Ortigas, delivered his welcome remarks and spoke on “A Successful Entrep Journey Framework: Mastery of Self, Mastery of Opportunity, Mastery of Enterprise.” Mr. Efren “Ping” Sotto, author and self-help guru shared his thoughts on “Man-garap, Maniwala, Magsikap! Dream, Believe, Achieve: The Importance of Having Positive Entrepreneurial Mindset.” Mr. Pax Lapid, ME 2003, author and dean of Entrep School of Asia discussed “Negosyong Patok sa Negosyanteng Wais! Spotting

the Business Opportunities and Choosing the Right Market” while Prof. Reuel Virtucio, MBM 1989, Executive Director of Punla Foundation, expounded on “Produkto at Serbisyo Eto ka na! Developing and Marketing Actual Products and Services.” The seminar was graced by the pres-ence of the executive director of the very successful GoNegosyo caravan, Mr. Ramon Lopez, who gave the audience an overview of GoNegosyo’s projects. The chair-person of the AAAIM, Ms. Ofelia Odilao-Bisnar, was also present to welcome the participants and to thank the speakers.

The occasion was also an

THE JUNIOR FINANCIAL EXECUTIVE Institute of the Philippines and the Asian Institute of Management through its AIM-Gov. Jose B. Fernandez, Jr. Center for Banking and Finance formalized their partnership for the 12th Inter Collegiate Finance Competition (ICFC). The two groups concretized this partnership through a Memorandum of Agreement signed on May 19, 2010.

The ICFC is an annual event gathering top finance students from the Philippines’ colleges and universities as well as participants from schools in Asia including Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia. More than 80 schools are expected to participate in the elimination round this year with the top twenty schools going to the finals. The elimination round will be on September 17, 2010 and the finals on October 19, 2010, both events to be held in Manila.

The objective of the ICFC is to help increase the quality of education in finance. The subjects to be covered by the competition include quantitative analysis, economics, ethics, debt (fixed income), equity (security market), derivatives, portfolio management, financial reporting and analysis, and management accounting.

The top prize for the members of the winning team is scholarships for the MBA program in AIM. Trophies and cash prizes will also be awarded to all winning teams.

In the photo, from left are: Mr. Vic Sarza, oveall chairman, JFINEX Commit-tee; Mr. Greg Navarro, president, FINEX; Mr. Roberto Borromeo, chairman, FINEX Research and Development Foundation, Inc.; Dr. Edilberto de Jesús, president, AIM and Mr. Rene Leveriza, chariman, Business Education Committee, FINEX Development Foundation Inc.

MOA Signing for the 12th Inter Collegiate Finance Competition (ICFC)

Mr. Ping Sotto

Mr. Pax Lapid

Mr. Ramon Lopez and A A AIM Chairperson Ms. Ofel Bisnar

A I M L e a d e r M a g a z i n e | S e c o n d Q u a r t e r 2 0 1 0 9

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TOP FACULTY FROM LEAD-ing business schools in the Asia-Pacific region showcased their latest research at the Mid-Year Conference of the Association of Asia-Pacific Business Schools (AAPBS) last May 27-28, 2010. The Conference was organ-ized and hosted by the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) for the AAPBS and Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) International.

With the theme “Building Research Bridges: Networking Across Asia-Pacific,” the conference sought to build a collaborative network among top management schools in the region to share their innovations in research and teaching. Speakers included deans and senior faculty from AIM, National University of Singapore (NUS), KAIST Business School (Korea), Keio Business School (Japan), Fudan University (China), Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and University of Queensland (Australia). In his keynote address, NUS Dean Bernard Yeung, AAPBS president, emphasized the importance of teaching with values and researching with a mission. He stated that academics should keep abreast of the latest issues, develop intellectual intensity, invest in faculty development, import models, create leverage to

A APBS President Bernard Yeung presents a plaque of appreciation to AIM, represented by Dean Victoria Licuanan and Chairman Jose Cuisia, Jr., for hosting and sponsoring the A APBS Mid-Year Conference

ON APRIL 19 TO 24, 2010, the AIM TeaM Energy Center for Bridging Societal Divides con-ducted a pilot undertaking that aims to contribute to a new breed of leaders. The Tuloy-Tulay (Building Bridges) Leadership Camp for the Youth is an active response to the need to develop young Filipino leaders with the will, skills, and support to take up the great challenges our Country confronts. The Camp is an intense and challenging week of personal discovery, skills enhancement, and commitment building. One of the Camp’s core messages is that given the complex problems that are faced in the country, no singular leader can address these alone. There is a great need to learn how to work together.

The AIM-TeaM Energy Center for Bridging Societal Divides was established in 2004 as an endowed leadership train-ing and research institute that will provide capacity to address exclusion and inequities towards a society without divides. It is a continuing expression of the Asian Institute of Management’s

(AIM) mission to the develop-ment of more equitable Asian so-cieties, and a fulfillment of TeaM Energy Philippines’ commitment of ensuring sustainable develop-ment especially in Mindanao.

The Center aims to develop Bridging Leaders who under-stand the societal divide and make personal and committed responses to address the divide, engage critical stakeholders to take ownership of the problem and its solutions, and work with them to facilitate program interventions that will bridge the divides. To date, the Center has conducted more than 40 Bridging Leadership Trainings and Workshops for various sec-tors (e.g. private, government, military, and the civil society); conducted five Public Lectures for development managers; and facilitated six Consultative Meetings to sustain the collabo-rative processes for the various Bridging Leadership programs conducted. Approximately two thousand individuals have par-ticipated in the Center’s Bridg-ing Leadership endeavors.

TeaM Energy’s Tuloy-Tulay Leadership Camp

enhance capabilities, and use location advantages.

Attending the conference were more than 100 deans, faculty, and academic personnel from more than 30 institutions in the Asia Pacific region, includ-ing AAPBS member schools and

AIM Hosts Regional Conference on Relevance of Research to Academic Practice

NUS Dean Bernard Yeung, AAPBS president, emphasized the importance of teaching with values and researching with a mission. He stated that academics should keep abreast of the latest issues, develop intellectual intensity, invest in faculty development, import models, create leverage to enhance capabilities, and use location advantages. Philippine business schools. Graduate and doctoral students also took this rare opportunity to learn from leading management practitioners and researchers.

Established in 2004, AAPBS is an association founded by the 11 top business schools in the Asia Pacific, with the primary purpose of advancing the quality of business and management education in the Asia-Pacific re-gion. To date, AAPBS has nearly 100 business and management school members spread over 16 countries in the region. AIM is a founding member of AAPBS, and this conference marks the second time that AIM hosted an event for AAPBS. The first was in May 2007, when AIM hosted a work-shop on the case method.

A I M L e a d e r M a g a z i n e | S e c o n d Q u a r t e r 2 0 1 0

THE AIM-TEAM Energy Center for Bridging Societal Divides, the Institute for Islamic

Understanding Malaysia (IKIM), and the Universitas Paramadina of Indonesia held their first regional conference at Holiday Inn Galleria Manila in Ortigas City last April 27-28, 2010. The two-day conference entitled, “Islamic Leadership in the Changing ASEAN: Fostering Peace and Development” was attended by 120 academicians and practitioners from Indonesia,

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Malaysia, and the Philippines. Among those who welcomed

the delegates were Executive Director of TeaM Energy Nieves Confesor, Secretary of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) Annabelle Abaya, and British Ambassador Stephen Lillie, who shared how this event would be a step towards the development of camaraderie among Islamic organizations for peace.

Keynote address speaker Professor Datuk Dr. Osmar Bakar emphasized that the new Islamic leaders should be active proponents of dialogues for peace as a means to resolve con-flicts. Also, they should cham-pion the ideas of a balanced, holistic and sustained develop-ment in changing ASEAN.

What soon followed was a series of parallel sessions, each with a distinctive topic to address the problems of Islamic leadership. Dr. Mohd Zaidi Is-mail of Malaysia, Dr. Ismail Bin Mat of Brunei Darussalam, and Dr. Totok Soefijanto of Indonesia discussed the development of

concepts and perspectives of Islamic Leadership.

The second day of the conference focused more on the recent developments of each country in their Islamic com-munity. Also, there was a group discussion on how to improve a model for Islamic leadership practice and development.

This conference was

AIM-TeaM Energy Holds 1st Regional Islamic Leadership Conference

conducted under the Islamic Leadership Development Program of AIM-TeaM Energy Center for Bridging Societal Divides, a research center that specializes in leadership train-ing and development. The ILDP is a two-year research endeavor that is funded by the British Embassy Manila that seeks to build an Islamic leadership

framework and develop cor-responding leadership modules that are relevant for Muslim communities in the Philippines and the ASEAN.

This conference could not have been possible without the help of the British Embassy Manila and Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP).

Dr. Haslinda Abdullah

Dr. Ismail Bin Mat, Dr. Mohd Zaidi Ismail, and Dr. Totok Soefijanto

A I M L e a d e r M a g a z i n e | S e c o n d Q u a r t e r 2 0 1 0

Professor Datuk Dr. Osmar Bakar emphasized that the new Islamic leaders should be active proponents of dialogues for peace as a means to resolve conflicts. Also, they should champion the ideas of a balanced, holistic and sustained development in changing ASEAN.

BEING A GRADUATE OF THE MM MYSELF, I have always encouraged my friends to take the course because it gives greater added value. You have more rigorous teachers; your classmates are street-smart, and you learn to look at situations from different perspectives.

My own MM experience was my quan-tum leap. It gave me new knowledge, new skills, new relationships. But it did not give me something that the more recent MM classes had.

And for that let me tell you the story of Leon Araneta, MM 2007.

The story of Leon AranetaAfter his graduation, there was a family

gathering where the returning scions report-ed on their newly-acquired MBAs. One came from a prestigious school in Europe and another from the United States. Both spoke glowingly about what they have learned from their respective schools and the quality of

Go forth–

their professors whose published books were the class materials.

When it was finally his turn, they asked him what he had learned from AIM and he answered “I learned about myself.” Obviously, this was not the expected answer; but I think it was a most profound insight.

Leon continues his story: “My MM was a journey of personal transformation to be a better leader; and for that to happen I need to understand and master myself and con-nect the new learnings, tools and frameworks with what I wanted to do with my life.”

The need for self-awareness and self-masteryIn the pronaos of the Temple of Apollo at

Delphi, there is an inscription “Know thyself.” This is attributed, among others to Socrates, who in the 4th Century BC wrote that a life unexamined is a life not worth living.

Self-awareness is most important. That is why you went through the process in your 1st Module. You learned about your EQ, took the MBTI, looked at your Gennogram where you encountered your gifts and talents, as well as your limitations, shadows and challenges.

You saw your life-defining moments where you got life’s lessons. And you identi-fied the people who influenced you for good, or for ill. You looked at members of your families who provided the modelling and who influenced you and your aspirations.

You also got to understand the values you hold dear. And if you listened well enough, you would have connected with your inner self and you would have discovered your life’s purpose.

Identifying purpose and self-mastery. Having done that, the MM journey moved for-ward to give you competencies—tools, skills and knowledge that can help you operational-ize your life purpose.

In my many years of doing this exercise with students, I have been amazed by the range of “purposes” that have emerged. One wanted to be the world’s greatest father. His father died young so he never experi-enced his father’s love. He wanted his son to have the love he never got. Everything else in his life was secondary.

Another said he wanted his people to have a better life, and for that he wanted to be a state minister. He came from a family with a tradition for public service.

Still another said that he wanted to bring peace into the world, coming from a Gandhian tradition, though at the time he was working in a technology firm.

If you listen to their many stories, one theme emerges: their life was no longer about themselves. Most saw themselves as caring

by Prof. Ernesto D. Garilao, MM 1982

When I received the invitation to give the commencement speech to this MM graduating class, I was initially hesitant to accept for many reasons. But then, over dinner, my youngest daughter said “Dad, you are now over 60; you need to share whatever it is you may have learned over the years.” So it is in that spirit that this address is being given.

Contribute your Meaning to the world

ILLUSTRATION: CHILI DOGS

14 N E W S I N S I G H T S C O V E R S T O R Y S H O W C A S E C L A S S N O T E S E N D N O T E Scommencement

for either family or community through serv-ice. The job was simply a means to do that.

Connecting to your purpose. It is impor-tant that you connect to your personal pur-pose because this serves as your life’s anchor. And when you identify your purpose, you can use the MM program for self mastery.

While I did not have the opportunities for deepening self-awareness when I did my MM in 1982, I was fortunate that in the development field I was in, one had to be clear about personal purpose if one was to stay and find meaning in the work.

With that, I used my MM program to enhance my development competencies to prepare myself for higher responsibilities and greater challenges.

I had many unforgettable experiences: the strategic mind of Vic Limlingan, the critical thinking of Gaby Mendoza, and the attention to details of Leni Panganiban—all these gave me the skills to look at case facts, analyze them critically and come up with recommended action.

Inequities and Bill Gates. When Bill Gates was asked to give the commencement speech to Harvard graduates in 2007, he in-troduced himself as Harvard’s most success-ful drop-out. In that address he said that the only thing he regretted about Harvard was that he was not introduced to inequities.

He said, “I left Harvard with no real awareness of the awful inequities in the world—the appalling disparities of health, and wealth, and opportunity that condemn millions of people to lives of despair.”

At the end of the address he said, “I want to exhort each of the graduates here to take on an issue—a complex problem, a deep inequity, and become a specialist on it. If you make it the focus of your career, that would be phenomenal. But you don’t have to do that to make an impact. For a few hours every week, you can...get informed, find oth-ers with the same interests, see the barriers, and find ways to cut through them.”

These words came from the then world’s richest man. And he discovered inequities while he was foraying with his billions in Africa where he slowly realized what a bum deal the rest of society got from their gov-ernments, from their leaders and from the corporations that made money on them.

One might then surmise that if Harvard gave him an early understanding of inequi-ties then, perhaps, his story and many stories of his generation could have been different.

The vision of Dean Mendoza. In the late 1960s, then Dean of the Institute Gabino Mendoza wrote an AIM Values paper that went on to be approved by the Faculty, the

Trustees and the Governors. The paper was prescient. It stated that

it was the responsibility of AIM among others to develop Asian leaders “whose skills, knowledge and attitudes are relevant to Asian conditions and concerns, who are sensitive to Asian values and sensitivities, and who are committed to the development of Asia and its peoples, particularly the dis-advantaged, the underprivileged, the poor.”

Linking personal purpose to societal outcomes. In today’s terms, it frames Professor Gavino’s constant reminder— that one must link organizational outputs to societal outcomes.

We resonate this because at the end of the day, our organizational outputs—whether it be in pharmaceuticals, banking, telecommunications, services and the like, have to be situated within the context of societal outcomes.

Why societal outcomes are relevant to corporations

Let me give you a current example. Pfizer has a business model of blockbuster, patent protected products. It made a lot of business sense in the developed markets of North America, Europe and Japan. When the model was introduced to emerging and developing markets, it proved to be not sus-tainable. While the emerging markets have a growing middle class; still the majority of the population remains low income. In these markets, Pfizer is expected to be relevant to all segments, otherwise they will be accused of cherry picking. If they are to be present in all segments, they have to move into the realm of public health and better health out-comes of society. This means that the prod-uct offerings must go beyond the lifestyle diseases for which Pfizer is known, and must also include those relevant to the disease burden of the majority of the population.

When Pfizer starts looking at the lower market segments, they must listen to customers, dialogue with the major health actors and organizations, and establish partnerships. This means that as it now looks at the whole country, its organizational outputs must contribute to the societal outcome of better health.

Hence, corporations today need to ask

the question: Do our organizations contrib-ute to better quality of life? (Or better still, how do our organizational outputs reduce human inequities?)

The early challenge of Gaby Mendoza to the AIM in the late ‘60s to produce Asian leaders committed to the development of Asia and its peoples, particularly the disadvan-taged, resonates with Bill Gates challenge to Harvard in 2007 to produce graduates dedicated to reduce human inequities.

After graduation, the options you faceTomorrow, you return to the World. I have always told my MM classes that

you owe it to yourself to develop your full human potential and to be with organiza-tions that foster that development.

Just as you will be true to your purpose, the institution you join must likewise be true to its mission and to the values it espouses.

Hold yourself and your organization ac-countable for results.

Be ready to engage people you work with, including your organizational leaders. The environment is more complex today. Leaders need to hear not just their voices but other different perspectives to better comprehend and assess situations more effectively.

SummaryIn summary, let me return to my points. The first is about societal outcomes and

inequities. You will operate in the region which has the world’s largest number of people who live below the poverty line. You have to keep them in mind.

Second is that addressing societal outcomes require new knowledge and skills: systems thinking, listening and dialoguing, listening to stakeholders and having endur-ing partnerships to achieve societal out-comes. These are skills you have developed.

Third, be ready to engage institutions to remain true to their mission and be more responsive to the stakeholders they serve. This you must do.

And last but not least, be aware of the alignment of your own personal purpose and the mission of your organization.

As you go forth, trust that you have what is necessary to contribute your Meaning in this world.

You are a good seed. Germinate and grow and yield many fruits for many to share.

This commencement speech was delivered before the AIM MM Graduating Class of 2010 on April 24, 2010. This is the original longer version of the speech; portions were omitted during the actual delivery. PROF. GARILAO wishes to acknowledge the kind assistance of Michael U. Juan and his wife Pilar in the preparation of this speech.

As you go forth, trust that you have what is necessary to contribute your Meaning in this world. You are a good seed. Germinate and grow and yield many fruits for many to share.

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by Prof. Horacio M. (Junbo) Borromeo, PhD, MM 1977

Remembering

Bobby Lim

Kapitan Lim took his f inal f light at age 90 last Saturday, April 24, 2010

Farewell16

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IT SEEMS SO RIGHT THAT THE TWO TITLES associated with Bobby Lim are “Professor” and “Captain.” As Professor Lim, Bobby loved to help people, especially young people, learn and grow. As Captain Lim, he loved to tell people what to do—and expected them to drop everything else and just do it. Those who didn’t drop everything and do as he commanded soon learned why he was also called Kapitan Kidlat.

Whenever Bobby walked into my room, he was at once teacher and commander. He would sit himself in my visitor’s chair, smile that irresistible smile of his, and tell me I had a problem. Over the years I learned that this was my cue to just keep quiet and listen while he gave me advice. Of course, be-fore he walked in I had no inkling I had a problem that needed anyone’s advice. When I’d finally agree to think about it, he’d get up, tell me not to think about it, but just do it.

Invariably, after following his advice, I would indeed find myself with a problem. But when I’d go to his room to tell him about it, he’d just smile that irresistible smile and explain what a great learning opportunity he’d given me. Then he’d go on to give me some more advice.

Today I am about as old as Bobby was when I first met him as a colleague. If I’d listened to him then, I would have gotten my doctorate 30 years ago when I was in my prime, and not in 2009 with only a few more years before I retire.

But what’s really remarkable when I think about it is that he was already pushing 60 when I first met him, and he contin-ued productively and constructively for another 30. Given that the average age of the AIM faculty is 55, this is something we all might reflect on.

I don’t have much time so I will cite only a few of the great things that I saw Bobby do during the 30 years that I knew him.

Arguably one of Bobby’s greatest accomplishments during those 30 years was to grow the Air Transport Course (ATC), and to phase it out at the peak of its success. In the ATC, Bobby managed to bring together the people who ran Asia’s airlines, who flew their planes or kept them flying, so they could all learn to become managers. Using his network, Bobby assembled, from the UK and the US, experts on civil aviation, air law, airline economics, operations, finance and market-ing, while the AIM professors he recruited contributed the fundamental management frameworks. Bobby made sure that participants would have not only the best faculty and facilities, but most importantly, a lot of fun.

A few years ago, at a private party in Singapore, someone called out to me and said, “Hey, Junbo, are you guys still bringing the ATC participants to Tagaytay?” The voice belonged to the Chief Pilot 747 of Singapore Airlines. We spent the evening recalling the good old days when he was only a First Officer, sent to Manila to learn to do something for the airline other than fly an airplane. Considering that the ATC was only a two-week program, I was amazed at how much of it he remembered 25 years later.

