Category: Business

Petron, the country??s largest oil refiner and retailer, was named again as the top Philippine company in the 3rd Asian Sustainability Ratings (ASR) because of its efforts to combine profit goals with sustainability.

The oil firm also ranked seventh out of 29 Asian companies in the energy sector surveyed by the ASR.SR.

It also placed in the top 10 percent of the 750 companies surveyed in 10 Asian countries, namely Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

This is the second time that Petron topped the ratings board, which measures a company??s performance in key areas such as environment, social and governance (ESG).

??In a world where transparency and accountability are increasingly important, the ASR is the first ESG benchmarking tool to analyze the largest listed companies in Asia,? said a report prepared by CSR Asia, the body that conducted the survey.

??The ASR allows companies, investors and other stakeholders to understand the economic, social and governance activities of listed companies. It also encourages listed companies to address ESG performance through disclosure and realistic target setting,? the report said.

Petron chairman and CEO Ramon S. Ang noted that as Petron??s business grows, its initiatives in the areas of sustainability and corporate social responsibility likewise increase.

??We believe that adhering to sustainability across our operations is essential to the long-term viability of our business,? Ang said in a statement.

??If you take a look at the leading companies across the region, they have overcome business challenges by doing the right things. A strong company does right by its employees, customers and other stakeholders,? Ang added.

Launched in 2009, the ASR examines the publicly available information of leading listed companies in 10 Asian countries and provides investors, companies and other stakeholders with a view of the strategic sustainability of these companies.

Earlier this year, Petron also received two distinctions from the Management Association of the Philippines for integrating corporate social responsibility and sustainability into its daily business operations.

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Implementing an efficient telephone system can definitely improve the way you communicate with your customers and business associates. Small business telephone systems are a great option for budding business enterprises to maintain effective communication.

Convey a Professional Business Image

Repeated breakdown in your communication system and improper call management can adversely affect your business image. Small business telephone systems offer organized call management and professional business communication. The enhanced communication experience that they offer would certainly attract more customers and enhance your sale leads and revenue. These phone systems come with high-tech call handling features including find-me/follow-me call forwarding, call conferencing, music on hold, voicemail, fax to email, voice to email and more.

The auto attendant receives calls in a professional manner and is programmed to transfer them to extensions, mailboxes, call queues, groups and conference rooms, as directed by the caller. The virtual receptionist manages several calls arriving at the same time with incredible efficiency.

Manage your Business from Distant Locations

Business establishments with more than one office and/or a mobile workforce benefit a lot from this small office telephone system. The advanced call forwarding feature routes calls to landline numbers or cell phones configured as extensions. Your business can be easily administered from other locations and you can stay connected to your clients and workforce all the time. Using a broadband connection like DSL, Cable or FIOS, your mobile workers can become an extension of your business PBX phone system.

Powerful Voicemail System

Modern small business telephone systems minimize the odds of missing calls and messages. Unanswered calls are instantly routed to the voicemail system, so that the callers can leave voice messages. This facility helps focus on core tasks without worrying about not taking customer calls during busy business hours. Voice messages are forwarded to your email account as audio file attachments. Whenever a new message arrives in your mailbox, it is promptly alerted on your cell phone.

With these diverse capabilities, small business telephone systems facilitate effective communication with your business clients. To enjoy all the benefits of these phone systems, it is important to get the service from dependable providers. This would assure the smooth functioning of the system, structured services and advanced PBX features at reasonable monthly charges.

It can sometimes be quite a confronting exercise to invite an external business management consulting firm into an organization, especially if you have been one of the driving forces in the management of that organization. In so doing, the business practices and decision-making processes are being opened up for scrutiny and in some cases, criticism, by someone who has no particular vested interest in the company, other than as a client relationship. Of course, this is the whole point in calling in a source of independent and unbiased advice. The decision to engage an external expert is one to be applauded and recognized as one of courage.

Being cautious when choosing a business consulting firm to provide the skills and knowledge from without the business is wise. Never rush into making a decision without solid research, it could have disastrous consequences. Before approaching unknown firms for advice on consulting business owners should seek references and testimonials to establish an independent track record for the firm under consideration.

Some business management consulting firms operate within a narrow band of expertise, while other firms cover a broad number of disciplines. There are advantages and disadvantages to both approaches. The advantage in using a consulting firm that specializes in one particular area is the depth of knowledge and influence this consultancy could bring to the client business. However, should additional advice and skills be needed in an area outside the expertise of the consultancy, the client business would again need to go through a selection process and establish a relationship with a different company to get the advice the business needs.

On the other hand, a business consulting firm with a number of consultants experienced in a wide range of business skills can offer complete solutions from the same location, saving the client time and money. Expertise in areas such as accounting, strategic planning, marketing, cash flow management, staff training and development, performance management and business development are typical of the skill base that consulting firms can maintain. While a client business may not need all of the disciplines on offer, there is usually two or three that a client will eventually need some assistance with. For example, for assistance with developing current skills in existing staff, and marketing business owners could use the same consultancy firm to develop solutions in both areas.

