Doria, Sheena DC.

BA 170
Reaction Paper on Excellence thru Strategic Innovation:
A al! "# $r. Si%plicio &'un( )%ali, 'r.
Pre*i+ent , -eneral $anager
-ar+enia Ba!erie* .Phil*./ Inc.
Masarap kahit walang palaman.
This is the famous emblem of Gardenia Bakeries Philippines that
captured the majority of the market shares in the bread and pastries industry.
This trademark has put Gardenia into the top bakeries and bread stores not
just in the Philippines but all over the world.
Set you own vision for your own career. Plan your action. Set
objectives. ork passionately to achieve it. This is what !r. "mali told us on
how Gardenia has reached its success as their pro#ts boost from $%&! in
$''( to %.)B in *+$%. e can see that these su,,ested steps towards
success cannot just be applied to the business but also in real life- as a
student.
.rom the very start- / was already da00led when he told us that he will
speak about his successes and also his challen,es rather than failures as a
Gardenia President and General !ana,er. / told myself to call all my
undertakin,s and failures as challen,es- as inspired by !r. "mali because it1s
the ri,ht way of livin, life- bein, positive.
/n our !arketin, 2lasses and especially in our lon, e3am e3aminations-
the concept of value is always stressed and in the talk of !r. "mali- he also
stressed this concept. 4e told us that salaries don1t matter. hat is more
important is that you need to aim to brin, about ,reat value in the company
and most especially to yourself. e can decipher from his speech that he is
very passionate about his work and at the same time- he1s happy about it. 4e
tau,ht us that money is not everythin,.
.urthermore- with the ever chan,in, environment especially the
marketin, environment- every business needs constant innovation to remain
in the industry. 5s emphasi0ed- companies need to have continual
improvement to keep pace with the competitors. 6veryone- even individuals-
needs reminders so that we don1t settle for less and be sta,nant in the
present if we can have better ones in the future.
5dditionally- one thin, that / especially remembered and will always
remember is the fact the advertisin, is really free. /t was proved by Gardenia
especially in their introduction sta,e of their pastry products wherein they
have no capital to invest in promotions. /t1s ama0in, that their promotions are
e7ective even thou,h they are free. The simplest way of advertisin, like
wearin, Gardenia shirts will ,o a lon, way. / also think that their commercials
as shown durin, the talk is e7ective especially the Gardenia 8ili, wherein-
eatin, the bread will make you wi,,le and ,i,,le like kinikili,. Their
commercials make me want to buy the products and / feel like / can already
smell the aroma of their bread just from lookin, at it.
The )Ps of !arketin, which is compose of the place- price- product and
promotion are very essential towards every objective. /nte,rated !arketin,
2ommunication 9/!2: especially hi,hli,hts the importance of the )
th
P which
is promotion. /!2 tells us that we should not be con#ned to the traditional
way of advertisin, such as T; 2ommercials since there are better ways of
doin, so- such as usin, the social networkin, sites to take advanta,e of
people1s interest to the advanced technolo,y. <ther ways of advertisin, are
throu,h 2orporate Social =esponsibilities- word of mouth- direct marketin,
and the newest form is the mobile marketin,.
/t was proven by Gardenia that developin, a product was never easy. /t
needs a ri,orous market research to know what the customers really need. /t
needs to have di7erent trials of the >avors in its breads to know what will hit
the market. 5s !r. "mali said- 2ustomers tell us what to do and so-
Gardenia made a way to satisfy customer wants. 5s we can see nowadays-
Gardenia made the people remember their brand name and not just the
perception of Tasty bread. Gardenia has established its brand name so that
people will call every bread or pastries that they see as Gardenia- as in callin,
all brands of toothpaste- 2ol,ate- or ?ero3 on all the photocopyin, machines.
Thou,h / was not a fan of Gardenia bread and haven1t noticed it- /
appreciated the way the packa,in, was made. The >owery top which si,ni#es
,ardenia as a >ower ama0ed me and / hope that customers will reali0e it- too.
Thou,h ori,inated as an 5merican Bread- Gardenia has made it with Pinoy
touch not just the taste- the softness and aroma that .ilipinos love but is also
shown to the packa,in, of Gardenia with the yellow color in it. The freshness
color@coded G@lock is so ama0in,- too. / reali0ed that tellin, the public about
this G@lock is both advanta,eous and disadvanta,eous at the same time. /t1s
advanta,eous in the sense that there1s an e7ort for Gardenia to let us know
their standards of freshness of their bread. <n the other side- the
disadvanta,e is that people will immediately see if it1s not freshly baked or
not and that it can a7ect Gardenia1s reputation and ima,e.
/t is also ,ood to note that despite Gardenia1s fast ,rowin, success in
the industry- it does not for,et to ,ive back to the .ilipino as their corporate
social responsibility. 5side from ,ivin, jobs to the unemployed throu,h their
Pedicart pro,rams- they also ,ive back throu,h other livelihood projects-
scholarship pro,rams- health and environment pro,rams.
hat has been emphasi0ed by !r. "mali is the )P advanta,e of
Gardenia that outcast its competitors. These are their world class Plant where
everybody wants to tour to- Process which includes the administration- their
manufacture of breads and other pastries- best Auality Products and their
People that are passionately e3ecutin, strate,ies and pro,rams in the
company. hat is best about Gardenia and was hi,hli,hted many times by
!r. "mali is that they especially credit their success to the people who work
for them. /f / were an employee of Gardenia- / would be very motivated
because our president is very proud and value our contributions to the
company. 4e emphasi0ed that the plant- process- and products are static and
so the most important element for the Gardenia is its people- thus makin, the
company- employee or people@centered. This is one characteristic that a
company must possess because motivated and determined employees can
brin, success to the company as we have studied in <r,ani0ational Behavior.
Do things diferently or do things better. This has been the ,uidin, li,ht
and ,uidin, principle of Gardenia and in real life of !r. "mali that will make a
di7erence in our life. .urthermore- the jar concept which was introduced
durin, the talk inspired us to do it in sta,es- don1t rush thin,s and plan
everythin, well. Bittle by little- throu,h perseverance we can reach the
success. .urthermore- it also tells us that if we #nished or achieve a ,oal- we
should not stop improvin, and #ll another jar to be,in a,ain. 5 ,ood plannin,
is just the #rst step in every success. !arket penetration objective or the
capturin, of the market shares will not be achieved in a snap. So- just like the
Pro,rammed Geo,raphic !arket Penetration- tar,et markets should be slowly
and slowly captured throu,h bi,,er and broader scopes one at a time.
/ feel so lucky to have heard the talk of !r. "mali. 6ven if it1s not
reAuired- it1s very worthwhile listenin, to it. 4e just shared thin,s that can be
applied in real life and not just in !arketin,. The whole lecture is very
inspirin, and at times- / couldn1t help but to clap my hands. 4e is so
humorous that it can catch everyone1s attention. / feel that he really deserves
a standin, ovation for the whole speech or talk he delivered. / feel so ful#lled
,oin, out of Sarmiento 4all. /t1s the #rst time that / attended a lecture that /
didn1t feel any sleepiness because the whole speech is so lively. 4e is just so
ama0in,C