In running the ATC, Bobby provided many learning op-portunities not only for the participants, but especially for those of us in the AIM faculty and staff who were privileged enough to be part of this program. We learned from Bobby how to teach, and how to keep participants motivated. He also taught us how to run a program, how to ensure that every-thing worked flawlessly, to anticipate problems, and to lower costs by getting others to pay for it. He taught us how to find the right staff, to make sure they knew what to do and then to trust them to do it because that’s how they learned best, and most importantly to treat them as genuine members of the team and to keep them happy.

Not too long ago, I asked Bobby why he hadn’t tried to revive the ATC. He told me that others could do a better job of it now, and the airlines themselves had grown to a point where they could do it themselves and didn’t need the Orient Airlines Association, AIM’s partner in the ATC, to put something like it together. It was the right thing to do at the time, so he did it, and after he did it he moved on.

Another AIM institution that in my mind is closely associated with Bobby is the Top Manage-ment Program. It was in the TMP that Bobby and his dear friend and fellow pilot, Father Jim Donelan, drew even closer, partly from working together, but mostly I suspect from sharing a glass or two of their favorite single-malt whiskey by the fireplace of the Baguio Country Club.

It was also in the TMP that Bobby made another fast friend, the German professor Manfred Perlitz. You would think that Bobby couldn’t teach anything to a German professor with two PhDs, but Bobby proceeded to teach Manfred to play golf. Manfred has been addicted to the game ever since. Not because Bobby taught him to be a good golfer, which he didn’t, but because Bobby taught him to love the game passionately.

While the three of them, Bobby, Father Jim, and Manfred, were great teachers, unfortunately none of them could carry a tune. One of my most unforgettable, or maybe I should say, for-gettable, experiences was having to listen to the three of them in Baguio one night, along with two dozen equally intoxicated Filipino, Malaysian, Singaporean, and Indonesian CEOs, belt-ing their rendition of Father Jim’s favorite Irish song. It took me a few minutes to finally recognize it as “Danny Boy.”

Fittingly, the last time we in the AIM faculty and staff shared a drink with Bobby on April 5, when we gathered for our annual toast on the occasion of Father Jim’s death an-niversary. In fact we had been planning to get together again on April 27, the death anniversary of Andy Reyes, another dear friend, colleague and mentor.

As AIM entered the ‘90s, I found myself directing the Top Management Program. By this time, Bobby was no longer inter-

Six-year old Prof. Lim (4th from left) in 1926

The young Lt. Lim after the war

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ested in teaching in the TMP, only in “advising” me what to do as the program director. One day he popped into my room with a copy of the Harvard alumni magazine. He pointed to a small paragraph that mentioned a new course taught by a young pro-fessor, John Sviokla. Sviokla had just introduced a course called “Marketing in Cyberspace.” Bobby said, “If you don’t bring this fellow to teach in the TMP, you’re not teaching your CEOs the future of business.” This was long before the Internet became such an indispensable and prevalent part of business today.

As a result, sometime in the early ‘90s, we brought Sviokla to the TMP and created in our classroom in Bali an Intranet environment that simulated the kind of setting that is so com-monplace today, giving the participants a feel for such things as electronic communications, database management, and online sales. It was a first in executive education, and Bobby, with his usual prescience, had had a hand in it.

Interestingly, John Sviokla did not make tenure at Har-vard and went into business for himself, helping develop for General Motors a multi-billion dollar internet business. Two of his students finished his course and started what became Amazon.com. Which only goes to show that Bobby was smarter than many of those guys who run Harvard.

What most AIM alumni will remember Bobby for is his elective course, Sources and Uses of Power, or SUPR (pro-nounced “super”). I cannot keep count of the alumni I have run into these past 33 years who talk about what they call the one AIM course that has benefited them throughout their careers. Aside from being a master of the sources and uses of power, I think Bobby brought to this course his two greatest skills, teaching and commanding, and his two greatest pas-sions, knowledge and action.

For Bobby, power was about getting things done, while knowledge gave you the power to get things done.

Maybe that explains why Bobby, who was always looking to accomplish something or other, was always learning some-

thing new in order to complete his next goal in life.A couple of years ago, I told Bobby I thought his secret for

keeping young was that he was always learning, or trying to learn, something new. In response, he flashed his irresistible smile, and turned around to show off his new Macbook, which he said his grandchildren were teaching him to use. That’s when I realized that probably one of Bobby’s secrets not only for staying young, but for being such a great teacher, was that he was a great student as well, who was not afraid to seek new knowledge from anyone who could share it with him, even

from young kids.Last night, as I reflected on

this particular incident, I was reminded of something Mari-anne Williamson wrote in her book, Return to Love. Although written in 1992, this famous quotation has been wrongly attributed to Nelson Mandela’s 1994 inaugural speech.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabu-lous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel in-secure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permis-sion to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our

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“Remembering Bobby Lim” continued on page 50 >>

Socrates said that a life unexamined is a life not worth living. For Bobby, given his never ending curiosity and thirst for adventure, it was the examination of life itself, and the learning and growth that resulted from that examination, that made life worth living.

Prof. Bobby Lim’s pride and treasure

A I M L e a d e r M a g a z i n e | S e c o n d Q u a r t e r 2 0 1 0

“Kapitan Kidlat” in his younger years

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On Cleaning the Pasig River20 N E W S C O M M E N C E M E N T C O V E R S T O R Y S H O W C A S E C L A S S N O T E S E N D N O T E Sinsight s

ON NOVEMBER 2007 DURING AN ABS- CBN Management Conference, I reported that the La Mesa Watershed was almost done. And my brother, Gabby, suggested that we take on the Pasig River. I thought he was nuts but a week later, former First Lady Ming Ramos communicated to me that she was tired and wanted to hand over the project to me. I called up Sec. Lito Atienza of DENR and asked him if he was willing to hand over the management of all the components—Laguna Lake, the Pasig River and Manila Bay—then I would take it on. Without batting an eyelash he agreed so on March of 2008, we signed the Memorandum of Agreement. I was given P6 million, a car, and lots of good will. The first year was basically “getting our feet wet”, visiting the various creeks, raising funds for solid waste management, and getting the human infrastructure in place.

On February 24 of 2009, we launched the

Kapit Bisig Sa Ilog Pasig and ambitiously gave ourselves seven years to finish the project. What started out as initial wariness has blossomed into an awe of the depth and breadth of the project. I didn’t even know that Tagalog comes from Taga-Ilog, that the river is connected to our history, to our identity as a People. That we are in fact a River People. We are a Water People —blessed with 400 river systems and 7,000 islands.

I was shocked to find out that the builders of Manila had seen the Pasig River as a dumping ground, and that this unenlightened vision led to the building of a city of open sewers! I was horrified to see whirlpools of methane gas along our creeks and mutant janitor fish that kill all forms of life which habitate our creeks. I was ap-palled when I saw how the people along the waterways lived, sometimes 10 families in 20 square meters! At the same time, I was in awe when I saw their smiles and their

simple hearts and marvelled how they can possibly smile even whilst they live like that.

My heart filled when I saw how they almost magically changed when we brought them to a better place. Where did their sense of aesthetics come from? My heart bled when I realized that our forefathers had in fact worshipped nature—and that their God was Bathala—and during those times we lived in paradise. We may not have been rich but we had plenty of fish in the sea and our forests were lush and we were happy. Religion was used to colonize us and the God that was in nature became a God that we could access only through rituals. Then we started raping our forests, dynamiting our seas. Personally I feel the Divine when I look at a night sky resplendent with stars, when I feel the fresh air, when I feel the silence in the mountains, the nurturance of our forests, and the parts of our seas that still abound with life and beauty.

by Gina Lopez, MDM 1993

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Clearly what was needed was more than just a river clean up but a resuscitation of who we really are as a people. That without this consciousness shift, that river and all its pathways would never remain clean.

And as I moved further down the road during a meditation retreat, I saw even fur-ther that cleaning the river is actually not about water but its final destination is Hope. It has also become starkingly clear to me that unless we all work together: national government, local government, the private sector, students, unless we all do our share that river will not be clean.

On November of 2009, 23,000 people assembled and ran for the Pasig River. It was not just a marathon but a statement—WE WANT THE RIVER CLEAN! It was a run for our future, it was a run of hope. But we have taken to the streets many times. In EDSA, as we collectively toppled an abusive dictatorship, and again in EDSA 2 as a state-ment against corruption... and again and again we take to the streets and each time our frustration and our cynicism grows as the change that follows does not match the hope that leads us to the streets.

This time I realized that it must be

different. We must collectively clean the river and its pathways. And because we are working against decades upon decades of sloth and indifference, our methods must be firm but they must also be nuanced with compassion.

On June of 2009, we decided to take on Estero de Paco. A three kilometer stretch at the heart of Metro Manila, a virtual sea of filth, excrement and garbage lined by literally 1,000 illegal dwellers, a 100-year old market habitated by drug addicts, notorious for bag snatching, with pipes and a drainage system that grossly polluted the estero—a microcosm of the problems in Metro Manila. Some of the people we relocated were there since 1945! I realized that if we could clean Estero de Paco—and I wanted to do it in a year—then we could do anything.

So on April 29, 2010, a month ahead of schedule, we took a ride along the beginning of the estero in Quirino all the way to the Pasig River. 1,000 illegal dwellers will have been relocated to a place in Laguna where they face a brighter future—the garbage hauled, the creek dredged, the barangays organized, the healing of the water begun—and the Paco Market Rehabilitation well under way.

It can be done. And we all worked together. My team relocated. MMDA dis-mantled the houses. The city government together with the military hauled the debris to the landfill, the military and MMDA and our contractors built and rip rapped the es-tero, PRRC funded the solid waste manage-ment and the bioremediation. The schools helped with the clean-ups. The barangays themselves did the clean-ups. President Arroyo gave P30 million towards the reloca-tion, the market clean up and the easement. Other donors for the market are: PLDT P5 million, Congressman Bagatsing P5 million. The easements were supported by Shell P10 million, DOT P2.5 million, Maynilad is sewering for free. Manila Water is spending P5 million for the sewage treatment plant. The Lopez Group gave P20 million for the

And as I moved further down the road—during a meditation retreat—I saw even further that cleaning the river is actually not about water but its final destination is Hope.

Apacible to Paco Market before and after

A I M L e a d e r M a g a z i n e | S e c o n d Q u a r t e r 2 0 1 0 21

school and livelihood center plus invaluable support of the executives notably Dr. Estuar from First Balfour. The relocation has been magnificently supported by National Hous-ing Authority, Rotary, Benpres Holdings Corporation, Lopez Group of Companies, First Gen, San Miguel Corporation, Sun Life Financial, Ayala Group of Companies, UBS Investment Bank, Zonta Club of Makati and the military. From an initial P6 million we have raised over P418 million in less than a year. The Pasig River has struck a resonant chord... Our time has come.

This is the way to go. Kapit Bisig. Everyone together arm in arm. Segment by segment. My projection is that when the areas we address experience a significant improvement in the economy, in the peace and order situation, in the health and qual-ity of life of the people. it will snow ball.

Our next stop is Damayang Lagi in Que-zon City. 4000 illegal dwellers. That whole waterway which includes the grossly dirty San Juan River pollutes the Pasig River with 90,000 tons of toxic waste annually! If Manila Water puts up a sewage treatment plant there, three-fourths of the water from Quezon City will be filtered and cleaned.

And the next stop is 100,000 runners for October 10, 2010, a Sunday and 10-10-10. 100,000 people running with their hearts saying WE WANT THE RIVER CLEAN! And we will show them the effect of their running the previous year. And we hope that businesses, local government and national

government will hear and respond in full measure so that next year they can report to the people the results of working together.

And instead of cynicism and despair, we will have an escalating spiral of hope which is not tangent to any political scenario, but has occurred only because people have decided that they should work together. And it is this spirit that will be the receptacle of Divine Help... and it is this spirit that will be the engine of our growth as a nation.

And the spirit of our forefathers will finally begin to rest in peace. And the Divine will breathe a sigh of relief that we have begun to discover that true spirituality is found not just in rituals but in taking care of what God has given us and working side by side in the spirit of fellowship.

And this is why the cleaning of the Pasig River gives me a tremendous amount of joy. Because it is the discovery of who we are as a people.

22 N E W S C O M M E N C E M E N T C O V E R S T O R Y S H O W C A S E C L A S S N O T E S E N D N O T E Sinsight s

(Clockwise, from top left) The River Warriors being “knighted” by Mayor Lim, Gabby Lopez, Boy Franco of MMDA, and Cynthia Carreon of the President’s Office; The River Warriors: the long-term sustainable strategy to keeping the estero clean; My plea to the kids not to swim because the water is so dirty fell on deaf ears. Their exuberance is a precursor to the joy that will be once we get the waterways clean; Gen. Versoza, head of the PNP, Col. Bong Visaya, the head of the armed forces in Metro Manila, and the staff of Kapit Bisig; Students doing their share; Waste water gardens at the beginning of Estero de Paco

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Serving society should be enmeshed in the corporate DNA.

WWW.LIVEMINT.COM

F OR HIS VIEWS ON CSR, the finance director of India’s leading industrial conglomerate, Ishaat Hussain started by saying that he had a different take on the concept of CSR. “I believe the very purpose of business

is to serve society. Serving society should be enmeshed in the corporate DNA.”

To illustrate the point further, he said that he agreed with what Paul Polman, chief executive of Unilever had said in his interview in Financial Times, where Mr. Polman makes it clear that shareholders are not exactly the first thing on his mind. He proceeded to quote Polman: “I do not work for the shareholder, to be honest; I work for the consumer, the customer. I discovered a long time ago that if I focus on doing the right thing for the long term to improve the lives of consumers and customers all over the world, the business results will come... I’m not driven and I don’t drive this business model by driving shareholder value. I drive this business model by focusing on the consumer and customer in a responsible way, and I know that shareholder value can come.”

Mr. Hussain’s reason for highlighting Polman’s point against a myopic focus on shareholder value soon became clear as he added: “Many would argue that the purpose of business is to make money so as to drive shareholder value, and I would readily agree, but with a rider: make money within acceptable norms.” Touching briefly on his belief in the broader concept of Stakeholder Capitalism he said, “so you see, the moment you speak of only shareholder value, you exclude everyone else.”

Circling back to elaborate on his ‘take’ on CSR, he explained that today it is often referred to as ‘giving back to society’ and in his opinion, that is an Anglo-Saxon position, stemming from a very limited Wall Street view that the singular purpose of business should be on creating Shareholder Value, thus their need to ‘give back to society’.

A Conversation on CSR with Mr. Ishaat Hussainby Madhulika Gupta, CSR 2009 CEO, REPUTE Public Affairs & CSR Solutions

Finance Director, TATA SONS LIMITED

“A Conversation on CSR...” cont. on page 52 >>

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In his view he says, “None of us really believe that it is right. It’s driving the stakeholder value that concerns us and that is why we at TATA group believe that we have to make money; clearly if we can’t make money, we can’t succeed. But how we make our money is very important to us. If you start by asking the question of how I should make my money then you will address the CSR issue up-front. Whereas if you say my purpose is to make money—period. Then you don’t bother about the means that you follow to make that money, and CSR can have a different connotation then.”

With Mr. Hussain’s opening perspective, which basically laid out the foundation of his beliefs on these somewhat intangible concepts, I couldn’t help but be reminded of my own words used every so often during advisories to my clients—how you do is as

important, if not more important than what you do. The points that Mr. Hussain made resounded loud and clear—that if you start by asking yourself the question—how will you make the money, and establish your processes based on the right way, everything starts falling into place enabling the company to do the right thing. Here are more insights on our Q and A.

MG: Some say that reputation is critical to corporate success, topping the intangible asset list of CEOs. Would you agree and why?

Ishaat Hussain (IH): Reputation is extremely important. Examples abound. In the present time, BP or recall the Shell experience of some time ago, or any other corporation faced with a similar situation, the impact on their bottom-line is major, although some select people may appear a bit insulated and continue to make money. Having said that, the fact of the matter is that a large body of people do admire winners (in money terms) and the winner takes it all. Society, and we as individuals must also pause to reflect on what do we value? It is very clear that in the long term people value the sort of things I am talking about. But in the short term, it is the short term success that is encouraged and admired.

When you talk about reputation, the way the world is run today, it’s not only the name of the company which matters, it’s the brand. When something goes wrong, what people say is ‘what damage has it done to your brand?’ So branding and preserving the brand and maintaining the brand are very important.

MG: When you mention brand, are you talking about reputation, as in the long term residual impressions, not just the company name?

IH: Yes. What does the brand embody? Brand has a personality but you have to position the brand, maintain the brand, and maintain its reputation—align it to do the right things, and stand for the right values. And if something goes wrong, as in the case of Pepsi sometime ago with the water issue, it can be quite damaging to the brand. Damage control is very important to preserve the brand.

MG: So, more than reaching a point of damage control, one should actually think about it way ahead, plan how you are going to do your business?

IH: Yes. In fact all your case studies in PR try to illustrate that damage control is undesirable, that it shouldn’t get to that point at all. Damage control is to be your Plan C.

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THERE IS ONE GROUP OF VISIONARIES that wants to see this happen and make a change. With the clear goal of “enhancing land, enriching lives for more people”, Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) envisions better lives for all Filipinos. That is why the birth of NUVALI—ALI’s 1,840-hectare mixed-use eco-commu-nity development in Laguna—signalled the start of a new endeavour of developing land with sustainability at its core. NUVALI’s Evoliving principle embodies the values of responsibility, balance, diversity that direct the spirit of community as it embraces sus-tainability as its guiding principle.

Fuelled by their passion to transform lives, Ayala Land introduced NUVALI in early 2009—a one-of-a-kind future-oriented eco-community with residential, office, commercial and institutional components at

the heart of CALABARZON. Who would have thought that a vast expanse of grassland would be transformed into a regional growth center with sustainable living as its core principle? NUVALI only started as a vision to integrate progress and development by reviving and nurturing nature and keeping it alive for the next generations to come. Now, it has risen and is starting to give a new meaning to progress.

NUVALI serves as the model community of the future by initiating timely responses to the changing needs of the world. It begins with a revolution in our way of thinking, a vision not just for today but for generations to come. A forward-looking mindset that embraces sus-tainability as key towards shaping our future.

To make NUVALI a model for communi-ties of the future, it was master planned and

NUVALI’s Solid Commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility

developed based on the three major pillars: environmental sustainability, economic sus-tainability and social sustainability. NUVALI strives to incorporate quality and healthy life-style with caring for the environment and one another, something that is deliberately pushed in its master-planning and in its implementa-tion, development principles, methodologies and procedures, and estate management plans. In NUVALI, there is an integration of the key components of a large mixed-use development with sustainable practices.

Commitment to natureMost residential developments nowadays

promise only comfort and a hip lifestyle to meet the demands of a fast-changing society. When the NUVALI project was started, a promise to redefine lifestyle and re-shape thinking were made. People committed to conserve, protect, and contribute to the regeneration of a healthy environment and ensure environmental sustainability.

NUVALI was specially master planned to encourage a harmonious interaction between human development, economy and nature, to achieve a greener and healthier way of living, working, recreating and growing. NUVALI is

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The world today is starting to realize that without care for nature and mother earth, the result of rapid progress and urbanization is destruction of the environment. Similarly, while we have known that we should care and respect one another, however, inequality still remains. Can people and nature really thrive together? Can we all co-exist?

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committed to the low-impact development principle and the preservation of the exist-ing ecosystem within its development, prom-ising to develop only 50% of its total land area and leaving the rest barely touched.

NUVALI also created the NUVALI T.R.E.E. Program, a project between Ayala Land and partner entities aiming to plant 100,000 trees throughout the vast expanse of NUVALI’s buffer areas to protect the natural flora and fauna. Additionally, all developments within NUVALI are required to adopt a certain tree-to-house/building ratio. In NUVALI, there is harmony between human habitat and the ecosystem.

NUVALI also promotes efficient use of resources—water, energy and waste. For example, dual piping and water treatment facilities will be available to residents and lo-cators, minimizing use of critical fresh water while maximizing what can be reused. The beauty of the 4-hectare lake may enthrall one, but there is more to it than meets the eye, as it also serves as a rainwater deten-tion to mitigate downstream effect of heavy rain while doubling as grey water reservoir. As a testament to NUVALI’s commitment to the preservation of the environment, it built environmentally friendly buildings such as the Evoliving Center and the NUVALI Green Homes; these structures serve as models for sustainability for office and homes using both innovative technologies and practical alternatives. Visit One Evotech building and you will find that it integrated a bike ramp infrastructure up to the 4th floor level that promotes a more environmentally respon-sible mode of transport. NUVALI also pio-neered district cooling in the area—imagine

one air-conditioning unit servicing multiple buildings and locators—a more efficient way to beat the heat. As one passes through the dedicated bike, pedestrian lanes and parking lots , one will notice the permeable surfac-ing. This allows rainwater to seep back into the earth to recharge the underground water aquifer; NUVALI’s little way of adopting to God’s great design.