The most common mistake that most business owners do is that they end up giving up. If you have found that your business is not running in the way that you had hoped off, don’t give up and try going for the next big thing out there. Ideally seeing that you have already done most of the hard work of getting a business up and running, you will be better off looking for new opportunities of leverage in your existing businesses. There are many ways through which you can go about in trying to do so.

One of the most common approaches that are taken by many is to simply look at trying different markets. Work from the existing product or service that you have to offer. Come up with new design ideas and try entering a new market in comparison to the existing one. This way it will give you a completely new “market” to work with. The important thing that you have to remember about this process is that you are not coming up with a brand new product. The idea is simply to work your way up from the exiting product that you already have in hand.

This technique will require a lot of background research. Ideally you would want to be looking at the existing product and how that can be made better. Spend a bit more time on the research and development stages. Take surveys and do enough adequate market research that will give you enough reason to go ahead with your new idea.

Another approach that can be taken in order to increase leverage for your existing business will include paying close attention on your existing customers. What many businesses do is that they end up forgetting about their existing customer relationships and are too busy focusing on getting new customers. What you have to understand about existing customers is that they are already interested in what you have to offer. What that means is that you do not have to put as much more effort to get them to buy an upgrade of your existing product as you would have to put in getting a new customer altogether. For this reason you it is very important that you take a bit of time focusing on your existing customers.

Another way that you can help increase the leverage of your current business is by looking to sell a service or product that is of higher value in terms of cost. This is commonly referred to as ROTI (return on time investment). It simply means how long you have to wait to get a decent return based on your initial investments. Instead off focusing on smaller more affordable products that are applicable to the mass market, aim for those that are of high value products. This has proven to help increase leverage in your business and is an effective way to generate a large sum of cash.

It only stands to reason that a UAE business guide should always start by education novice investors in the legal regulatory hurdles in setting up a profit-based enterprise in the region. Foreign investors that the investment opportunities offered by the different sectors in the UAE signified that businesses is easily set up in the locale which isn’t true. It is important that you know what type of businesses is available to investors and the various requirements associated with its incorporation.

Starting With Licenses

Every business in the UAE requires a license and there are 3 types of licenses offered in the region. This UAE business guide delves into each in detail.

1. Commercial License – this license can be classified as a general license for any types of commercial businesses in the city. In most cases, this is related mostly to business that deals with trading (e.g.: imports, exports, etc.)

2. Industrial License – an industrial license is issued to corporations that deals with manufacturing of goods or anything related to industrial enterprises.

3. Professional License – this license is released to individual businesses that offer a specific service, mostly related to crafts, profession, and the likes.

Business Ownership

Another important topic discussed in this UAE business guide is the ownership of an investor to a particular business. There are two that you should be aware of, namely Partnership Ownership and Sole Ownership.

Partnership Ownership is a type of business where your native UAE partner owns a majority of the shares in the business. In this case, your sponsor should own at least above 50% of the total shares while you get the rest or subdivided with other investors. There are 3 classifications of business under this category, namely:

*Limited Liability Company (LLC)

*Joint Venture

*Private or Public Shareholding Companies

The second type of ownership is the Sole Ownership where the investors get full ownership of the enterprise giving him or her full control over its operation and profit. If you check out a UAE business guide aside from this one, you will find out that Sole Ownership ventures are limited to Free Trade Zones where you don’t need an agent to set you up.

Company Registration Procedures

This section of the UAE business guide discusses the various procedures necessary for company or business incorporation in the region. Small-scale business, especially those operating outside Free Trade Zones require the aid of a native UAE sponsor or agent to register the enterprise — like processing necessary documents, applying for business visa, registering the business in related government agencies and bureaus, and so on.

In most cases, the procedure can be summed up with the steps below:

1. Submission Of Company Registration Application

Documents pertaining to the registration of the company are to be duly submitted to the Department of Economic Development (DED). This application
will be subjected to approval by a government representative so a business will be issued its license to operate its enterprise in the region.

2. Notarizing Documents

A native UAE lawyer is necessary to have your documents notarized in order for the entrepreneur to get a preliminary approval. In most cases, documents have to be notarized first before you submit it to the DED for approval.

3. Filing Business-Related Documents

Once you have passed the preliminary approval and have obtained the license to open up a business in the city, the next step is to file documents related to the business with the DED. This includes documents pertaining to company registration, financial statements, bank-accounts, registration of native UAE workers, compensation and benefits, rules and by-laws, and so on. There are also some documents that need to be filed with other government agencies as well, like the Ministry of Labor for one but these are mandatory.

Simplifying Business Registration with Experts

This UAE business guide can help give you an idea on what the various legal processes involved in setting up a business in the region. However, if you don’t have the means to take care of this task on your own then the best way to jumpstart your enterprise in the city is to look for a local UAE business consultant firm to help you process all the requirements to register your venture quick and easy.