Interview audio

So um good afternoon po we're from St.

Joseph's school uh for interviewing for

organization and management class. So um

first question po is what type of

business are you in and then how many

employees do you currently have?

>> Okay, we are in the distributorship

business. No. So this is our company

name.

Company name Mesco

and these are the products that we

distribute. No. Then we have around 350

employees.

>> So um what advantages

uh do you have over other similar

businesses?

Um

first no in the distributorship industry

in vehicle region

um the main advantage we have is the our

fulfillment capability.

So we are the only distributor that has

warehouses and office all over the six

provinces of vell and that capability

gives us um we are able to deliver all

our the customer's order within 24

hours. So that's the first advantage and

second we have the widest reach

um widest reach meaning

widest coverage of all the accounts in

the Baker region. So we cover not just

supermarket, grocery sari store, market

store but also hotels, restaurants,

hospitals, cantens and so we have the

widest coverage uh selling FMCG products

in the ve region.

>> So uh next question, what positive

attributes are associated with your

company? Okay,

Sig guru, best is you take a picture of

our company vision, company mission, and

our company core values. Okay, thank

you.

Yeah, that's easier.

>> More on the this page.

>> Okay, more on this page now. Okay.

>> See the the positive attributes you can

see here now. Our ex excellence,

leadership and our winning culture,

integrity and honesty, teamwork and

mutual respect, loyalty and love for

work and our frugality. So these are you

just expound on this.

>> Um so next question, what are you most

proud of? Uh, what are are your

employees and or co-workers most proud

of?

>> Okay, Siguro,

the most

what are we most proud of? Being the

distributor of the year for Alaska

because in our

uh industry being chosen as the

distributor of the year. So, we are the

best distributor in the country. So we

were able to achieve it in Alaska being

the distributor of the year of Alaska

for three straight years. So no other

distributor

uh of Alaska in the industry has

achieved that feat. No, that winning it

three times and uh in a row par three

repeat. Yes.

>> In what areas do you think your business

or company needs to improve? What

specific feedback have you heard from

customers that indicates points for

improvement?

>> Okay, so

uh our service level during peak uh peak

months especially during Christmas

season no? So we have uh um

we have encountered delays in our

delivery due to the massive uh orders.

we were not able to deliver some orders

on time. So that's one that we need to

improve. Then second uh during this peak

uh months also we encountered out of

stock of some products. So we have to

work on this uh uh problems

feedback from our customers so that we

this will not happen again next year.

So what past setbacks as answer setbacks

your company has experienced.

So um

>> or uh is this related to question number

four or

>> uh yes actually answer.

>> Okay. Okay.

>> Um number six. What skill gaps exist

among your employees if any?

>> Okay. Number one is uh the use of

technology. So we have some

sales people that are already

20 plus years in the company and uh uh

needs to adapt to the use of technology.

No. So so uh we have to that's the the

we have to train them so that they could

adapt using the using apps using reports

using Canva. Uh so we have to upskill

them and also

our the driving skills of our

drivers because currently in the

industry there's a shortage of drivers

because of the onset of um Lassada

Shopee many drivers are in demand. So

they opted to work with Lassada and

Shopee for they have they can control

their time. So um there's a shortage of

drivers. So we have to teach our current

helpers in order to to learn driving

>> and also

uh there's also shortage of uh

mechanics. No. So we have to

uh teach our mechanics to be better.

M so next question n man uh what's

holding you back from accomplishing the

things you and or you want and or need

to accomplish?

>> So number one is lack of talent because

we're planning to expand to other

provinces but uh there's a shortage of

talent. So we have to train more people

so that uh before we could expand

into other territories.

>> Um next uh are there any emerging

technologies or market trends that you

can use to your advantage?

>> So there are a lot though because the

use of there are already a lot of apps.

So we are

uh

having we are developing an app so that

we could give to our customers that they

can already order from that app 24/7.

And next uh take market trend the use of

data. So data now is the the gold mine

in the business world. So the data you

gather we should make use of this data

uh and use it in our operation and in

business. And the third one is AI. So

we're already exploring AI to help in

our operation to streamline to make our

uh work faster using AI.

So uh is there any is there a plan of

expanding your product or service

offerings?

>> Yes, there are

plans uh expanding into adding more

principles, more products to the

portfolio of the company and also

expanding to uh

other areas and use

uh use apps in in in this expansion.

H are there talents from the present

employees that may be used as an

advantage?

>> Talents meaning

uh talents meaning

>> skill sets employees that can be used to

their advantage.

>> Okay. The skill set we have developed in

the organization is we we we

develop them to be resilient resilient

individuals, team players and uh

uh

uh these two attributes

may be the one of the

uh advantage that we could uh use. so

that uh

to

use in our business and uh compete with

the competitors. Yeah.

So how do you cope when natural

disasters or calamity strikes?

>> Okay. We must we we should be always

proactive.

Being proactive meaning and a lot of

planning. So proactive if there's a

typhoon coming so we must uh already

prepare our warehouse our trucks so that

it will not be damaged. So and planning

because how can we plan that minimal

damage will affect our operation and

also plan that after the calamity we

could immediately resume to our normal

operation. So I think being proactive

and planning is the best uh solution in

countering this natural calamities.

>> So right now are there any market trends

or emerging technologies that you think

could pose a threat to your business

right now?

>> Yes, there is. So number one trend is

the proliferation of the mini marts.

O save

alpha mart these are uh mini mart

concept that uh invested in the country

and they are eating up uh our

traditional saris store. So this poses a

great threat because saris sari store

buys from us but these two channel this

uh the mini doesn't buy from distributor

so that's a threat that is a loss for

business for us. So we are watching them

carefully and another

uh threat is Lassada and Shopee. So B2C

some customer already ordering from

Lassada and Shopee. So these threats

that's why we are putting up our own app

so that uh we could compete with Lassada

and Shopee.

So are there uh currently changes in

regulations or policies such as

memoranda from low DPI BIR uh that could

affect your business?

>> There is one from LTO. So, LTO

uh reduce the

the

uh

reduce the what do you call that

in in the driver's license before

you can drive a vehicle 4,500

uh G GVW

and up. uh

when they reduced the

uh restriction in the driver's license

from 45 to 35.

So before that affected 40% of our

drivers because during

uh when it was 45 all our drivers can

drive these vehicles. No. So when they

reduce it to 35 40% of driver cannot

drive what they used to drive.

>> So okay so that's the big problem with

the LTO ruling.

So right now could rising costs of

commodities negatively impact your

business operations?

>> Definitely the rising cost

that would translate to price increases

and inflation that would help our

consumers because higher price they

could buy lesser products and this will

affect the sales.

So last question as a business owner,

what advice can you give to future

entrepreneurs?

>> Okay, so

always I I always preach the kaisen, the

Japanese word kaisen, which is

continuous improvement.

You should always challenge yourself. Do

not uh challenge that status quo. Always

evaluate yourself. You should always

improve because if you don't some some

other people will overtake you. You

should always evaluate yourself, improve

on yourself, look at your competitors,

uh check what they are doing. You should

be always be better than them. And if

you see your competitors, you should

look internally what are your strength,

weaknesses and uh work on this so that

you will always be uh on top of

competition and second you should always

adapt and evolve because if you don't

uh somebody else will will take over

you. So that's the advice I could give

uh aspiring and future uh entrepreneurs.

>> Uh thank you very much for your time. Uh

it was very insightful to hear. So,