In NUVALI, there are more than just scenic locations, there are also places to gain education and strengthen ties with nature such as the parks, river system trails, a man-made lake teeming with thousands of Koi fishes and a wildlife and bird sanctuary with about 74 species of birds and a host of small mammals and other hepterofauna.

Being a community that is very close to nature, NUVALI puts together events that are centred on generating awareness for the importance of having a healthy lifestyle. An example is the Green Weekend, a monthly community organic and artisan fair that is dedicated to promoting eco-friendly prod-ucts and organic produce.

A commitment to society NUVALI extends Ayala Land’s vision

of sustainable living by also ensuring economic and social sustainability not only for its residents and locators but also to the neighbouring communities around it. In 2008, NUVALI launched Alay sa Komunidad, the umbrella program that is continued up to this day to help the surrounding com-munities of NUVALI.

The Alay sa Komunidad—May Kabu-hayan program is one example of NUVALI’s commitment. May Kabuhayan has two

sub-programs—livelihood training and em-ployment. Livelihood programs include food service, Tindahan Natin, paper-weaving, char-coal making (using excess organic materials) and various training to re-tool the work force such as basic cosmetology, basic landscaping and massage therapy. Other programs in the pipeline include tie-ups with Rags-2-Riches for rug and bag making, concrete hollow block and pavers making with Makati Development Corp and trainings for bread making, and herbal medicine to name a few.

May Kabuhayan’s paper-weaving, which started as a small project conceptualized to re-cycle used paper products has already reached a milestone in social responsibility that it has landed its products on display at the EchoStore, the Ayala Sustainability Summit, and at the Trade Fair on Corporate Social Responsibility. Before the project was conceived, there was a challenge on how to empower the community to set up alternative sources of income and create more suitable programs for different age groups and especially for housewives. This project, in the end, answered the problem.

Another livelihood opportunity initiated by NUVALI is the recycling of organic waste matter into charcoal. Recognizing the demand for char-coal by the communities in the area, NUVALI created a program for an alternative source of charcoal. This project aimed at encouraging citizens to use a more environment-friendly method of charcoal-making helps prevent fur-ther destruction of nature as it does not require cutting and burning down trees.

“Nuvali’s Solid Commitment...” cont. on page 31 >>

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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (SD), Corporate Responsibility, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) or Sustainability (what-ever the terms or definition used) represents certainly one of the 21st century’s greatest op-portunity; even more so for watch, luxury and beauty brands, whatever their size or fame.

It is therefore not surprising to see some luxury and watch brands, despite their slow-ness to behave responsibly, head towards a deeper integration of Corporate Responsibil-ity (CR) in their organization.

These companies are now systemati-cally considering not only environmental, but also social impacts—mainly in the supply chain—more seriously and genuinely, while continuing to ensure their financial sustainability. However, boards and/or CEOs who engage authentically in this direction see the impact that CR will have on their organization as a great opportunity, and are ready to sacrifice some profit to create sustainable value.

Present situation Nowadays, CR consideration is growing

and is regarded as a crucial dimension by the financial community to judge the quality of a company. In the luxury industry, traditional well-known brands or groups are already deeply engaged, although not always very strategically yet. They are driven by cost savings opportunities, reputation management, search of a competitive advantage or solely by the CEO’s personal conviction. Some new watch brands use CR as a differentiating factor.

In the gold, diamond, gem and precious stones supply chain—thanks to the Responsible Jewellery Council—miners, gold refiners, hedgers or traders are engaging themselves, with some timidity for some of them. At the end of the value chain, new ethical luxury clients are growing in share of voice, power and influence (owing mainly to the social media).

There are few doubts that stakeholders (NGOs, activists, employees), ethical con-sumerism, and globalization will obviously force the other watch/jewellery brands and their suppliers—being large or small—to evolve towards more responsibility. The question is when? The answer has to be found in the way CEOs manage risks and how they ensure their brand’s sustainability.

Investment and benefits—not a cost Today, we doubt that responsible

boards and/or CEOs can only strive to maximize profit and disregard totally social and/or environmental issues; the ones engaging themselves are ready to sacrifice some profitability.

By integrating a thorough CR program (and it goes further than being certified SA8000, ISO 14001 or just “greening the visible part of the business”), companies are expected to reduce their impact on the environment and increase their social considerations without jeopardizing their economic performance.

CR helps companies build customer loy-alty, recruit and retain employees, increase productivity, improve brand reputation and stand out in a crowded marketplace.

Eleven steps towards responsibility To begin (or pursue) a “More

Responsible Journey”, luxury companies (and their suppliers) may wish to consider the following steps:

1. Be inspired and escorted by CR Luxury experts.

2. Get the undisputed support and

Can the Luxury and Beauty industries afford not to be concerned?

CHRISTOPHER CORDEY offers consultancy services through www.wholebeauty.ch, a CSR consultancy agency dedicated to the luxury and beauty industry. WholeBeauty is a strategic consultancy agency expert in escorting– exclusively–luxury and beauty brands to leverage the benefits of Corporate Responsibility. Based in Switzerland, WholeBeauty services range from CSR strategy definition, CSR education and trainings, change leadership and stakeholder brokerage. Cordey also works with Geneva University CSR Executive Education platform and teaches “Change Management” and “Ethics & Sustainability in Business” at the Business School Lausanne, Switzerland and other international business schools. Read his blog at www.sustainableluxury.ch.

Chief Catalyst Officer, WholeBeauty SA-Prestige. People. Planet. Profit. Associate Professor, Business School Lausanne,Switzerland

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commitment from board/CEO.3. Appoint a CR champion in the company.4. Develop a CR vision, strategy,

action plans and allocate resources.5. Translate strategies and plans into

an “Internal CR Philosophy”6. Strategize, engage and mobilize

stakeholders.7. Inspire and train; and do it again. 8. Drive change in all business units,

incrementally. 9. Use a mix of specialized and proven

CR instruments and management tools. 10. Concentrate efforts, prioritize

problems, change gradually and measure progress.

11. Communicate proven results thoroughly, proactively and purposefully.

But above all, make CR as fun, federative and accessible as possible, with the only objective to enthuse key stakeholders to change!

The future is NOWDespite the growing number of CR suc-

cess stories, companies continue to struggle with the fundamental challenges of embed-ding CR into day-to-day business strategies in order to maximize business impact. The main reason is very often the lack of external or in-ternal pressure and that CHANGE is painful!

We consider that CR is most effective when it is genuinely connected to the brand equity and company strategy—strengthen-ing a company’s unique identity and playing a vital part in how it tells its story. With today’s global economic, ethical and financial chal-lenges, CR is about business innovation and creating competitive advantage.

At the end of the day, CR is nothing else than good common sense, reputation man-agement, risk mitigation, corporate citizen-ship, accountability and respect. It is a great opportunity to reassess any business model and to drive change purposefully—at a time of uncertainties—where the only certain thing is CHANGE!

by Christopher H. Cordey, MDP 39

There are few doubts that stakeholders (NGOs, activists, employees), ethical consumerism, and globalization will obviously force the other watch/jewellery brands and their suppliers—being large or small—to evolve towards more responsibility. The question is when?

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Validating Corporate Social Responsibility

by Richard Yudin, MBM 1979

“CSR” is now a fashionable buzzword, but like many acronyms and their underlying labels,

usually misinterpreted. It is not simply charity and community involvement as a sideline to short-term

profit maximization. It really means taking a different view of a business, seeing each enterprise as a

segment of a web of interacting relationships, not all controllable by executives, and not just simplistically assuming a corporation to be a single process under

the mythical “total control” of managers.

ILLUSTRATION: CHILI DOGS

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MAO TSE-TUNG’S aphorism about a guerrilla needing to live in the community like a fish in the sea holds true for any other person and

organization as well. The appropriate quotes seem endless, such as John Donne’s “No man is an island” and Peter Drucker’s “Business cannot survive in a failed society.” In sum, to survive, you have to be in harmony with your surroundings. A business depends on its surrounding community and environment, and if there are changes, all must adapt together, or disappear.

Economic history is littered with mentions of once-powerful corporations that failed to adapt to new social trends, or grossly mismanaged them, and then disappeared. Consider the survival of the Danish East Asiatic Company, still active after over two centuries and nowadays having offices in Manila, while its far larger and grander Dutch and British rivals both vanished long ago. Yet the latter was once strong enough to conquer and occupy Manila in 1762.

The ancient Greeks coined the word “hubris” for that pride in achievements and vanity over positions that prevented people from changing their behavior to adapt to new situations. Hubris is still frequently observable in modern business, as when companies bankrupt themselves by continuing to produce items for which there is no longer a demand—for example, some companies in the North American motor vehicle industry. Their rivals that have been more open to the outside world and in tune with changing customer perceptions have survived. Instead of having an “inbred” group of managers directed to solely consider perpetuating the status quo of large comfortable behemoths, the survivors listened to customers seeking smaller, fuel-efficient vehicles. Likewise, failure to adapt to changes in the external environment can lead to internal stresses and morale-related declines in employee performance. For example, a persistent polluter that did not react to increasing public awareness of envi-ronmental issues and is pilloried in the news media will find that its employees lose their pride and faith in the corporation, and no longer exert themselves as much as before. No doubt there will be sociological studies galore of the British Petroleum fiasco in the Gulf of Mexico, as there were of Exxon and Union Carbide employees after the Valdez

and Bhopal disasters. On a smaller scale, how many of us know of family businesses that fail because the heirs continue to do things the way the founder did, oblivious to the fact that their benefactor only prospered after careful analysis of the surroundings and adapting the fledgling enterprise to suit its environment.

DefinitionsTrue corporate “social responsibility”

requires executives to be proactive, con-stantly analyzing the human environment, and identifying threats and opportunities in the society they live and operate in. These new trends can be internal and external, both can be dangerous if ignored too long or mishandled. “CSR” as analysis of the social environment applies to all human relation-ships, inside the factory walls and outside. Bitter internal politics leading to worker-management alienation does not only affect productivity and costs, the workers can take their problems to the outside community and the poor corporate image can repel customers and affect supplier relation-ships, quite apart from attracting political attention, official and subversive. Good labor relations are not usually considered part of CSR, but they definitely have an impact on community relations!

An AIM graduate’s CSR journeyI am today an accredited social and

environmental auditor, and manage a team of people who all have graduate degrees and spend their time visiting suppliers and company operations to ensure compliance with industry and corporate guidelines. Ten years ago I changed careers, leaving the “mainstream” job of being the logistics coordinator of a multinational trading company and volunteering to become the environmental coordinator for the same corporation. Our focus at the time was on demonstrating the company’s “green” credentials to customers. But we soon discovered that most people outside the company were far more interested in how we treated our workers, and how our subsidiary suppliers treated theirs. So nowadays my main focus is on product safety and worker welfare, and in attending to incessant customer and stakeholder queries about our behavior. “Greenness” is only a minor issue in our overall CSR program. From being a sideline defined succinctly as “keep us out of the newspapers” my role has returned to the corporate mainstream as the investment community now expects listed corporations to report on their performance.

Over the last decade of carrying out on-site inspections in over a dozen countries, I find that the human environment needs to be analyzed and communications directed at three levels: internal, stakeholder and universal.

The “internal” level encompasses em-ployees and management, including inves-tors where they actively influence company policy. Executives need to be sure that all teams are “on board” with everything that the leaders think should be going on. For this there has to be two-way communica-tion of some kind, and true communication means listening and responding—regretta-bly not always a management characteristic. For a company seeking to improve its image, spending time and effort on internal com-munications is a good place to start. Morale may improve simply because the lower level starts to feel that someone recognizes their importance to the whole. Also, if the stories are good, comments by workers among themselves can be repeated to their families and will quickly spread further with little cost and effort.

The “stakeholder” level usually com-prises inactive shareholders, worker’s fami-lies, suppliers, customers, and regulatory officials. All have differing outlooks, and may need to be addressed through differ-ent channels, but in one way or another, all depend on the success of the business, and its image is important to them. Communi-cations need to be managed carefully, it is unwise to tell customers about profitability in the way one would address investors.

In some environments, a company with a negative image will attract destructive attention from third parties who are not usually considered “stakeholders” but welcome having a target. One of the best examples I know of a coherent and successful CSR policy is that of the banana industry in strife-torn Colombia. Faced with harassment by armed guerillas, and the failure of paramilitary reprisals, the growers banded together and set up a foundation to work on housing, education and welfare issues for workers, following the “Hearts and Minds” policies evolved too late by the Americans in Vietnam. These have been

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A business depends on its surrounding community and environment, and if there are changes, all must adapt together, or disappear.

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hugely successful in promoting peace and stability in the plantation areas, by engaging all the local population in the industry’s success. As a foreigner I can now move freely in an area where thirty years ago I went in fear of my life.

The “universal” level is the most common form of communication to outsiders, generally deemed publicity, raising wider awareness of the company’s existence. Many companies have extolled their environmental and social achievements to a wider audience, some have even set up foundations to carry out altruistic public-service projects.

CertificationsFew outsiders, and even fewer of the

insiders, accept corporate statements at face value, especially where claims of product efficacy and safety are made. Governments usually oversee these areas, and so in most countries there is little need for independent third-party certification of consistent performance. Where officialdom is lacking or complacent, the threat of legal liability usually concentrates management attention on safety and quality. However in the social and environmental fields official supervision is almost always weak, and customers have come to demand unbiased evaluations by reliable experts as a condition of doing business.

The public relations nightmares endured by many major shoe and clothing brands after they were accused of tolerating “sweat-shop” conditions in their subcontractor facto-ries was a strong incentive for the creation of a “cottage industry” in social certification. In the more developed countries blessed with a free press, the publication of revelations of worker exploitation and environmental dam-age can severely affect a company’s image, and the salability of its branded products. So a parallel development took place in the field of environmental certification, followed a few years later by the development of all-encompassing “Best Management Practices” standards. These are now also known as “Good Manufacturing Practices” and similar phrases. After being involved in its develop-ment for several years, I am now a Board Member of the Global Good Agricultural Practices network, which has issued over a hundred thousand certificates in over eighty countries, and is now the largest private-sector international standard.

Like any other human organization, the independent certifiers are prone to errors of omission and commission. I will not deal with these, apart from mentioning that the certi-

fication market is like any other, and as the Ancient Romans said: “Let the buyer beware.”

Obtaining and keeping a certificationOver the last decade, I have noted three

primary reasons why an enterprise fails an impartially administered external audit by a competent assessor. First and foremost, a dismissive management attitude, which leads to several other problems having their root causes in a lack of understanding and support of the program at senior level, such as inadequate worker training and a lack of required materials. Secondly, human failures, often related to cultural and educational differences between groups of people in the system, which one could also trace back to management. Thirdly, clerical errors of all kinds, often because of a poorly designed record-keeping system that lacks internal checks and balances, and again ultimately due to insufficient oversight.

Poor management—The main problem seen everywhere I have investigated a failure, is lack of management commitment. Skimping on the resources need to maintain

a management system once implemented, neglect of regular refresher training, rationing of cleaning and sanitizing supplies, or false economizing by buying cheaper and less effective chemicals, protective equipment, and expendable tools are all symptoms of a poor attitude.

As one example of how to guarantee failure of an audit, let the workers see all the bosses scrambling to “put things right” for visitors to see, then after the latter’s departure everything reverts tohow it used to be. One can be certain that any training messages given prior to the visit will not be observed diligently bythe workers afterwards.

In another common scenario, the work-ers are told to wear caps, gloves, boots, etc., and then the bosses wander through the processing area in street clothes, and jump over sanitizing footbaths to preserve their designer footwear. The subliminal message to the workers is: “ It doesn’t really matter” so they see no reason to follow the rules, and

ignore them if they can get away with it.To succeed with any management

system, the top people must publicly endorse the program, and be seen to follow through, and constantly! This underlines one of the strengths of the HACCP system used in the food industry: when done properly all the operating managers must be involved in drawing up the plan, so they usually develop a proprietary attitude towards it.

To be effective, instructions to workers must be given by their own bosses, not some unknown person from outside their usual circle. New requirements are more credible if stated by someone who can take your job away if you mess up and endanger theirs! Training and retraining is a constant requirement, again best given by direct supervisors. Unless the workers actually handling the produce fully understand why they are carrying out certain tasks, mistakes are inevitable.

I have observed a tendency for uninterested managers to leave everything to outside consultants, or give the task to a newly-created special department outside the normal chain of command. Extra staff may be necessary to keep track of the paperwork, and carry out employee training, but responsibility must rest on the operating managers. All too often, they concentrate on short-term commercial imperatives, and neglect the program once they have the necessary certificate to show their clients. In an extreme case, after achieving certification, I know of one grower who fired the person who had successfully piloted the company to the commercial objective.

Poor maintenance, hygiene and sanitation—Of the three, the worst problem everywhere is poor personal hygiene. Workers are told to wash their hands, but when they go to unkempt and unsanitary restrooms they find no soap and no drying facilities, and sometimes no water either. The subliminal message to the employees is that the bosses do not really care, and so the workers cease to pay attention to all the other instructions they have received. As a consequence, contamination risks increase, and preventative practices neglected.

Taking poor worker hygiene as an example (again this is a management failure, usually through poor example), followed by neglect of the facilities sends a message that sanitation is unimportant. When visiting a farm, I am always alerted when asked to use the separate management toilets. If the bosses never visit the worker’s facilities, how can they be sure they are being properly kept?

To succeed with any management system, the top people must publicly endorse the program, and be seen to follow through, and constantly!

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To support the liveli-hood initiatives, NUVALI organized the communities into cooperatives aimed at establishing a formal entity to help encourage productiv-ity. Livelihood projects were started way back in 2008, giving less fortunate families in the area a steady source of income as well as educat-ing them on the benefits of taking care of nature.

Integral also to the May Kabuhayan program is NUVALI’s employment com-mitment—40% of workers in the development should come from the surrounding communities. NUVALI man-dates priority hiring from lo-cal communities. To further bolster the program, regular skills training are conducted to enable participants to be more competitive. To date, about 2,000 individuals com-ing from the area have been employed in NUVALI. These people helped build and op-erate modern infrastructure and provided various serv-ices worth millions further resulting to other economic opportunities in the area.

To be a fully-integrated eco-community, NUVALI gives importance to educa-tion and health through two (2) programs. Alay sa Edukasyon provides school supplies and shoes/slippers to public school children and ensures that the school premises are clean and repainted right before the start of classes in June of every year. Meanwhile, Alay sa Kalusugan is a series of medical and dental missions that are conducted among kids and adults alike in various barangays around NUVALI.

In order for communities to continue thriving, Ayala Land organized a work-shop on good governance

through the Akbay Barangay, a workshop on Effective Leadership and Good Gov-ernance among the leaders of Barangay Canlubang. Through the workshop, attended by the different officials of Barangay Canlu-bang, NUVALI management reiterated the importance of NUVALI’s shared vision of economic and environmen-tal development by further implementing effective and good governance.

Jointly organized by the Ateneo School of Govern-ment, the workshop on Ef-fective Leadership and Good Governance discussed vari-ous topics such as Situational Analysis and Development Perspectives, Local Govern-ance, and the Philippine Local Government code, and Strategic Thinking and Plan-ning towards Operational Efficiency and Accountabil-ity, among others.

Inspired by NUVALI’s vision, a locator school has committed to providing scholarships to less privileged members of the community.

These are all part and parcel of NUVALI’s contribu-tion to nation building. Ayala Land believes a strong and sustainable framework for one community can be reflected to more communi-ties and eventually support the development efforts in the whole country.

A look into the futureTwenty years from now,

can you imagine your chil-dren walking down gloomy alleyways to school, not knowing what dangers lie ahead? Or can you imagine your children running down the hills, soaking their feet on puddles and creeks painted with happy faces? Seeing the future from now isn’t only about what tall skyscrapers are going to rise or what more sophisticated

gadgets are being used. It’s about looking at what’s bet-ter for us and our future.

There will be more changes in the way people will live their lives. Will our children and future generations no longer enjoy the lush green environment that we once lived in? There is still hope. We can still give them a chance to see the best of both worlds. There is a great chance to preserve and bring back what was once a healthy earth. Ayala Land, through NUVALI, is helping this generation realize the importance of living, working, and enjoying life together with a thriving natural environment. If the world is one big NUVALI, what a change that would be.

“As an AIM alumnus and as senior vice president and general manager of NUVALI, I believe that any develop-ment or business must engage and uplift the living conditions of communities around us. If my NUVALI team is able to do this, then economic progress becomes more meaningful for many of our Filipino brothers. We hope to show the way so other companies will follow.” says NUVALI SVP and GM Aniceto “Jun” Bisnar, MBM 1989.

“Let us make this our new future. The future of a world where people, technology, progress, and nature work harmoniously towards providing a life with the best options. In NUVALI, there is a new future rising before us...where people and nature thrive.

“They sing of a living community in the streets around your home, when no one hid behind tall walls, and you and your neighbors would go out for walks in the hopefulness of morning or the coolness of dusk. You watched out for them and they watched out for you, and you felt safe and secure.”

Cleanliness and maintenance are often seen as “menial” jobs, especially in cultures where domestic servants are the norm at middle-class levels, and the two topics are regarded as not worthy of management attention. That is, until the day your product is rejected because of microbial contamination, or an essential piece of equipment fails!

Defective documentation—I have noted that many auditors spend most of their time going through the farm’s records. This is partly because of their training and work experience with the ISO 9001 quality control standard, and its derivative, the ISO 14001 standard, both heavily biased towards docu-mentation. This bias aside, checking records can be the best way to get a picture of how the business is managed on days the auditor is not visiting, since consistency and atten-tion to detail will be evident. Conversely, slackness and outright falsification of records betray an unsafe situation.

Good auditors ask for accounting and payroll documents to cross-check what they are being shown. A few mistakes, erasures, and omissions are tolerable, on the other hand a perfect set of records all written in the same handwriting using the same pen are a direct clue that things are not as they seem, and a diligent auditor will then start looking deeper into the paperwork to check authenticity.

There is an additional area of concern that is not applicable to all industries: processing and maintenance, which require intensive supervision to minimize downmarket losses. The main items to be avoided are work by unsupervised contractors outside regular working hours; toleration of less-than-perfect work in difficult-to-reach spots, especially of the liquid distribution systems; and poor waste controls that can lead to theft and illnesses. To ensure risk-free processing, the workers have to understand a simple message: Keep the place looking like a hospital, or you could end up out of a job!

ConclusionIn summary, businesses can succeed in

achieving any level of certification in any field of the many that can be considered part of their external responsibilities, even to the most detailed standard, through visible management involvement; attention to eve-ryday details every day, and no tolerance of any breakdowns. The key factor is managing the people involved, internal and external success in all fields, including the financial, depends on training and motivation.

>> “Nuvali’s Solid Commit-ment...” cont. from page 25

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by Professor Felipe AlfonsoIllustations by Fran Ng

Over thirty years ago, in his seminal work“The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase Its Profits” Milton Friedman argued that business corporations had “no responsibilities other than to maximize profits for the shareholders.” Today, many academics and business leaders and the public at large dispute the Friedman doctrine. With their considerable clout, business corporations in the Philippines and around the world now realize that they cannot exist in a vacuum. They need to be accountable to the communities in which they operate, for the vast resources that they have at their disposal. They need to own not only the economic consequences of their behavior but also its social dimensions. >>

TWOConnecting

WORLDS

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A I M L e a d e r M a g a z i n e | S e c o n d Q u a r t e r 2 0 1 0 33

by Professor Felipe AlfonsoIllustations by Fran Ng

Over thirty years ago, in his seminal work“The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase Its Profits” Milton Friedman argued that business corporations had “no responsibilities other than to maximize profits for the shareholders.” Today, many academics and business leaders and the public at large dispute the Friedman doctrine. With their considerable clout, business corporations in the Philippines and around the world now realize that they cannot exist in a vacuum. They need to be accountable to the communities in which they operate, for the vast resources that they have at their disposal. They need to own not only the economic consequences of their behavior but also its social dimensions. >>

TWOConnecting

WORLDS

WHAT IS THE REALITY that confronts busi-ness today? Very briefly, poverty is a major issue for the Philippines as a

whole. A significant percentage of the popula-tion has income below the poverty line. Accordingly, economic, social and human inequities continue to heighten, resulting in disparities in income and access to educa-tion, health and other social services.

Environment is another pressing prob-lem. We are all witness to the depletion of our forests that has resulted in many calamities resulting in the loss of thousands of lives and many more thousands rendered homeless. The ravaging of the environment through irresponsible mining continues to hug the headlines of our dailies. Planet Report 2004 has estimated that the Philippines, together with the rest of the world, are consuming natural resources at a rate that is 22% above their renewal rate.

How should business corporations and business leaders respond to these realities? Is it appropriate for them to limit themselves to the maximization of profits for their share-holders? Or should they expand their horizon to respond to their other stakeholders? They need to realize that there are other goals beyond the commercial role of business. In the same manner that it has used its talents and resources for creating wealth for its shareholders, business can leverage the same and be a powerful force for solving the social ills that afflict our nation.

All this has led to a rising set of expectations on the part of the public with respect to the role of business in society. In the more advanced economies, surveys have shown that customers prefer to buy goods produced by socially responsible corporations, other things being equal. There has been a similar study done in the Philippines. The result showed that a significant majority

There is an intellectual and cultural gap between what I am supposed to in the world and in the company...I want to make the gap between what I want to do as a human being and what I do in business disappear. Perhaps this is asking the fish to walk on land, but I want to make the two worlds mix.

across all socio-economic classes of our population considered it important that companies offering products were undertaking projects for the welfare of society. Such expectation was highest in the E segment of the population.

How has business then responded to this challenge? What has it done to bridge the inequalities and inequities in our society? The bridge that business has used is a set of activities and programs that are now more commonly known as CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) programs.

The nature of this bridge has changed and developed as both business and society learned to work together to address specific issues and problems. At the start, it involved minimal commitment and participation from businesses—writing out checks to support projects. This evolved into much greater cooperation and in-volvement as trust and comfort levels between business and its partners developed. Greater commitment developed leading into progressively greater integration of social goals into business activities.

While business continues to use these different forms of CSR activities, market solutions are a preferred mode to address issues of sustainability. It is my expecta-tion that as business applies to social problems the same innovation, creativity and commitment it has demonstrated to insure the success of its business ventures, we will be on our way to seeing a better life for all Filipinos. But it will be a continuing challenge, a work in progress.

I was struck by the words of a business leader who has faced this challenge and opportunity as reported in the first report of The Global Responsible Leadership Initiative organized by the European Foundation for Management Development:

“My job (as a business leader) is to create wealth. It is currently impossible to link the two (social agenda and business imperatives). There is an intellectual and cultural gap between what I am supposed to in the world and in the company... I want to make the gap between what I want to do as a human being and what I do in business disappear. Perhaps this is asking the fish to walk on land, but I want to make the two worlds mix.”

CSR is the bridge that links the two worlds.

Integrating CSR into your BusinessIt is now generally accepted that businesses need to help address social prob-

lems that ail societies in which they operate. One of the main challenges confront-ing corporations with regards to corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities that are intended to address such social problems is the task of insuring that these are sustainable in the long run. For this reason, the preferred form of CSR programs are those integrated into the core of how they do business.

There are various ways by which such integration can take place. One way is to develop products and services that not only address a social issue but also generate profits for the corporation and its shareholders. One such product is the development of hybrid cars. These cars not only reduce emissions that damage the environment but also provide a competitive advantage to those companies producing them.

Access to means of communication is a vital need in any society for the rich as well as for the poor. In the Philippines, access to such means of communication (telephones) was limited for a long time to the more affluent segment of our society. Both Smart and Globe have developed a business model that provided access to such a service to the poorest of the poor which C.K. Prahalad calls the bottom of the pyramid. As a result these two companies are today among the most profitable companies in the country today.

Dumpsites have long been a nuisance to communities but they are now a source of methane that is used to generate electricity. One such project is located in San Mateo, Rizal.

The thrust towards insuring sustainability of CSR programs has driven some food manufacturing and distribution companies like Jollibee and Figaro Coffee to include farmers into their supply chain. These companies want to insure that they get a steady supply of quality raw materials. Farmers on the other hand lack the resources to learn new technologies to improve their yields and the quality of their farm outputs. Moreover, they often lack a steady market for their produce.

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By helping farmers to learn new technologies and to provide financing for their crops, food companies are helping insure the availability and quality of their raw material. The companies also realized that by integrating the farmers into their supply chain, they no longer needed a separate budget for CSR.

Poor people often do not have access to health products. In response, companies like Unilever and P&G have developed new packaging for their products in sachets to put them well within the reach of even the poor. At the same time this new packaging served to expand the market for such products. Climate change and concern for the environment have also motivated manufacturers to develop new processes. Certain companies like Intel and Coca Cola continue to seek ways of minimizing the amount of water they use in their manufacturing as well as recycling the excess.

What can we learn from the foregoing examples about integrating CSR into the core and strategy of business? The key to sustainability of CSR programs is the link between these programs and the nature of the business of the corporations concerned. The corporation must realize some benefit from the programs otherwise when hard times come the budgets for CSR disappear. After all corporations are formed in order to generate profits for shareholders. But as shown in our examples, it is possible and in fact recommended that they go beyond their accountability to shareholders and likewise address social issues and problems in the way they do their business.

The process begins with identifying the social problems in the environment where the corporation operates. Such problems may revolve around poverty, climate change, environment or access to resources as shown in our examples. Then the corporation can ask itself what resources or capabilities it has that can be brought to bear on the identified social problem. If there is a match between the two, then you have the beginning of a truly sustainable CSR program.

The concept is really simple, but it may require creativity and innovation to implement. To start with it may require other skills and resources that certain corporations do not possess. Hence partnerships with other corporations, NGOs and the government may be needed. It has not always been easy for these three segments of our society to working together. They have been accustomed to work in silos with little or no interaction with one another.

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As mentioned earlier, it is my expectation that when business applies to social problems the same innovation, creativity and commitment it has demonstrated to insure the success of its business ventures, we will be on our way to seeing a better life for all Filipinos. But it will be a continuing challenge, a work in progress.

Implementing CSR InitiativesThere are a number of ways companies implement CSR programs. Some com-

panies choose to implement CSR initiatives on their own, through their human-resource or public-relations office or the CSR department. Others choose to do so with other organizations (private, government, nonprofit). Still others choose to create a foundation through which to implement their CSR initiatives. Each of these modalities has its own advantages and disadvantages.

By implementing its own CSR initiatives, the company can encourage employee participation. Since employees are among the major stakeholders in the company, involving them is an important motivation for them. Employees want to know that the company they work for helps communities.

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For example, Smart Communication’s corporate values of service, integrity and commitment are further enhanced in the consciousness of their employees through a community service program known as “Smart Employees Responding as Volunteers in the Community and Environment” (SERVICE). Under this program, employees are credited with a one-day community service leave if they join the company’s CSR programs.

However, if the company is to implement the project on its own, it is important to ensure that the organization has the skills needed to implement the project. It is also important to consider what and how much resources to commit. Where a wide range of social issues present themselves, focus is critical. When not enough resources are allocated, the expected results do not materialize.

Companies also implement their CSR activities through Corporate Foundations that they have established. A growing number of companies are beginning to use this mode of implementation because of the tax advantages for doing so. One advantage of creating a corporate foundation to implement CSR initiatives is that it does not disrupt the organization. Furthermore, the people hired for the foundation are experts in their fields and are often better qualified than the existing staff of the company to implement such initiatives. They bring into the organization other types of skills relevant to implementing CSR programs.

However, according to some practitioners and writers, the problem with creating a separate entity to implement CSR for a company is that projects may not be in line with its business objectives. There is also a tendency for people in the parent company to be less involved with the CSR projects because the foundation staff is not considered part of the entity and difficulty may arise in the working relationship between the two organizations.

Another mode of implementation is through collaboration. In recent years, the trend towards cross-sector collaboration has been growing especially in cases of large un-dertakings. Companies have come to see the benefits of working with other organizations. Recent examples of such collaborations are the reforestation of La Mesa Dam and the Philippine Business for Education program to elevate the quality of teachers in the public schools. In both cases even competitors have collaborated to undertake these projects. Another project that will need such collabo-ration between business, government and civil society is the clean-up of the Pasig River.

More and more corporations are discov-ering the importance of forging alliances for their CSR activities, especially when dealing with the community. Such alliances with community-based groups are an important source of legitimacy for the corporation. Since a community tends to be suspicious of the motives of a company implementing CSR initiatives, it makes sense for the company to partner with an organization based in the

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host community. This is particularly true of mining companies.Trust is an important element of such collaborations and it must be explicitly

developed because researchers have noted that there are differences in the objec-tives of business, government and civil society. Businesses have various stakehold-ers; their shareholders make up but one category but they are the one that cannot forego the profit agenda. Civil society on the other hand is focused on social devel-opment, while government is focused on providing public goods. Still, there is an opportunity for partnership because the community is the common denominator.

There are of course other issues and lessons in the implementation of CSR initiatives.

Partnerships for CSRAmong the modalities for implementing such initiatives was the use of

partnerships and collaborations between the company, government and nonprofit organizations (NPO). Because of the growing prevalence of cross sector collaboration to implement CSR projects it deserves further discussion.

As a background, it is appropriate to recall that these three major institutions of our society—the government, business and NPO sector traditionally operated not only as independent silos but were often times at odds with one another. Recent experience, however, is showing that many social problems and ills can be addressed in a sustainable manner only with the cooperation and collaboration of the three. However, there are many factors such as goals, objectives, and institutional capacity that need to be considered in such collaboration.

As far as goals are concerned, nonprofit organizations develop programs to fight for specific social causes or to fulfill the needs of specific communities, while businesses produce specific products and services targeted to fulfill the needs and demands of consumers. While the motivations for targeting these people are different, all these take the needs of the people into account. Businesses cannot ignore people because they are also the consumers.

When forging a partnership it is important to consider the “who,” why and how of it. The “who” refers to the choice of partner, the “why” to the objectives of the partnership, and the “how” to the mode of operation.

In choosing a partner, it is important to evaluate the nature of the organization. The organization chosen should be involved with whatever CSR initiative the company wants to deal with. Obviously, the NPO should have a good standing in the community. This cliché is all the more true when partnering with a government organization.

Since trust is critical to such a partnership, the company should take steps to build a relationship with the partner organizations. It may be worthwhile collaborat-ing with a new organization “provided that trust is established through other means.” The Asian Development Bank suggests asking the following questions at the outset:

• What is the mandate of the organization? • What is its reputation? • How will its reputation affect the corporation? • If the organization has been critical of the company’s operations in the

past, will the partnership help alleviate such criticism or will it intensify them?In addition, when assessing the level of trust, it is important to determine if

there are feelings of distrust on the partner’s part that may stem from skepticism or lack of understanding of the company’s operations or whether the partner has specific concerns regarding the company’s operations to know whether the distrust could be overcome or not.

Partnerships are formed because there is common ground or a shared interest. There must be a shared vision of what is to be accomplished and recognition that motives can be complementary even when they are different.

Organizations that enter into partnerships do so for different reasons. For the company, the reasons may be a need for a social license to operate while for the partner—the nonprofit organization (NPO)—it may be the need for financial as-sistance. There may be some overlaps, for instance, the need to help the commu-nity. Otherwise, there would be no basis for partnership. It is important to have at

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FELIPE B. ALFONSO (MBA, New York, 1967) is the Vice-Chairman of the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) Board of Trustees and the AFCSR Executive Director of the AIM-Ramon V. del Rosario Sr. Center for Corporate Social Responsibility. He is also Vice Chairman of the Lopez Group Foundation, Inc. The article was first published in Prof. Alfonso’s column in the Philippine Daily Inquirer as four separate articles in 2009 and 2010.

least similar goals for the initiative, even if overall organizational objectives may vary.

In selecting a partner, a company must know what it wants to achieve so that it can evaluate if its prospective partner is suitable. At the same time, the company must ensure that the partnership is mutually gainful. NPOs would not go into such partnerships if there were no benefits for them.

Once the partner has been identified and the cause chosen, the next challenge is to work together successfully. Aside from having shared objectives, it is important that expectations are clearly defined for account-ability and transparency. Thus, the company has to decide if they would be playing an active role in the delivery of the program or not. It should also be clear as to who will make what decisions in the initiative and who would measure its impact.

According to James Austin in his book The Collaboration Challenge there are three stages of partnership: philanthropic, transac-tional, and integrative. At the philanthropic stage, there is little involvement between the company and the NPO aside from the com-pany giving a donation to the NPO. It may be a one-time arrangement or it may continue for several occasions, but there is no real involvement between the two parties.

At the transactional stage, there is more involvement and also more benefits for both parties. The company’s business objectives are approached more closely.

At the integrative stage, there are even more dealings between the employees of the organizations: their individual mission and vision are more in line; the relationship also becomes institutionalized.

Partnerships are formed because there is common ground or a shared interest. There must be a shared vision of what is to be accomplished and recognition that motives can be complementary even when they are different.

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New Generation, New Model

by Prof. Maya Balatazar Herrera

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ILLUSTRATION: CHILI DOGS

“OUR FIRST ORDER of business so often seems to be convincing people that we are not up to anything evil.”

I was attending a workshop on “Shared Value”, a phrase and concept generally cred-ited to Michael Porter and Mark Kramer, who in a December 2006 article in the Har-vard Business Review discussed the idea of strategic CSR and the linking of shareholder value and social value.

The modern approach to CSR and, in fact, business is that CSR is neither simply philanthropy nor expense. It is a legitimate area both of concern and ac-countability within a corporation because it is a means of enhancing shareholder value. The notion is that corporate profit need not come at a social expense; that there is, in fact, a win-win scenario.

The audience was a mix of corporate practitioners, non-profit representatives and academics. As is so often the case in mixed groups such as these, the non-

profit representatives were suspicious, the corporate representatives cautious and the academics aggressively neutral.

More interesting to me, however, was the mix of generations. Within each of the different segments, there seemed to me a demarcation between the generations. The younger participants seemed be both more critical as well as more open.

I thought this was particularly interest-ing since the Millennials are becoming an important segment in at least two of any corporation’s stakeholders: its consumers and its employees.

But first, the lay of the land.

A History of Mistrust“Isn’t CSR just a new term for public

relations?” is, of course, something we have often heard. Evidence from certain indus-

tries, notably the tobacco industry, can be particularly damning.

Critics point to evidence that the tobacco industry seems to have used CSR as a means to continue to put its

brand in front of the public, thereby subverting policies and prohibitions against tobacco ad-vertising. Articles point to the relative amount of spending on actual CSR activity versus advertising concerning the CSR activity. At least two studies (University of Georgia and The Cancer Council Victoria in Melbourne,

Australia) even point to evidence that certain types of anti-smoking campaigns actually result in

increased desire among teens to smoke.But even outside of the tobacco

industry, there is a history of mis-trust. It is easy to look through the history of capitalism and point to the misery that is the foundation of such industries as coal mining or cotton processing. Of course, it is probably less entertaining to look at the history of child labor and remember that, in many com-munities, work in factories may have been less backbreaking (and more lucrative) than work on the family farm.

In fact, many non-profit organizations were established precisely to guard mar-ginalized sectors of society from those who are “in power”. For the many non-profit organizations established to protect the poor and the down-trodden, government is a less-than-ideal partner, but a partner that must be dealt with. Corpora-tions, on the other hand, are the enemy; the only purpose of enterprise to enrich owners. This is unsurprising as many of these non-profit organizations were established by the generation that sought to reject the “establishment”.

The logic of enterprise as enemy was that value creation is a zero-sum game. However, as Porter and Kramer (and many

other authors) have tried to point out, this is simply not true.

The history of mistrust remains, however. Even among the youngest members of the

workforce, the Millennials, those born in the last two decades of the 20th century, there is still a vague suspicion about the real purpose of CSR. In a Facebook thread about CSR, Angelo Suarez, 25, published poet, essayist, and advertising copywriter for Ace Saatchi & Saatchi asserts: “...people end up becoming dependent on corpora-tions for such basic resources that should be provided by governments, making unwitting consumers out of victims of bad government in a dangerous circuit of capitalist violence! CSR is dangerous stuff, I don’t think there’s a good/clean way of doing it.”

Other Side of the CoinNot all of the younger genera-

tion think this way. Tinka Herrera, 22, freelance writer and researcher, responded to this thread: “I don’t feel that it’s necessarily a cycle of dependency. The fact is

governments do have limited resources, and if corporations and NGOs have projects that

help support local communities and improve people’s lives, I don’t think that’s a bad thing.” But then, Tinka is not an entirely unbiased source as she has been

exposed to CSR practitioners for a few years.In that same thread, Paolo Jose Cruz, 30,

a freelance writer who spent several years in the outsourcing industry, responds “I don’t regard any one approach (private sector initiative vs. government led) more ideal than the other, depending on the needs of the communities in question.”

Pema Domingo-Barker, 24, a graphic designer in New York, closed this thread with a comment that warmed my

academic heart. “It’s been such a debate over the effectiveness and the incen-tive behind CSR campaigns...and it’s

really easy to be cynical (I’m still wary of ‘greenwashing’)”...“looks like the overall sentiment is that CSR is worthwhile when it’s not outright free aid, and encourages local growth. The old model of charity is sooo out!”

That, in fact, is the message of those who espouse strategic CSR: that CSR needs to move beyond charity or PR. It must take real business circumstances into consideration.

The Wireless GenerationFor marketers, the connected generation

is rapidly becoming one of the most lucrative and elusive of the market segments. Genera-tion Y, the Millennials, gives us a foretaste of Generation Z.

Many marketers think of Generation Y as the wired gen-eration. Generation Z is the wireless generation, the gen-eration whose web lives are just as, if not more, active than their real lives.

For both cohorts, multiple inputs and parallel processing are SOP. They expect to be able to pattern their schedules and their lives in accordance with their personal preferences. They are the market segment

that assumes that everything can be ordered in, and in exactly the form they want, on the day they want it. Their purchase decisions tend to be more practical, less brand-driven.

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“New Generation, New Model” cont. on page 43 >>

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The traditional incentives of more money and increased responsibility are losing luster. The Millennials want more and that more is not money.

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Yes, we can, and by golly, we will!

“WHEN THE MILLENNIALS enter the workforce, whatare they looking for in a job? Anybody?”

This was a question posed by one of the speakers at a session in last year’s Asian Forum on Corporate Social Responsibility. He wasn’t a millennial—that much I could tell by visual inspection. His question was met by an uncomfortable wall of silence, and a sea of people avoiding eye contact with him. After a few more moments of quiet, a brave soul ventures an answer.

“Money,” says a graying

gentleman in a business suit, “It’s always more money.”

That girl seated at the back, with untamed hair, wearing jeans and sneakers, tsk-tsking and shaking her head? That’s me. Fiercely Millennial and quite proud of it.

* * *We are the Millennials,

over a billion strong, the people born between 1980 and 2001. We were online before Google became ubiquitous, we started sleeping next to our mobile phones in our teens (if not ear-lier), and we don’t let a day pass

without logging on to our social networking sites of choice.

Our generation has been called lots of things—outspoken, demanding, brash, brimming with entitlement, even bratty, but also incredibly bold, inquisitive, experimental, progressive, wildly inventive, creative, hungry for community and kinship, and comfortably united by (and in) technology.

Also, we think we’re going to save the world.

No, seriously.According to the in-depth

2006 Cone Millennial Cause study, 61% of Millennials feel

by Tabitha Herrera

A Millennial’s take on why CSR is becoming increasingly relevant to companies that want to stay in touch with her generation

personally responsible for mak-ing the world a better place. In the Strauss & Howe book entitled Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation, we are described as civic-mind-ed, politically-engaged, earnest types, less cynical than our elders, and smarter, more indus-trious and better-behaved than any generation before us. We are supposedly multilateralists by nature, and we understand the need to bridge gaps and act together to solve what we believe to be our major problems.

From the same Cone study mentioned previously, 78% of Mil-lennials believe that companies have a responsibility to join in this effort. Companies can expect Millennials to put their money where their mouth is—studies say Millennials, as consumers and as employees, are ready to reward or punish companies based on their commitment to social causes. 89% are likely or very likely to switch from one brand to another (price and quality held equal) if the second brand is associated with a good cause, 79% want to work for a company that cares about how it contributes to society, and 56% would refuse to work for an irresponsible corporation.

But there is sometimes this problem with statistics. See how up there it says we’re likely to switch from one brand to another based on a company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) prac-tices, IF the price and quality are held equal? In real life, the price and quality of two different brands are rarely equal, and in a post-financial crisis world, cost is still a very real and significant decision factor.

“CSR? I don’t think about that when I buy stuff,” says David Ty, a 26-year-old architect based in Singapore.

“As a consumer, CSR might matter to me less in light of more pressing concerns. For instance, I still shop at Walmart because sometimes they’re just so cheap, even if they have some arguably

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questionable business practices. But social responsibility would matter more to me as an em-ployee earning my daily living,” says Melissa Sayoc, 22, a law student from California.

The research supports the idea that CSR plays a more important role in the Millenni-als’ choice of workplace than it does in their purchase decisions. According to a 2008 Pricewa-terhouseCoopers survey, 88% of Millennials said they would choose employers who have CSR values that reflect their own and 86% would consider leaving an employer if CSR values no longer matched their expectations.

“CSR is important for me as a consumer, but more important-ly as an employee,” says Theresa Grajo, a 23-year-old management trainee for Johnson & John-son’s. She adds, “As a consumer I want to ‘vote with my feet’ and support companies whose advocacies genuinely support my concept of social responsibility. But more significantly, as an employee, the company is the social context where I will exist on a daily basis. My effort, talent, and inclinations will be poured into ensuring the success of that company, and in a very direct manner will influence how this company will impact society.”

“CSR is synonymous with sustainability. It’s part of the foundation for long-term progress and growth in any corporate entity—no company can stay irresponsible for very long. When I choose to make a long-term commitment as an employee, I wouldn’t want to be part of a company that acts irresponsibly, because that’s

unsustainable, and in many cases, harmful to the company and the people who work there,” adds Carla Sia, a 20-year- old university student from the Philippines.

In an increasingly competi-tive global environment where quality is more important than quantity, and hiring the best young talent is crucial to helping businesses stay ahead (or get ahead) of their competitors, this is important stuff to know. We do care about the things that companies do, and we do want companies to reap the benefits of our creative, inventive, tech-savvy selves, but we want to do this in a place where we know we’re making a difference. So listen up, companies: We want to do good, and if doing well and working hard for you means we’re also making the world a better place because your CSR programs resonate with us, then we’re in. Completely.

* * *“Well, money is a factor,

yes, but that’s not what they’re looking for, it’s not really the money for Millennials,” says the guest speaker.

“You know what it is these kids want?” he pauses briefly, leans forward, lowers his voice almost to a whisper, as if he were telling us a secret.

“Meaning. They want a job that gives them a sense of meaning.”

In the back, in sneakers and denim, I nod and smile the quietly contented smile of someone who feels kinship with a stranger who understands what it is my generation is all about.

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While this is challenging for market-ers, it can be even more challenging for human resource managers. Flexibility in the workplace is, in many cases, still more a theory than a fact. The traditional incentives of more money and increased responsibility are losing luster. The Millennials want more and that more is not money. They are looking for a life, not just a career; they are looking for mean-ing, not a trajectory.

Elusive TalentThe challenge of engaging Genera-

tion Y comes at a time when there is a growing belief that talent has become critical for corporate performance. There is growing evidence that employee engagement is a predictor of employee and corporate performance.

Research does show that there is positive linkage between job satisfac-tion and job performance. Saari and Judge (2004) cite findings that show job performance to be predicted by job satisfaction, a relationship that is espe-cially pronounced in professional jobs. Boehm & Lyubomirsky (2008) used cross-sectional evidence from previous research to show that happiness can lead to success in the workplace. The study found that happy employees choose jobs that are more meaningful to them, have a higher degree of autonomy, accommodate a wider array of tasks and responsibilities, and are more likely to view difficult times as challenges that can be overcome.

At this point, I could throw in the heaps of papers and evidence to estab-lish this link but this is not an academic journal. Instead, let me point you to more mundane reports.

Hewitt Associates, a firm that regu-larly publishes “Top Employer” reports espouses a five-step process to harness employee engagement for corporate re-sults. The “Great Place to Work Institute”, which helps Fortune magazine identify Fortune’s annual list of top employers, declares on its website that “Trust-based relationships are at the heart of every great workplace”.

A quick review of Fortune’s write-ups on great places to work clearly shows how serious companies have become about keeping employees happy. The importance of employees as a stakeholder in enterprise has become more, not less, important.

On the web, Fortune features ten employees who work for one of the top ten great places to work. They are gener-ally Gen X’ers and they are clearly driven by more than just money or ambition. This drive for personal meaning over ma-terial wealth or overt power is a trait that

The author graduated with great grades from the University of the Philippines. In typical millennial fashion, she set aside offers from banks and insurance companies to take a gap year and explore—she has discovered that she likes marketing and writing. To discuss this article, talk about comic books, geek out over Battlestar Galactica, ask her out on a date, or offer her a job, you may e-mail her at tinkaherrera@gmail.com.

>> “New Generation, New Model” continued from page 41

A I M L e a d e r M a g a z i n e | S e c o n d Q u a r t e r 2 0 1 0

88% of Millennials said they would choose employers who have CSR values that reflect their own and 86% would consider leaving an employer if CSR values no longer matched their expectations.

only strengthens in Generation Y. Gen-eration Y is a generation of community; they expect to be able to pick and choose the quality of the people they spend time with. They care about the ethics about the Company they work for; and, com-pared to previous generations, are more likely to leave if they are unhappy.

Neither is Generation Y a generation that will be satisfied by slogans and “feel good” messages. They are used to researching, comparing and analyzing. In many ways, they are a “show me” generation.

They don’t have the historical bag-gage of some non-profit organizations but they bring a clear-eyed lucidity to the employer’s value proposition and its conduct. Corporations would do well to take them very, very seriously.

References:1. Mclaren, Carrie. “How Tobacco Company “Anti-Smoking” Ads Appeal to Teens” http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/electronic-publications/stay-free/archives/17/tobacco-anti-smoking.html2. “Anti-smoking campaigns encourage teen use”http://www.armannd.com/the-real-results-of-the-anti-smoking-campaigns.html3. “Anti-Smoking Ads cleverly boost smoking among teens”http://www.naturalnews.com/020996.html4. “DOH warns government agencies versus tobacco firms”http://ph.news.yahoo.com/gma/20100516/tph-doh-warns-govt-agencies-vs-tobacco-f-d6cd5cf.html5. “Employee engagement is good for the bottomline”http://www.hrmreport.com/article/Employee-engagement-is-good-for-the-bottom-line/6. “Linking Engagement to Business Performance”http://www.hewittassociates.com/intl/AP/en-AP/KnowledgeCenter/Magazine/HQ_ 24/business-performance.html7. Fortune’s “100 Best Companiesto Work For 2010”http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/bestcompanies/2010/faq/index.html8. “I work for one of the 10 Best Companies”http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2010/fortune/1001/gallery.Bestcompanies_employees.fortune/9. Boehm, J. K., & Lyubomirky, S. (2008). Does happiness promote career success? Journal of Career Assessment, 16 (1), 101-116.10. Saari, L. M., & Judge, T. A. (2004). Emloyee attitudes and job satisfaction. Human Resource Management, 43 (4), 395-407.

Revisiting the CSR Value Proposition: Measuring Impact

LET ME SUMMARIZE MY POSITION RIGHT UP front. I believe that corporate social responsibility is not an option; it is the primary responsibility of every corporation. It is not a nice-to-have; it is a must-have. When I speak about corporate social responsi-bility, I am speaking about how a company conducts business. I believe that, at the very least, the way it conducts business must entail three things:

• It must be concerned with economic viabil-ity, without which the corporation cannot survive.

• It must be concerned with environmental sus-tainability, without which the world cannot survive.

• And it must be concerned about the health and well-being of the community of which it is a part, without which, its economic viability cannot be sustained.

I did not always think like that. So when I was asked to revisit the corporate social responsibil-ity proposition, I revisited it in the way I thought about these questions, and looking through my notes and what I said at the third Asian Forum on Corporate Social Responsi-bility in Kuala Lumpur in the year 2004, five years ago. My view then was that the primary re-sponsibility of a corporation, echoing Milton Friedman, is to be profitable. All the other things I argued in that Forum are nice-to-have but not must-have. Philanthropy, charity, and social respon-sibility should be left to individuals. If shareholders decide to be generous with the money they make from their corporations, [then] that is an individual decision. For companies, the primary responsibility is to be profit-able. That was my view then; it

is no longer my view today. My view then was colored by the fact that

I come from one of the wealthiest countries in the region, rich from oil and gas, in which the government takes care of everything to the point, I believe, of spoiling its citizens. The key chal-lenge for a society like Brunei, from which I come, is economic sustainability. The preoccupation overwhelmingly is to take care of every need con-ceivable of its citizens, and we have done that very well. But we have not paid sufficient attention to economic viability and economic sustainability, as a result of which our ranking in the world in terms of wealth, as measured by gross domestic product per capita, an imperfect indicator but probably the best thing that we have today, continues to drop. In 1980, we were by far the richest country in Asia, with gross domestic per capita several times that of Singapore. Today we are less wealthy than Singa-pore, although the quality of life of the citizens of Brunei, as measured by the Human Development Index, continues to be very high. Coming from that

background, I was inclined to put greater em-phasis on the importance of economic vi-

ability over other values. I no longer share that narrow view of what a corporation should be concerned with. My view today is that a corporation must be concerned not just about its profitability, although it must continue to be concerned about that. But it must also be concerned about environmental sustainability and the community

by Dato Paduka Timothy Ong

I believe that it was Albert Einstein who distinguished between success and value when he said, “Seek not to be a man of success; rather seek to be a man of value.” A man or woman of value is one who embodies good value in the way they do business. One of the lessons we have learned in this global crisis that almost brought the global economies to its knees, is that success based on the wrong values can be short-lived. Success in itself is not sufficient; success needs to be grounded on the right values. And this is what corporate social responsibility, when all is said and done, is about.

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ILLUSTRATION: CHILI DOGS

conducted their business, how increasingly rewards were aligned to short-term profits, and how increasingly corporations rewarded the wrong kind of behavior. This realization that good values lie at the heart of how capi-talism is supposed to function, has led me to the view that a company can no longer adopt a narrow definition of what its responsibility should be. A company should consider, as its primary responsibility, management in a socially responsible way.

The other development that has rein-forced this change of view, on my part, is the challenge of global warming. We may argue about what the correct responses are to global warming. We may argue that rich countries should bear a greater burden, and the poorer countries of the world should be allowed to keep on growing without too much regard to the environment. What we cannot argue about is that global warming is a fact, and if it is not addressed, the conse-quences will be dire for all of us. Lord Stern, who used to work in the British Treasury and is as hard-nosed a person as you can get, has argued that the price we will eventu-ally pay for global warming, when the bill is submitted in economic terms, is substan-tially greater, many times greater than the price we pay today for corrective action.

Obviously, it is easier said than done, to say that corporate social responsibility is not an option. When I say corporate social responsibility is not an option, I am making a statement of value. The fact remains that for most companies, corporate social respon-sibility remains an option. There are many companies who are not concerned with cor-porate social responsibility and still do very well. There are many companies who see cor-porate social responsibility as an extension of their public relations, as an extension of their branding—corporate social responsibility in a very superficial way. For many companies, corporate social responsibility is not inte-grated in the way they do business; it is the preserve of a particular department, usually the public relations. There is a great deal of work to do. And one of the things that must be done is the integration of corporate social responsibility in the way we do business.

I would end with a few thoughts. First, we need to find ways of harnessing self-interest to the cause of corporate social responsibility. One of the most powerful mo-tivating forces in the world today—in fact, I would argue, the most powerful motivating

force in the world today—is self-interest, to the extent that if we can integrate self-inter-est with corporate social responsibility, we do not have to worry about corporate social responsibility. We now see it in the develop-ment of green technology, where companies do well in business by doing good. Where there is that alignment between self-interest and good work and good project, we do not even have to talk about the need for corpo-rate social responsibility. But we need to go beyond green technology; we need to extend it in the other areas of business.

The second thing is that we need to develop good indicators, whereby we can measure how socially responsible a corpora-tion is. I share Professor Googins’s observa-tion that most of the indicators out there are superficial, and there is no consensus about what these indicators should be. If we can arrive at a point where we have universally agreed standards simple enough for people to understand which companies are socially responsible and which companies are not,

I think we would have made a significant progress in this area. Professor Googins mentioned that in crisis there is opportunity. I share that view. The global crisis has led to many cutbacks in many budgets on social projects. It is an opportunity

for us to revive the need for corporate social responsibility. I saw flickerings of this at the APEC CEO Summit. For the first time, I saw bankers and others talk about the impor-tance of good values. But we need to remind ourselves that crises are an opportunity not just to do good things; they are also an op-portunity to do bad things. And in order for this crisis to be an opportunity to do good, good men and women have to stand up and let their voices be heard, and their ideas be registered into concrete achievements.

of which it is a part. This change in mind is a result of two major realizations on my part, arising from the way the world has changed.

The first is the global financial crisis, which almost destroyed the global economy. It is easy today, having the worst behind us, to underestimate how close the world came to the abyss. The global financial crisis, in my view, taught us two things, amongst many things. The first is that markets, in particular financial markets, are not self-regulating. The second is that the unbridled pursuit of self-interest does not necessarily lead to the greater good. These two ideas were dominant until the crisis broke; they are obviously not dominant today.

Last week, I was at the APEC CEO Summit in Singapore, which brought together 1,500 chief executives. I only wished it was a forum on corporate social responsibility because all the people that were needed to make a huge difference in the world were in that room. They came together in Singapore, primarily because the leaders of the Asia Pacific from President Obama of the United States to President Hu Jintao of China, together with all the leaders of APEC, 21 of them, including His Majesty the Sultan and the President of the Philippines, were in town. What was striking about this Summit was the increasing emphasis being placed on the role of good values, on the role of morality in the proper functioning of a market economy. The talk is no longer about compliance because, as we have seen in the global financial crisis, many of the excesses in terms of management remunerations based on short-term results, were entirely in compliance with the law, but were based on the wrong values.

One of the highlights of the APEC CEO Summit was an address given by Steven Green, the group chairman of HSBC, which has emerged from this crisis a lot better than some of the other major banks in the global economy. Steven Green, besides being a banker, is an ordained minister of the Church. During the week, he works as a leading global banker. On weekends, he can often be found preaching at this church in London. He recently wrote a book called Good Value, in which he argues that at the center of all good corporations are good values. It is not sufficient to be simply in compliance with the laws; it is also important that the way one manages be grounded on the right values. It was also interesting at this CEO Summit to listen to Shaukat Aziz, former Citibanker and former Prime Minister of Pakistan, talk about how values went wrong in the way people

DATO’ PADUKA TIMOTHY ONG TECK MONG is the deputy chairman of the National Insurance Company Berhad and holds directorship positions across various industries. He is the acting chairman of the Brunei Economic Development Board and co-chairman of Asia Inc. Mr. Ong is Brunei’s representative to the Group of Eminent Persons of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation. Active in public affairs, Dato Paduka Ong was chairman of the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) in 2000 and co-chairman of ABAC in 2001. He holds Economics and Political Science degrees (with honors) from the Australian National University and a master’s degree in International Relations from the London School of Economics. Dato Paduka Ong has been a member of the AIM BOG since 1997. This speech was delivered during the 8th Asian Forum on Corporate Social Responsibility, November 20, 2009.

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I believe that corporate social responsibility is not an option; it is the primary responsibility of every corporation. It is not a nice-to-have; it is a must-have.

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Awards were presented to five winners and nine excellence awardees at the gala dinner of the 8th Asian Forum on Corporate Social Responsibility on November 20, 2009 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Manila.

The Asian CSR Awards, offered annu-ally since 2003 and co-presented by AIM and Intel, is Asia’s premier Awards program on corporate social responsibility. The 2009 awards program attracted 211 entries repre-senting 132 companies from 14 countries. It recognizes and honors companies in Asia for their corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects and programs. The Awards are given in five categories: Best Workplace Practices, Concern for Health, Environmental Excel-lence, Poverty Alleviation, and Support and Improvement of Education.

The Asian CSR Awards is an inherent component of the annual, regional Asian Forum on Corporate Social Responsibility (AFCSR) conference and Expo. The Asian CSR Awards program is presented by the AIM Ramon V. del Rosario, Sr. Center for Corpo-rate Social Responsibility.

The 2009 winners are:

AFTER EIGHT YEARS IN DIFFERENT parts of SE Asia, the AIM Ramon V. del Rosario Center for Corporate Social Responsibility will return to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia after six years for the 9th Asian Forum on Corporate Social Responsibility (AFCSR) and the 8th Asian CSR Awards. The 2010 Forum is co-presented by GTZ (German Technical Cooperation) and Intel as Strategic Partners.

Recognized as being the largest and most significant conference on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Asia, the 2009 conference recently concluded in Manila had 494 delegates. 473 delegates attended in Singapore in 2008, and 550 delegates attended in

Ho Chi Minh City in 2007. On October 21 & 22, 2010

the Center expects more than 500 delegates to gather in KL, Malaysia for the 9th AFCSR to network and learn from more than 60 speakers and moderators. The Forum boasts of having delegates and speakers from more than 25 countries. The theme for the 2010 AFCSR is “Improving Business Competitive-ness through CSR.”

Major multinational companies as well as a number of regional businesses are discovering that there are many ways in which the practice of CSR can improve their business competitiveness. The Asian

Forum 2010 brings together these best practices together with current thinking on business competitiveness through CSR from worldwide sources.

The 2010 Forum will show how businesses can in fact gain strategic competitiveness and achieve workplace and HR competitiveness as a preferred employer to have a motivated employee. A highlight in the Forum will be how CSR helps business build its brand value and court ethical customers. In addition, time is devoted to reviewing how internal efficiencies can be generated through better supply-chain management and sustainable energy and the greening practices - and how these improve

business competitiveness. Finally, the forum will focus

on how business can become even more competitive by working with the government and supporting the community through public private partnerships.

The AFCSR is for business and is about business. AFCSR 2010 will look at what businesses are concerned with, and show business how it can become more competitive by understanding what are important issues to civil society and government.

For more information and details for the 2010 Asian Forum on Corporate Social Responsibility, please visit www.asianforumcsr.com.

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The Asian

Asia’s Foremost Conference and Expo on CSR returns to KL after Six Years

Community Grid, PhilippinesExcellence Awardees:Chevron Philippines Incorporated: Chevron-Marcellin Kapatid Program, PhilippinesNational College of Science and Technology: NCST DTS Program, Philippines

SUPPORT AND IMPROVEMENT OF EDUCATIONWinner: Smart Communications Inc.: Your Partner in Education, PhilippinesExcellence Awardees:Citibank N.A. / Citi Philippines: Estudyantipid - TV/cable-based finance literacy program for public school children De La Salle Lipa: Book mobile and Reading Program, Philippines

A Special Achievement Award for Social Responsibility was given posthumously to former Philippine President Corazon C. Aquino for her outstanding contribution to the nation in the service to the Filipino. Ms. Balsy Aquino-Cruz, eldest daughter of the late president, received the award on her behalf. The 2009 Intel-AIM Corporate Re-sponsibility Award (IACRA) went to Manila Water Company. The IACRA is given to an organization that has best shown how CSR is integrated into their company strategy.

For information on the 2009 winners and more than a thousand other CSR projects, please visit the RVR Center’s website at <www.rvr.aim.edu>

The deadline for entries for the 2010 Asian CSR Awards is August 27, 2010. Online entries are encouraged. For more information on the Awards Program and the 2010 Asian Forum on Corporate Social Responsibility, please visit our website at <www.asianforumcsr.com>

BEST WORKPLACE PRACTICES Winner: City Developments Ltd: Workplace Health Project, SingaporeExcellence Awardees:Ayala Land Inc: ALI Green Training Series: “Fostering a Sustainability Mindset within Ayala Land,” PhilippinesQuezon Power: Employee Empowerment Program, Philippines

CONCERN FOR HEALTHWinner: Pulp and Fibre Business, Grasim Industries Limited: Public Private Partnership for Physical, Mental, and Social Well-Being, IndiaExcellence Awardee:JAAG Broadcasting Systems-SAMAA TV: The Polio Control Cell (A united fight against polio in Pakistan), Pakistan

ENVIRONMENTAL EXCELLENCE Winner: Tetra Pak Pakistan: Building entre-preneurship and sustainability, PakistanExcellence Awardees:Senoko Power Limited: Senoko Power Environmental Project, SingaporeSmart Communications Inc: Alternative Power for Cell Sites Program, Philippines

POVERTY ALLEVIATIONWinner: IBM Philippines: IBM World

CSR Awards

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The AIM experience will not be com-plete without the dorm life. As one alumni said “the somewhat mandatory stay-in was pure fun and adventure for us young people, especially in making new acquaintances and even keeping lasting friendships.”

Who can forget the late night study sessions with CAN group mates? How about the numerous (sometimes secret) beer pubs in celebration of small (or big) victo-ries? The one-of-a-kind camaraderie and bonding experiences developed inside the walls of the AIM Dormitory have produced lifelong friendships. If only the halls of the Dormitory can talk, surely there will be many hilarious, wonderful and memorable stories to share.

Started in 1968 and finished in 1970, the AIM Dormitory has six floors, 45 rooms and 269 beds. There has never been any major renovation in the Dormitory since 1968! The rooms and the furnishings remain the same. In subsequent years, certain additions were made, including the Dinette (pan-try on each floor, equipped with lavatory, microwave oven and drinking fountains), the gym in the basement (formerly the Student Lounge) and the new Student As-sociation Room at the ground floor (which was formerly Suite 3, now converted into a canteen and an area that has a lounge and a TV room). The Dormitory also includes a Roman Catholic Chapel at the ground floor, a Hindu Room at the sixth floor and a Muslim Prayer Room at the second floor.

After forty years, while Dormitory holds years of accumulated memories, it is due for renovation to cater to the new demands of the times. We need your help to fix up the Dormitory that was your home while you were at AIM. Contribute to the AIM Alumni Leadership Fund for Learning Space and Facilities, and help make each student’s AIM experience more meaningful and enjoyable.

On a yearly average, out of the 360 applications for the MBA program, 180 students require some form of financial support for them to be able to pursue their dream of attending AIM.

One such individual, Ariel de la Cruz, dreamed of pursuing an MBA at AIM. Unfortunately, his parents, being canteen owners in his native Pampanga, Philippines, could not afford the US$24,000 that is needed to finance the 16-month MBA program. At that time, Ariel had savings from his 2-year stint at Chevron, but he had the added burden of supporting his younger sister’s college education.

Determined to get an AIM MBA degree, Ariel sought the support of AIM Alumnus and Triple A (Alumni Achievement Award) Awardee Jesli Lapus (MBM ’73) to help finance his AIM degree. Mr. Lapus, then Chairman of the Triple A Club, recommended Ariel to the Triple A Scholarship Committee. After an interview with the Committee composed of Robert Kuan (MBM ’75) Art Macapagal (MBM ’71) and Alberto Villarosa (MBM ‘73), Ariel was granted a 100% tuition fee scholarship.

While at AIM, Ariel was able to participate in the International Student Exchange Program at the Luigi Bocconi University in Italy. After graduating in 2008, he is now based in Hong Kong, and working for ING Asia Pacific.

As former students of AIM, you have experienced the rigors of CP, the challenges of WAC and MRR, the pressure of maintaining good grades and the joy of earning an AIM degree. Help provide this opportunity to a deserving student. Contribute to the AIM Alumni Leadership Fund for Scholarships and help grow an AIM community of leaders and managers for Asia.

45A I M L e a d e r M a g a z i n e | S e c o n d Q u a r t e r 2 0 1 0

The AIM Alumni Leadership Fund

On average, an AIM MBA student would have read 800 cases while attending the 16-month AIM MBA program. AIM is one of four graduate business schools in the world that uses the case-study approach, aside from Harvard Business School, University of Virginia—Darden Business School, and Richard Ivey School of Business.

In recent years, there has been a growing need to continually develop and publish new studies to keep up with the trends in recent years. Recent movements and new practices in many industries call for effective and in-novative methods to teach these concepts in the case rooms. AIM recognizes that visual learning is another effective way to introduce concepts and ideas in the case rooms.

The multimedia case recently to enhance the case study is one such innova-tion in the case room. Students can now access a special portal where information and references about a certain case study are all available for students’ use.

Contribute to the AIM Alumni Leader-ship Fund for Research to support and expand the AIM case bank and innovate learning in the AIM classrooms.

Contact the AIM Development Office:

As the challenges of our time become more complex and critical, AIM is ready to lead with innovative programs and strategic goals on behalf of the Institute. Your gift is important to support AIM’s capacity to positively respond to the challenges and to ensure its robust growth.

The AIM Alumni Leadership Fund for Learning Space and Facilities

The AIM Alumni Leadership Fund for Scholarships

The AIM Alumni Leadership Fund for Research and Development

ASIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENTJoseph R. McMicking Campus 123 Paseo De Roxas, MCPOBox 2095 1260 Makati City, Philippines Dina L. Paterno Executive Managing Director dpaterno@aim.eduKrizia Eleni R. Patrocinio Donor Relationship Coordinator kpatrocinio@aim.eduMa. Blesilda P. delos Reyes Program Associate bdelosreyes@aim.eduTrunk line: (632) 892-4011Direct Line: (632) 892-4011 loc. 553Fax: (632) 813-2552 Email: inquirydevoffice@aim.edu.phwww.aimalumni.org

DEMOGRAPHICALLY, PEOPLES OF ASIAN BLOOD ARE the predominant residents of Guam to this day: approximately 37 percent are Chamorro, 26 percent Filipino, 11 percent other Pacific islanders, and 6 percent other Asian (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Indian). They all live together on an island where fun, relaxation, and progress are as important as preserving nature and respecting tradition.

Hafa AdaiThe local greeting, Hafa Adai, means hello in the vernacu-

lar and is pronounced “half a day.” The running joke is that one can skirt around the 549-sq-km island in half a day. True as it may be, driving around Guam in just a few hours would mean only skimming the surface of its diverse offerings. Tourism is Guam’s no. 1 industry, according to Mr. Ernie Galita, acting general manager of the Guam Visitors Bureau. In fact, 99 percent of the island’s visitors come for leisure, and 80 percent of them are Japanese.

Beach ResortsMost of Guam’s hotels tower like sentinel along the island’s

most popular beach area, Tumon Bay. The 2.5-mile marine preserve is the playground for sand-and-sea worshippers, yet it also remains a fishing ground for local men in their canoes. Coral reefs are visible beneath the gently sloping azure water.

Guam’s hotels are “concentrating on improving food

service and putting more local flavor,” said Mr. Galita. “Part of branding is the renaissance of cultural identity.”

• Hilton Guam Resort and Spa. The Hilton is one of the most established hotels on the island with 32 acres of seaside property and 665 well-appointed guestrooms and suites. It has six restaurants and lounges housed in three buildings, includ-ing its award-winning wing, the Tasi Club. Forty percent of their clientele are Japanese; 10 percent are Korean.

You can wake up to the view of Tumon Bay curving below your window, head to the poolside restaurant for breakfast, and then take a refreshing lap in one of the pools. Flex your mus-cles at the Wellness Center, the largest indoor gym on Guam. Follow that with a session at the Mandara Spa, which boasts not only indoor but also outdoor facilities. On a hilltop, guests can be soothed not only by the expert hands of a masseuse us-ing the local technique malasan guahan (malasan is massage in Chamorro) but also by the healing caresses of the sea wind.

• Pacific Islands Club (PIC). PIC prides itself on its water park, which is jaw-dropping in its space and multitude of activities. You can switch from the swim-through aquarium to the lagoon kayak to the scuba lesson pool, the only one in all of Micronesia. Everywhere, one could hear the delightful shrieks of children. For sports enthusiasts, PIC has courts for tennis, basketball, badminton, squash, and billiards. PIC’s Royal Club Rooms are newly renovated, and all have views of the ocean. But for non-in-house guests, the best time to check out PIC is

The Asian Face of the U.S.A.Words and Pictures by Rose Cheryl Orbigo, BMP 2005

GUAMN E W S I N S I G H T S C O M M E N C E M E N T C O V E R S T O R Y C L A S S N O T E S E N D N O T E Sshowc ase / tr avel

GUAM, the westernmost territory of the United States, has long been joined at the navel to Asia. Historically, people of Indo-Malayan stock are considered the ancestors of the present-day natives of Guam, the Chamorros. These ancestors sailed to the island more than 3,500 years ago and were experts at canoe-making, hunting, fishing, weaving, and pottery.

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at night, as they have the most amazing dinner-dance show. Imagine native dancers in grass skirts and other local costumes literally playing with fire. The program has many oooh moments, including the missile tossing of a torch from a high bridge to a barge.

The Nature TrackStrategically located near the Marianas Trench,

Guam is teeming with marine life and has the suitable attractions to take you up close and personal with its aquatic inhabitants.

• Underwater World. Easily accessible on Pale San Vitores Road, Underwater World is the home of thousands of sea creatures. Spend an hour gazing into the solemn eyes of an ancient turtle, the underbelly of a manta ray, and the long legs of a giant spider crab, the world’s largest crustacean.

• Seawalker. Don your swimsuit and astronaut-type helmet. But instead of shooting up into space, you’ll dive into the sea. That’s the gist of the Seawalker. Located at a marine preserve, Seawalker is safe and is a great alter-native to diving and snorkeling. Just step down the lad-der to the seabed about 20 feet below. Guided by divers and rails, walk slowly for 20 minutes and commune with the corals and schools of fish. Draw the creatures in with fish food, and you’ll feel the teeny bite of their mouths, followed by multiple crackling sounds. You’ll find it an awesome experience.

• Inarajan Natural Pool. Think of a recalcitrant sea that keeps bumping its fringes against a natural break-water barrier. Although only bursts of sea foam make it over the barrier, the sea does it again and again, as it has for centuries, thus forming a cool lagoon ideal for swim-ming. Off the beaten track in southern Guam, this spot is a favorite swimming pool among locals.

Glimpses of Chamorro CultureMyriad aspects of Chamorro heritage have lived on

despite centuries of foreign occupation, from the time the Spaniards claimed the island in 1565, till it was ceded to the US in 1898, and until today, when the island has become a tourism magnet.

• Latte Stone Park. Latte stones, unique to the Marianas, were used as the foundation of important Chamorro village structures from 1100 to 1700 AD. Ferdi-nand Magellan’s chronicler, Antonio Pigafetta, wrote that the lattes had two parts: the limestone pillar and coral capstone joined together in a ball-and-socket fashion. Houses would then be positioned on top of parallel rows of latte, which gave stability even during earthquakes. Today the latte is a symbol of the Chamorro culture.

• Two Lovers’ Point. Legend tells of a beautiful, half-Chamorro, half-Spanish girl who, upon her rich father’s order and despite her protests, got engaged to an arrogant Spanish captain. She ran away and soon fell in love with a handsome Chamorro man from a modest family. Pursued by the captain and his soldiers, the lovers were cornered at the edge of the cliff where they first met. There the young couple twined their long hair together and, as one, leaped over the edge to the crashing waves below.

Since then, the 378-foot cliff has been known as Two Lovers’ Point. Present-day lovers have professed their commitment here, their names (usually Japanese),

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Tourism is Guam’s no. 1 industry...In fact, 99 percent of the island’s visitors come for leisure, and 80 percent of them are Japanese.

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listed on the “wedding wall” of the park. With its romantic background, whipping winds, open sky, and spectacular view of Tumon Bay, Two Lovers’ Point is an inimita-ble venue for wedding vows.

• Gef Pa’go Park. Step back in time to a village that looks as much as it did in the 19th century. Watch and learn the Chamorros’ long-established practices in making hemp rope, salt, woven products, and coconut candy (same as the Filipino bukayo). Gef Pa’go Park in southern Guam offers visitors an intriguing peek into the local pre-modern way of life. To help preserve Chamorro heritage, the park also runs apprenticeship programs in the traditional arts for the young generation.

Shopping and EntertainmentGuam is an exceptional shopping des-

tination because of its duty-free stores. For luxury products, explore DFS Galleria in the main shopping district on Pale San Vitores Road. As for everyday all-American goods and souvenirs, the locals prefer Micronesia Mall and K-Mart. Micronesia Mall, Guam’s largest shopping mall, houses 130 shops, boutiques, and restaurants, among them Macy’s, Pay-Less Supermarket, Pay Less Shoes, and even Filipino brands like Bench and Ideal Optical.

Early in the evening, relax over cocktails at the Sand Castle dinner theater, which offers the best entertainment on the island. Their most recent show, entitled “Dream,” tells the story of two young Asian girls who dream of the journey of a lifetime. Along the way, they encounter powerful acrobats, dancers, and the

Dream Weaver. The Dream Weaver is played by Anthony Reed, one of the top magicians in the world. He gained recognition through TV appearances on America’s Got Talent and The World’s Most Dangerous Magic. The gravity-defying and mind-boggling show was directed and choreographed by Christopher Childers, a Las Vegas-based artistic coordinator who toured as a dancer for Madonna and coached for Cirque du Soleil.

Building a Career or BusinessAsians, especially Filipinos and

Chinese businessmen, have carved their professional destiny on Guam. “A lot of Asian workers come here,” said Dr. Annette M. David of Health Partners LLC. “Guam is the U.S. with an Asian face. You feel like you’re part of the community.”

However, one must be open to changes, noted Tes Reyes, assistant general manager of Agana Shopping Center. “When I arrived, I was so full of myself, sure that everything would be okay.” A public relations

practitioner in the Philippines, Tes moved to Guam in 1987 and started her career climb there as a secretary. “I was humbled. I was spoiled in the Philippines. So my advice is to be more dynamic.” Last April, her dynamism and determination paid off when she was nominated Businesswoman of the Year. “Guam has been so kind to me and to the executives here,” she said.

Networking and connections are also

very important, added Caroline Sablan, vice president and relationship banking manager of the Bank of Guam. Caroline, whose parents hailed from Central Luzon, has been with the bank for 25 years. She frequents networking events, as she takes care of clients whose net worth is $1 million and up. “On Guam, if you’re well-connected, things are easier,” she explained. Her other piece of advice: Study the island and find a niche in the market.

The Guam Economic Development Authority encourages foreigners to estab-lish ventures, Tes pointed out. “There’s tax shelter for a year and a lot of incentives. Recently two Filipinos opened businesses.”

The US military is expected to relocate from Okinawa in 2014. “A lot of full-time staff are starting their businesses on the side, building them, so that when the military comes, they can go full-time on their businesses,” observed Caroline. She sees 3Rs flourishing—restaurants, retail, and real estate.

While 2009 had been disappointing economically, with tourism down by 4 percent because of the recession in the US and Japan, 2010 is expected to be a good year. First quarter tourism growth was estimated at 5 percent. With a boom in the horizon, an influx of new residents, and an economic rebound, Guam is ready to look ahead and embrace more of its Asian brethren into its fold.

Acknowledgments: The familiarization tour of media to Guam was made possible by the Guam Visitors Bureau (GVB) with sponsorship from Philippine Airlines and Hilton Guam Resort and Spa. Support was also extended by Gef Pa’go, Micronesia Mall, PIC, Sand Castle, Seawalker, Two Lovers Point, Underwater World, and Mr. Emelio Uy. GVB has offices in Europe, Hong Kong, Japan, Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, and the United States. For more information, go to www.visitguam.org. Philippine Airlines flies to Guam from Manila daily. Flight time is approximately 3.5 hours.

N E W S I N S I G H T S C O M M E N C E M E N T C O V E R S T O R Y C L A S S N O T E S E N D N O T E Sshowc ase / tr avel /f ood

With a boom in the horizon, an influx of new residents, and an economic rebound, Guam is ready to look ahead and embrace more of its Asian brethren into its fold.

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DOING WELL, WHILE DOING good, is the mantra of the growing number of companies who espouse Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

We in Binalot, however, believe that for CSR to make even better sense, it should pro-mote the “win-win” approach. While setting aside funds to help communities is a noble undertaking, it would be better if both the corporation and the community benefit from the CSR program. This ensures that the project can be sustained over a long term, and not become just a one-shot deal.

Our DAHON (Dangal At Hanapbuhay para sa Nayon) program, we are proud to say, does just that—an example of how both the community and the company can benefit from the same program.

Initiated at the start of 2007, DAHON helps farmers from Nag-

carlan, Laguna, a quaint town nestled at the foothills of mystic Mt. Banahaw, about 100 kms. South of Manila, earn more from selling banana leaves. And as the farmers plant and sell more banana leaves, Binalot ben-efits because we are ensured a steady supply of quality banana leaves at a low price. Binalot is heavily dependent on banana leaves because our meals are served wrapped in a banana leaf, which locks in the food’s flavor (Binalot is a Filipino word

which means wrapped). Having that dedicated community that not only supplies the leaves, but also cuts and sanitizes them to Binalot’s specifications, elimi-nates added costs.

The DAHON program’s benefits have also gone beyond just the economic. DAHON, for instance, has empowered the women of the community as they now earn about 200 pesos a day from cutting the leaves. It has also given the elderly a sense of purpose because they’ve been given a chance to remain productive by helping cut and prepare the leaves.

The environment has also benefited from the program as leaf trimmings, which used to be thrown away by Binalot’s commissary (and therefore find their way to the city’s mount-ing trash heaps), are now used as compost material at the community level. Even the

community chapel cum day care center has also benefited from the DAHON program, acquiring a much needed renovation and re-painting, with labor and mate-rials provided by Binalot.

And the benefits just keep on coming.

Plans are afoot to set up back-yard fishponds and vegetable gar-dens (particularly tomatoes and onions, which are among Binalot’s staple ingredients), which will further augment the farmers’ in-comes and ensure a steady supply of ingredients to Binalot.

Binalot is also looking into the possibility of duplicating this successful model to other communities in other parts of the country that can be developed to supply other goods that Binalot needs to expand.

With the DAHON program, Binalot has shown that you don’t have to be big to make a differ-ence. You just need to have an idea and the commitment to turn it into reality.

Binalot is truly committed to advocating for rural develop-ment by persistently empowering the communities.

With the DAHON program, Binalot has shown that you don’t have to be big to make a difference. You just need to have an idea and the commitment to turn it into reality.

BINALOT has grown from a humble stall to a 40 franchise-strong major franchise player competing with the fastfood icons. Coined from the Filipino word which means “wrapped”, Binalot is just that —classic Filipino fare wrapped in ba-nana leaves in traditional local fashion. The Binalot menu is composed of various favorite meals such as adobo, tapa, bistek, tocino, longganisa among others, all atop steaming hot rice and garnished with ap-petizing sidings of salted egg and tomato.

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Rommel Juan, ME Batch 6

A I M L e a d e r M a g a z i n e | S e c o n d Q u a r t e r 2 0 1 0

Making a DifferenceDAHONThrough

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50 N E W S C O M M E N C E M E N T C O V E R S T O R Y F U N D - R A I S I N G S H O W C A S E C L A S S N O T E S E N D N O T E Sinsight s

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A BOOK CO-PUBLISHED IN 2008 BY the Asian Institute of Management and the De La Salle Professional Schools Inc. on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is available at both AIM and DLSU.

“Doing Good in Business Matters: CSR in the Philippines” is divided into two volumes. The first volume “Frameworks” explores the theory as well as the practice of CSR in the Philippines. While we have designed it prima-rily with the business practitioner in mind, it can also be used as a textbook or reference for a collegiate level course on CSR. The second volume, “The Practice,” is for the practitioner who wishes a more comprehensive treatment of CSR programs in practice. The casebook can also be used in the classroom as a basis for discussion concerning practical imple-mentation issues of CSR. The different cases seek to sensitize future business leaders and management faculty to the various facets and complex issues in CSR engagement.

The two volumes intend to provide insights and reshape CSR practices toward a deeper commitment to people and their well-being—and find that doing good in business truly matters.

For more information and copies of the book, please contact Ms. Gina Arca, of the AIM-RVR Center at 752-1208 or 892-4011 locals 2139/2145.

THE ASIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGE-ment—Ramon V. del Rosario Center for Corporate Social Responsibility, in partner-ship with Intel Philippines, published the book, “Corporate Social Responsibility in Asia: Getting it Done the Intel Way” in 2009.

This book provides CSR practitioners with 15 case studies on the implementation of Intel’s well-focused and long-running CSR programs in education, community engagement and employee volunteerism, environment and supply chain management, across its key sites in Asia.

The book’s overriding message is that: Companies must see the necessity of mean-ingful collaboration—between firms and governments, firms and civil society and between and among firms—in effectively addressing the social issues that affect the common future of Asian economies and the firms operating in them.

For inquiries about the book, please email rvrcenter@aim.edu or call 7521208, 8924011 loc. 2139 and look for Ms. Gina Arca.

presence automatically liberates others.”In his learning and growing, Bobby let his own light

shine and gave us permission to also shine, liberating us from our own fears with his presence in our midst, a presence we will sorely miss.

Socrates said that a life unexamined is a life not worth living. For Bobby, given his never ending curiosity and thirst for adventure, it was the examination of life itself, and the learning and growth that resulted from that exami-nation, that made life worth living. If we don’t get to be as old as Bobby, I hope we spend our remaining years learning and growing, as Bobby did. I think this is what Bobby wanted to teach us. I know this is what he taught me.

Prof. Lim’s students would always recall him as “Kapitan Kidlat”. “He always had this compelling pres-ence and sense of urgency every time he expressed himself, especially when he led the class for Sources and Uses of Power (SUPR) at the Asian Institute of Manage-ment (AIM),” cited Professor Sonny Coloma.

He started this course with the goal to develop a way of thinking and provide a framework for understanding how one has the power to influence and solve even the most seemingly impossible challenges. He always shared this belief that everyone has the capacity to achieve anything.

AIM professors regarded him with respect as they share their following memories:

“Capitan Lim’s premise is that you have more Sources of Power that you can use for good. As a B-29 pilot during the World War II at age 25, there is never an impossibility. There is always a way to solve challenges. He always had a way of sharing his positive and produc-tive outlook in life.”—Professor Ricardo Lim, Associate Dean, WS-GSB, Nephew

“He was a very authoritative professor. He was passionate. He expanded my perspective beyond what I was used to. He always compelled people to think of solutions. There was nothing ordinary about him. As he speaks, one would feel commanded to sit up and take action. I always respect and think highly of Kapitan Kidlat.” —Professor Sonny Coloma

“He was down to earth, practical and very sharp. I was one of his students at the SUPR. I found the course very practical as it allows one to learn more about influ-ence, and at the same time sharpens the critical think-ing and decision making skills.”—Professor Hilario Tan

“I would always recall the first day of my interview with him, 21 years ago. He asked me three questions: 1) Do you know how to use a computer?; 2) Do you know how to get to Makati?; 3) What will you ride to go to Makati? That first conversation started a long working re-lationship with Kapitan Lim as his personal secretary. He was strict at work. But when it comes to expressing my personal, financial and family situations, I felt at ease because he would listen and give advice, when he felt that you’ve already tried your best in solving it yourself. He gave room for people to address their concerns with the best of their abilities, before he shared his piece.

“Kapitan Lim was my boss, adviser, father, grandfa-ther, and friend. Things I would always remember about him was that he never believed that one cannot achieve anything. He would always say persevere and you can achieve anything!”—Elizabeth Pascual, his personal secretary for 21 years

Learn more about Kapitan Lim’s collage of expe-riences with his book entitled “Pushing the Envelope: A Biography of Capt. Roberto H. Lim.” Call Elizabeth Pascual at (02) 892-4011 local 289 or 0915-545-1701.

Getting It Done The Intel Way

CSR In The Philippines

Corporate Social Responsibility In Asia:

Doing Good In Business Matters:

>> “Remembering Bobby Lim” continued from page 19

A I M L e a d e r M a g a z i n e | S e c o n d Q u a r t e r 2 0 1 0

MG: It is said that reputations are built and maintained by a firm’s relative success in fulfilling expectations of multiple stakeholders. Understanding these is crucial to managing risks to the business and maintaining a positive reputation. Do your stakeholders voice concerns and expectations, if any?

IH: We conduct multiple surveys: employee satisfaction through voice of the employee survey, voice of the customer through customer satisfaction survey, do brand dips sticks, and assess vendor satisfaction, as also shareholders’ surveys. Shareholders vote with their feet so you know when stock prices are under performing. Similarly, it is true the customer also votes with his/her feet but that is probably an indication on why and wherefore and what corrective action needs to be taken. I think that true understanding can come only through surveys, constantly talking to analysts from the shareholder point of view, meeting analysts, meeting brokers, meeting fund managers, and that is a very important part of the CFO’s job today. A very important constituency is the government and maintaining relations with government, being proactive, keeping them fully posted about all the good things that you are doing, being very receptive to any negative feedback that they may give you is very important.

MG: When we look at the universe of stakeholders, there are all kinds of focus areas amongst sub groups. A key point then in managing stakeholders’ expectation is how do you balance it to maintain a stability of reputation across stakeholders?

IH: I think quite honestly you’ve got to see if you are acting within the framework of Law and Order. For example, we had a very major public relations problem with Dhamra port in Orissa where an activist group jumped into the act, criticizing us on environmental impact. The funny thing is that it was not a TATA project—it was the project of a large engineering

and construction major. The construction major had done

all the spade work, they had acquired the license, and they had received environmental clearance from the environment ministry. After that, they came to us and said ‘you are going to be major users, you need a port in eastern India, we are putting it up and would you like to be our partners?’ That made solid sense. The minute TATA entered the project, the activist group entered the fray, the premise being that—‘we don’t expect it from TATA.’ You have a huge reputation to preserve. Fact of the matter was that all the environmental clearances were in place and we had no reason to believe that the environmental clearances were brought on suspicious grounds. So, we entered. Note, while the construction major was there nobody bothered to raise the issue. But once TATA entered, its like “ahh...we don’t expect it from you.” So they applied all sorts of pressure tactics on us. We made suggestions, including asking them to get the study done and that if the study confirms what they are saying is correct, we would walk away from the project. Finally, neither did they conduct the study, nor accept our offer to fund an independent study by them. Instead, they resorted to other tactics—sent volunteers to our Annual General Meeting to protest and disrupt the meeting. The day the new Nano (the low priced car from TATAs) was launched, the activist group issued a full page advertisement in a leading newspaper stating how TATAs are totally unconcerned about the Ridley Turtles in Orissa. The point of this example is that it is essential to stay with facts and work within purview of Law and Order. We cannot go on the basis of conjecture.

MG: In your case, with such instances coming up, is there a case for environmental social risk management policy to be put in place for your processor or does it already exist?

IH: I think the environmental and risk policy is a national matter, it is a national issue. For example:

Many say that if you create the Nano, if you produce the Nano, how will the Indian roads take it? Our point is—there are 3 million cars already being produced in India and another 6 million are going to be produced, even if the Nano is not produced. Why aren’t the others being stopped? Their point is it clogs the roads. Fact is that roads are already clogged, and the answer lies in building new roads—investing in infrastructure. On our part, we work within the confines

of whatever the government specifies, if they lay down that cars have to be of a certain efficiency, the fuel efficiency has to be X, the pollution efficiency has to be Y, the car must deliver 60km to a litre, it must not put such and such gasses into the air- government lays that parameter, and we will have to comply with it.

MG: However, being the industrial house that yours is, is there a case to help develop policy with the government on such matters and do you do that?

IH: Of course, we are very active. In fact on climate change we are far ahead of the curve, because we are mapping the carbon footprint of each of our companies, we are signatories to global commitments, there are 2 or 3 Indian companies who have signed up on a voluntary basis with the UN Global Compact. We are very much a part of that. We will remain actively involved with the bodies who are working to find the resolution to this problem.

MG: So do you have a team of people working on this and how seriously does your level get involved in this?

IH: There’s a whole body of people working on it. We have a full department working on climate change who are then advising each company.

MG: Do you see a link between a company’s reputation and its financial performance? How will you explain this link?

IH: Yes, and it’s a very important metric. People look for returns after all, on the one hand we may not verbally laude the quest for wealth, but quest for wealth is a major driving force for all of us. Any business is predominantly in the business for making money, so whatever may be your caveats, about the how being important, once you’ve got the how, then you have got to perform, eventually you have to meet your rates of return. If the market is giving an X rate of return, you have to ensure that you are performing to give the expected rate of return. But the point is, you could then get into a very complex area about the short term versus the long term. And our house tends to take a very long term view of things, so our short term returns may get depressed. But we have been here for 150 years and we want to be here for another 150 years and in that cycle, there may be many short terms where we have to depress our immediate returns for long term gain.

MG: That’s a very good point, and as many people say, you can’t really be short sighted if you are to build a reputation.

IH: Yes, you’ve got to have a long-term vision. If you look at how Indian business houses have moved since 1974…you know when I started my career I think only 3 or 4 of those companies still survive. Now you have all the new names, and let us see how long they will be around.

MG: There are several indices that are rating corporate performance on environmental and social criteria which can be used to benchmark performance of good corporate citizenship against company’s peers e.g.: Dow Jones group sustainability index or FTSE for good index. Do you believe there is a case to introduce such stock market indices in India and what could be the challenges ?

IH: I think it’s a very good thing. I am just not sure how to measure these aspects, I see that as a problem. It is tough enough to measure financial performance; how do you measure environmental and social performance, especially when there are many people who doubt the very issue of global warming, whether carbon emission is causing global warming. While I believe it’s a very good idea, I have issues about measurability and hence the efficacy of it. Conceptually I don’t disagree with it. As for introducing it in India, I think it is premature, because of the various reasons that I have stated. Not enough academic work has been done as yet and the world is much divided as I said. We need to work on it. I am on a committee set up in the UK for reporting on corporate sustainability. I met a gentleman who is on that committee recently, and we were both discussing this and how practical is all this. You may just be over burdening industry with information requirement and until and unless everybody has accepted it as a very useful metric and it has been proven to be so, I would be a bit hesitant to enforce it.

MG: Would you have any advice to AIM alumni and students who want to become business leaders, any advice on the topics of reputation, corporate responsibility, growing a company, their commitment to society.

IH: We live in a world today where we have to be very sensitive to societal pressures and concerns and we must proactively address these issues. Sometimes, it’s quite frustrating because some of the expectations are unreasonable and unwarranted and it therefore leads to a situation of huge conflict and people turning their backs on these issues altogether. You have to be very patient and you cannot ignore societal concerns, as long as they are reasonable concerns.

>> “A Conversation on CSR...” continued from page 23

We live in a world today where we have to be very sensitive to societal pressures and concerns and we must proactively address these issues.

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Jaime “Jimmy” Licauco, MBM 1972President and Founder of Inner Mind Development Institute, currently writes a weekly column on Inner Awareness in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, anchors a weekly educational program over DZMM radio, is a part-time faculty member of the Asian Institute of Management and was Visiting Faculty of De La Salle Uni-versity’s Center for Indigenous Medicine in Dasmariñas, Cavite. He was a former Editor-in-Chief of “MBS, The Magazine of Mind, Body and Spirit” and was a consult-ant in a television series on GMA 7 on paranormal phenomena.He is included in the list of influential and trusted person-alities according to Reader’s Digest Asian Trust Poll (March 2010 issue).

He is one of the leading exponents of Holistic or Complementary Medicine and is considered the Philippines’ foremost authority on inner mind development, creative and intuitive management, paranormal phenomena, and Philippine mysticism. He has writ-ten 17 bestselling books and numerous articles on these subjects during the last 25 years. He is also co-author of “Intuition at Work” a book published in San Francisco, California. He has ap-peared as guest in numerous television and radio programs in the Philippines and even abroad. Several of his books have been translated into German, Polish and Japanese.

Jimmy shares: “A true leader is like a good actor. He acts but you don’t notice him acting. A true leader leads but you don’t notice him leading.”

Ismael “Maeng” Tabije, MBM 1981who is an International Consultant with Tabije & Associates, International

Development Consultants, is based in Davao City, Philippines. He writes: “In the beginning of my studies at AIM, I was very disillusioned for two (2) main reasons: (1) the professors were not giving us any lectures, and (2) they were giving us too many case studies that were humanly impossible to fully study and analyze.

“Only later on did I realize the value of the case method (as compared to the traditional lecture method): that it was meant to get us used to studying on our own and sharpening our analytical and public speaking skills. These are very important skills that are indispensable if anyone wishes to become a success-ful executive or businessman.

“The lesson of the overload of cases? It’s a microcosm of life—there will always be too many things to do. You can’t have the time and energy to do all of them so you need to learn how to prioritize which ones to attend to. It’s also a lesson in realizing the higher limits of what you can do and achieve.”

Maeng invites professors, classmates and fellow alumni to share their ideas for success by submitting

articles to his management articles online directory: www.BestManage-mentArticles.com. “It cur-rently has more than 20,000 business man-

agement articles contributed by more than 2,500 executives, professors and other experts worldwide. It’s a rich source of fresh tips and ideas for aspir-ing business students and practition-ers. My only lament is that most of my author-contributors are from the USA. It would be nice if we could have some Asian management ideas in there. What do you say AIM community?

“Click on the link ‘Submit an article’ at the header area and the system will guide you with the process of applying as author and submitting articles. I suggest you state that you are an AIM graduate in your biography so that we will not have a hard time evaluating your credentials as author-contributor.”

Kaurik Raj, MBM 1997 of Massachusetts, USA, is the Vice Presi-dent for Sales/Business Development of XpertTech, Inc. He remembers the late Prof. Bobby Lim’s SUPR’s “lead by exam-ple” as his definition of leadership.

Yatish Chandrasekhar Ballolla, MBM 2002

is Vice-President of IIHT-Friedman Group in Bangalore, India. “AIM was an eye-opener. I came to AIM with over seven years of entrepreneurial

experience and always wanted to get to the nuts and bolts of doing business. While the two years gave me all that there is to the science of business, the more precious learning has been to see the professors practice the art as they approached cases in case rooms and as sought-after practitioners outside.

“Although I graduated from the MBM, the AIM ecosystem which has an underlying current of entrepreneurship fuelled me to combine and converge entrepreneurship with professionalism.

“To my professors: Thank you for giving me a bit of yourself. To class-mates: Have you CP-ed today?”

Sarita Bahety, MBA 2006

has recently completed a graduate course in Public Policy from Lee Kuan Yew School, National University of Singapore. During the course, she had also done an exchange semester at the Graduate Institute in Geneva, Switzerland. “This course in public policy has helped me to understand the public sector better. I hope that I will be able to combine my education in MBA and public policy to contribute towards both the corporate sector as well as the public sector. I have relocated to India and am looking forward to an exciting opportunity which allows me to use my skills that I have gained from my MBA at AIM and public policy education at NUS.

“Dear fellow classmates and professors, I hope that all of you are doing great. I look forward to meeting you whenever you have a chance to come to this part of the world. Please keep in touch, I can be reached at bahetysarita@gmail.com. I vividly recall the grueling schedule of reading cases day after day and discussing the same in the following classes. With 50 of us in one section, each class would then become a corporate meeting room with 50 different ideas and then finally the discussion would come to a conclusion after an exhilarating 1 hour 20 minutes per session!”

Mary Anne Perez, MBA 2008 Cohort 1, and Peter Brian de Guzman, EMBA 10 2009

tied the knot last January 9, 2010 in Santuario de San Antonio, Forbes Park, Makati City, Philippines. Mary Anne is currently the Associate Product Manager of Pfizer.

Abul Khayr “Khairy” Amalon II Alonto, MBA 2009 Cohort 3has recently joined the Asian Institute of Management as Career Management Services Manager. He shares: “I am directly responsible for the placement activities of the WSGSB students (MBA and MM). But more importantly,

M B M / M B A

ClassNotes 53

my major stakeholders (my wife and kids) are finally joining me in Manila after being a weekender-father for the past few years!”

Asked about his thoughts on leader-ship, he says: “For me, a leader must have FAITH (he/she must have a strong

set of values con-sisting of Fair-ness, Account-ability, Integrity, Transparency, and Honor); a leader must be able to GUIDE (he/she must have the skills

to be Goal-oriented, Understanding, In-novative, Distributive, and Empathetic); and a leader must have the POWER (he/she should have People or followers, a network with Other Organizations, a capacity to display Wisdom and promote Equality, and he/she must have the Recognition of his/her authority).”

His message to his fellow alumni: “I look forward to your support and co-ordination with the Career Management Services office in generating placement and research opportunities for our GSB students. Wasalaam!”

Rosauro Sibal, MM 1977is Faculty Chair of the Ateneo Graduate School of Business in Rockwell Center, Makati City, Philippines. Ross shares: “My AIM education made me a good mentor. Ateneo de Manila University cited me for my 30 years of service to the institution.”

Sharifah Maria Alfah Syid Mustafa Alqudri, MM 1984 of Kedah, Malaysia is presently the Director and Principal Consultant of Usulinc Pte Ltd. Maria writes: “MM matured my spirit and tenacity to accept challenges and aim at being the best. No stones should be left unturned and no object be a source of derailment from one’s target and vision. All the professors—Gaby Mendoza, Vic Lim, Jun Bo, Frankie Roman, Tito V, Lenny M, Joe Faustino, and not forgetting the late Andy Reyes, have left their deep marks and voices of encouragement that have fortified every move that I made. In business, Prof. Joe assured that it’s ok to show my talons, whilst Vic reminded me to bring out the killer instinct when necessary. Frankie’s famous phrase had been, ‘Who said the world is fair, you have to decide whether you would like a bigger slice of the cake…’

“The one year in AIM was full of interesting and memorable episodes. Having my husband, MA Ismail as my classmate and room-mate allowed us to discuss our cases late through the night, initially leaving the faculty baffled by our poles apart answers. The other episode was when I hurt my back and after some gruesome medical test suf-fered spinal leakage without knowing, until it was diagnosed by a classmate’s husband who was a doctor. I was nearly requested to leave the MM program but managed to recover and continue. The support given by the professors and classmates, and of course MA was truly exceptional, and I was able to complete the MM program with a citation.

“As an MM graduate I was requested

by the late Tun Ismail to join Bank Negara Malaysia. This launched my career as Head of the Human Resource Depart-ment of various organizations, including ING (then Aetna), Seagate Technology & Ranhill Bhd. Jointly with MA, I started the consulting company, Usulinc Sdn Bhd. Now, we have decided to retire to a less stressful place, and we bought a modest resort in FoxHill Langkawi. It is a beautiful resort, a place to rejuvenate your soul and balance your lives.

“To my classmates: MM had shown us the way, but we have to create our own path to reach our chosen destinations. To the faculty: All of the faculty members have shown me the way to see things differently, to be an optimist who sees the doughnut, not focusing on the hole. A big THANK YOU too for reminding us that there are no shortcuts to a place worth going. To AIM: Thank you for being there.”

Ismail Mat Aris ‘MA’, MM 1984

Usulinc Pte Ltd Managing Director and Principal Consultant. With MA’s retire-ment as Group Head of HR, Administra-tion and PR in a large and successful diversified conglomerate in 1967, he es-tablished his own consultancy, Usulinc Pte Ltd, in People Management and Organizational Development with his spouse and college classmate Sharifah Maria in 2000. Recognizing his active contributions to the Malaysian Institute of Human Resource Management (MI-HRM) as elected Councilor, Hon. General Secretary and Executive Secretary, the Council has conferred on him the Insti-tute’s Fellowship. A founding member of the Malaysian Association of Human Re-source Consultants (MAHRC), he is also a member of Transparency Internation-al, Malaysia (TIM). MA shares: “Pursuing MM in 1983 and graduating in 1984 is a major milestone in my personal and professional development, enabling me to evolve to other areas of leadership and management, making me much more competent and confident.”

Dani Firmansjah, MM 1994 Chairman of the AIM Alumni Association-Indonesia, is the CEO of PT IFS Capital Indonesia in Jakarta,

Indonesia. He deems that leadership is the “capability to being able to transform the bad into good, the good into better, the better into excellent, the excellent into significant.”

Asked about his thoughts about his alma mater, he shares: “AIM to me is the best business school for learning the various cases relevant to the eve-ryday business activities supported by valuable working and business experi-ence from many different industries the students are engaged in.

“Let every MM class transform to a real business laboratory, the experience that you would definitely need in the course of your career. The knowledge obtained from the learning process at AIM is excellent and fruitful.”

Nilesh Modi, MM 2008Senior Manager of Reliance Industries Ltd in Mumbai, India, writes: “The learn-ing at AIM has become an integral part of my life. It always guides me in my pro-fessional and personal life. I do remem-ber MRR which had always kept me on my toes “The light is brighter when seen from darkness. In the same way, the case method has helped us to believe that the real solution for the problem lies in the problem itself. It is just the matter of personal involvement and conviction. All in all, the case method teaching has helped us to tackle various problems in a very apt manner.

“I do miss all my classmates but needless to mention, I am in touch with

each one of them may it be a minimum of once a year. I do miss the birthday cakes in the case rooms. To all my non-Indian friends, I am waiting for your visits to India. Profs, I still remember your various tips. Looking forward to intellectual mails/publications from professors to support our continuous learning.”

THIS JULY 2010, THE AIM RAMON V. DEL ROSARIO CENTER FOR CORPORATE Social Responsibility turns 10! I joined the RVR Center in December 2003 at a time when Fil Alfonso, Executive Director and driving force of the Center was looking for help. For those of you who know Fil Alfonso, you will know that he has such a brilliant mind and is such a visionary that it is sometimes hard to keep up with him. He had great plans for the Center and he needed someone to help him carry them out. How can anyone really say no to him? I first worked for FBA in 1979—yes, that long ago—so I it was easy for me to hit the ground running—even though at that time I knew zilch about CSR.

I’ve been with the RVR Center for more than six years now and the learning never stops. Our work at the Center gets done as we have faculty champions—Fil Alfonso, Frankie Roman, and Maya Herrera—always there for us. Our research and program staff members are passionate about the work—something that has rubbed off on us from FBA.

CSR is ever-evolving, the challenges are endless—but the RVR Center will be here helping and learning along the way!

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by Rose Quiambao, MDP 1995

We’re 10 years old!

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Perucha Hutagaol, MM 2008in Jakarta, Indonesia, just published her 3rd book “Dynamic Duo Hippos: Lost in Byzantium” on May 22, 2010. Her previ-ous two books “The Naked Traveler” and “The Naked Traveler 2” had made her the travel icon of Indonesia. She’s also a well-known blogger, a contributor for national magazines, owns a radio travel program, and is a keynote speaker in creative writing. She shares her story:

“Just before I went to Manila to study in AIM, I published a book based on my travel blog (naked-traveler.com) in order to finance myself after resigning from my job. Surprisingly the book became a national bestseller. Back in Indonesia, I became busy with promoting the book through TV, radio, printed media, and off-air events. Then, I had a dilemma whether to pursue my career as a marketing manager in the telecommunication industry or to be a full-time writer. I shared my thoughts to

Prof. Gavino and he gave me business consultation. He told me to do an MRR on myself. He said, ‘Follow your pas-sion, and success will follow.’ Bingo!

“I did my MRR on myself, decided to be true to myself and follow my passion. If I was not in AIM, I wouldn’t dare enough to give up my corporate career. MM not only taught us numbers but also the wisdom. I remember we had to draw our personal journey; that time I realized that all I wanted is to be a writer. My way of thinking is different now. I can see from a ‘helicopter view’ that creates good solutions for each party involved. I have the confidence to maximize myself. I can apply the blue ocean strategy.

“I’m glad I chose to be a full-time travel writer. I get to travel around the world for free and to visit my class-mates everywhere!”

Ajay Gupta, MM 2009ITM Business School Assistant Profes-sor, in Mumbai, India shares: “Pedagogy at AIM is unique and can’t be compared to other traditional professional programs. I learned the importance of integrity, ethics and morality at AIM. Professors have rich experience in teaching those cases. You can learn as much as you can from each professor. They are not comparable to anyone. I have high respect and deep regard for all the professors. All are unique and unmatched in their experience and knowledge. All are simply superb! I love them—their styles, their simplicity, punctuality, etc. Over and above, they are good hu-man beings. I miss them.”

Amor Avendaño, EMBA Manila 8 2007

is currently handling a Meralco subsidi-ary, Outsourced Telleserve Corporation, as its General Manager. He shares: “I am now getting the chance to apply what I learned from AIM—from HR to Operations to Finance to Business Development and Marketing! Thanks to Meralco and AIM for preparing me for this…I miss my EMBA 8 classmates and professors, especially Prof. Joe Miranda, my SMP Adviser! I wish 100% of us would still get to finish the SMP and eventually graduate.”

Amor believes that leadership is “all about serving others. When we lose our ego, and focus on service, we get to influence more people to achieve the results that we want and eventually achieve more.”

Hoang Thi Thu Ha, MDM 2001is currently the Vice-Head of Office of the Culture, Sport and Tourism Department of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. “I apply the many things I learned from AIM in my work such as leadership and negotiation. I’m teaching part-time at The Open University of Ho Chi Minh City. I teach negotiation

and develop-ment strategy. I’m very happy because I stud-ied in AIM. Thank you so much to the professors, they’ve given me the knowledge.”

Ardiani Chandra Dewi, MDM 2009 is currently a Planning and Community Development Officer with the Inter-national Labor Organization in West Sumatera, Indonesia. She writes: “After six months of my absence from work, I joined ILO which has an infrastructure project in a remote island, Nias. Earth-quakes have been frequent but I have gotten used to it. Don’t know what to do if a tsunami comes.

“I am grateful to have studied at AIM. I got to know more about people—different cultures and habits. The case study, as well as the learning teams, were very helpful for me to have a better and deeper understanding on a particular case or issue. The more creative the professor, the more learn-ing I experienced. My thumbs up to our professors who helped their students not only to speak up on a case but also to exercise their mindset and capacity.

“Classmates: wishing to meet you or visit you someday. Hope we could ex-change small to big stuff update from your side. Professors: never give up in helping a student become a true leader in the real world.”

Mingzhe “Chris” Cheng, MDM 2009 of Xinjiang, China, is the Section Chief of the Foreign Affairs Office of Karamay City. “What I have learned at AIM is great. AIM taught me to look at this unbalanced world in an environmental and sustainable view to develop our crisp planet. The profound insights which all the professors contributed gave me deep impressions. Now I could apply this knowledge in my real work. It will guide my future work and affect my life forever.

“To my classmates, the time we stayed together is an eternal beautiful memory in my life; I sincerely appreci-ate each one of you. My AIM studies and my daily life in the Philippines have been truly memorable. I do miss all of

you and I hope we could gather together someday in Manila or elsewhere to review that period of good times.”

Jesus Jose Atienza, ITPM 2003Manager at United Laboratories, Inc., refers to the verse in the Bible (Isaiah 42:16) on his best definition of leadership: “I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.”

Crisanto Manahan, ITPM 2007is the IT Manager of KGB Philippines. He writes: “Imprinted in my mind is Professor Ricky Lim. He really does his job well! I attended his class when I was a supervisor, now I’m an IT Manager, and I attribute some of it for attending that class. To all my classmates, well done to us! Hope to meet you in another course. To Prof. Ricky Lim, loved those free tools, anything new lately?”

Conrado Donato, Jr., BMP 1983currently the COO of China State Philip-pines Construction Corp., shares: “AIM not only made me a good and effective leader but also gave me a great under-standing of corporate management. The AIM learning process enhanced my leadership qualities. I honestly believe that good leaders are made and not born. AIM is such a great champ in mak-

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all for contributing to my great learning experiences within the halls of AIM.”

Aziz Mamat, HCM 2006Senior Manager of Companies Com-mission of Malaysia, writes: “To my pro-fessors, thank you for your kindness; to my classmates, wishing you good luck. God bless all of you.”

Henrietta P. Moncay, PPDM 2003 writes: “When I went to AIM, I was hesitant—what good would it do when I’m still with the government? But my agency was determined and off we were sent to be trained at AIM. Studying and competing with others was a challenge! Once you step inside, you will fight or will end up losing a battle. I learned Trojan ideas and made my wisest move when others are still at rest! Never say yes when arguments just started. The classroom was a battleground—the weak become meek and the strong become a warrior! My cases engulfed me and beat my brains out! When my training ended, our team received two recognitions for our dedication and effort to excel in the class. AIM molded everyone. I would like to thank this institution for opening its door for us!”

Mohammed Nizam, PPDM 2003

Deputy Program Manager-Community Mobilization of Save the Children-USA in Dhaka, Bangladesh, shares: “In the PPDM course, I

learnt project planning and management which helped me a lot in my professional life at present. Some significant learnings were teamwork to solve project planning assignment, appraisal and synthesis of project plan, implementation and monitoring and evaluation. My favorite professor was Dr. Nihal Amerasinghe.”

Raul Stephen ‘Robie’ Concepcion, FSE 2006

VP Comptroller of Concepcion Industries, Incorporated in Makati City, Philippines, shares: “I was a very shy and timid person before I enrolled in AIM. It was after AIM that I was able to build up confidence and become a different person. I went back to my AIM lessons and read each lesson all over again. I started using my new knowledge and applying it in the workplace. After a few months, I showed my colleagues and top management the work I can do and they appreciated it. Currently, they are promoting me to a higher position because I have proved that I can do a good job.

“To my classmates, continue taking programs in AIM because education is a continuing process. Do not waste that education and use it to benefit the company. I want to thank my professors for sharing their knowledge and expertise, and for molding me to be a better person.”

Jeffrey Solares, MAP 2003 Executive Director of the Manila Symphony Orchestra, with business address at Unit 1602 Marbella Building 2071 Roxas Boulevard, Manila, Philippines, writes: “Although all our professors have given us many useful insights during our program, I keep on referring back to the notes from Dr. Ed Morato on leadership and the arts. How the elements of unity, will, balance, etc. that are found in great artworks can guide leaders and managers for

all other endeavors, not necessarily artistic ones. The course taught me that not only artists and arts companies can benefit from management training- managers and leaders can also learn from the artistic field. It is not only number crunching and marketing strategy that managers and leaders should learn. Design, creativity, symphony, flow, heart, spirit, rhythm and other elements that make up great works of art are also essential elements of great leadership and management.”

Noel Fontilla, HR-PMAP 1997is the VP for HR of Ammex I-Support Corp. with business address at 7F Pearlbank, 146 Valero Street, Salcedo, Makati City, Philippines. He writes: “The short course on Leading and Managing HR in Tomor-row’s Organization I attended 13 years ago provided learning and wisdom that prepared me well me for the challenges I now face in the BPO sphere. Thanks to

ing not only good but excellent leaders in society. I am very proud of being a fruit of AIM. I give my big salute and highest level of respect to my Alma Mater. My great learning from the Institute opened great opportunities in my life both here and abroad. Thousands of people that I have handled have benefited from the AIM learnings that I have imparted throughout the years of my leadership in the private sector. I am also grateful that my family learned the AIM way. Hurray to all my professors especially to Andy Ferreria. This guy is not only a great racer but a one of a kind professor. I treasured my being in the top 10 of our class. Throughout my long years of working, I always compliment myself for a job well done during my school days in AIM. My dear daughter Joanne Christine has learned a lot about the AIM way. How-ever, she is not contented with only one professor and for this reason she will be joining AIM by July 2010. I am sure she will be a great leader in the near future.”

Rogelio Avenido, MDP 1974is currently the Chairman of Inphase and the Dean of the School of Engineering of Manuel L. Quezon University. He writes: “At AIM, with the constant linkage with my can group members, I was able to exercise my experienced learnings in my work as a manufacturing manager of a wire and cable company, balancing the priorities of the major functions such marketing, finance and operations. The exposure at AIM and guidance of professors like Prof. Jun Bernardo helped develop our guts to come out of employment and create our own engineering construction corporation.

“My message to my batch of 74 MDP is let’s continue to bond together and link up with the new breed of 3rd millennium managers and share to them our wisdom gained through our long years of experience.”

Prijohandojo ‘Prijo’ Kristanto, MDP 1978is Managing Partner of PB Taxand in Jakarta, Indonesia. PB Taxand is a member of Taxand, a global network of leading tax consulting firms with mem-bers in 50 countries. Prijo reminisces:

“My most signifi-cant experience at AIM was get-ting drunk for the first time. I miss the good atmos-phere of friends and professors at AIM.”

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CSR should also stand for “communities’ shared responsibilities.” Any company, as a community in itself, should work with partner establishments, or other communities, to address its strategic needs, prove its accountability over its actions, and show its commitment to society’s needs.—Mary Anne Perez, MBA 2008 Cohort 1

CSR is having a noble business goal…the welfare of everyone! —Jesus Jose Atienza, ITPM 2003

CSR is the chance for businesses to give back to the community they serve.—Amor Avendaño, EMBA Manila 8 2007

CSR is not the responsibility of the corporation only, CSR is the responsibility of all mankind.—Dani Firmansjah, MM 1994

If we have to have a better world for everyone, the more successful entities and people should help the less fortunate ones. Corporations being generally prosperous and successful, they should take it upon themselves to allocate a certain budget for civic and philanthropic purposes. The benefits are not only spiritual, mind you. Improving the lives of the poor will enhance the economic well being of the country as a whole and the corporations will benefit directly from such improvement.—Ismael “Maeng” Tabije, MBM 1981

Corporate Social Responsibility concerns us to be aware not only of the internal activities of making efficient and effective operations to make profit for the owners of the corporation. It is more the attention to the external human factors that directly and indirectly affect the organization but the effect of the attention that is given to the external elements (social responsibilities) will redound to a balanced overall congenial relationships of the Corporation.—Rogelio Avenido, MDP 1974

Corporate Social Responsibility should not only focus on alleviating poverty or ignorance and other social issues. These initiatives are very necessary. However, I think a more complete picture of CSR is to look into contributing to the total development of society through education (defined not simply as academic schooling but total human formation) and culture (defined not only as arts and heritage but as moral climate).—Jeffrey Solares, MAP 2003

As I strive to be Muslim, I believe that every organization, and not only the individual, has a responsibility to it surrounding communities and the world in general. In this age of globalization, I feel that the level of CSR for every organization

increases as barriers in communication, barrier, finance etc. are being decreased or broken down.—Abul Khayr Amalon II Alonto, MBA 2009 Cohort 3

Organizations that embarked on a serious commitment towards CSR will find the reward returning in two or three fold, short term and long term. Everything is interconnected and CSR will ensure the balance for organizations to be re-grounded and grow.—Sharifah Maria Alfah Syid Mustafa Alqudri, MM 1984

Corporate social responsibility is the individual responsibility towards social issues, which prevent and discourage social, economical and moral development. It is the responsibility of each and every individual who has capacity to help, support, motivate, inspire for the development of people. It is about supporting the emerging and existing good social values, and discouraging and eliminating the existing, emerging, deep-rooted and stereotype customs, norms, practices and beliefs that encourage indifference, prejudice, fear and pessimism.—Ajay Gupta, MM 2009

CSR is a form of corporate self-regulation which would function as a self-regulating mechanism whereby business would monitor and ensure its support to law, ethical standards, and international norms. CSR proactively promote public interest by encouraging community growth and development thus honoring people, planet and profit. —Conrado Donato, Jr., BMP 1983

Apart from CSR, there is a need of Personal Social Responsibility (PSR) wherein every individual who are fortunate and capable should work towards empowering the needy by sharing their resources, may it be money or knowledge, in order to make this world a better and peaceful place to live.—Nilesh Modi, MM 2008

Each living creature gives and receives from the world. Most receive a lot and give only a little. Some give more than what they receive. Organizations are nothing but a group of individuals. And therefore, have a responsibility to give which is more than the sum total of what each one of them receives. CSR is an organized; methodical and fruitful way of managing the process of giving back to the society; community or the world at large, what each in an individual capacity cannot.—Yatish Chandrasekhar Ballolla, MBM 2002

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There is no such thing as corporate social responsibility. There is only individual social responsibility in a corporate setting.—Jaime Licauco, MBM 1972

In this age where issues of food security and land use are hugely important for complete civilizations, CSR is a fascinating state of being. How much is enough? Is it essential to have large profit margins or are breakevens the way to CSR?—Vikram Singh