JENNIFER A. JUAN
Block 2 Lot 7 Primavera Homes, Rizal Village, Alabang, Muntinlupa City 1770 Philippines; 0918-9270850; jenjuan_1999@yahoo.com
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Being a U.S. outsourced call center in the Philippines, what is Etelecare’s unique marketing proposition to its clients?
It is amazing how call centers in general have suddenly become the trend in Asia most especially here in our country. I have been a satisfied employee of one of these booming call centers in Manila — eTelecare International — from February 12, 2001 up to May 6, 2002. And it was the most fun and fulfilling job I have ever had before I got hired by GSIS. It continues to amaze me how only 2 years ago, there were only 500 employees in the company and now, it has increased to thousands and still counting! Taking these things into consideration, I would like to have an initial study and further insight with regard to its marketing proposition, financial sustainability and corporate endurance in case someday, I might find myself crawling back to the arms of the call center industry, particularly that of eTelecare, the same company I once called my home.
The call center industry has awakened — it seems overnight — to the reality that it’s not just North America in the driver’s seat anymore. Whether because of favorable cost structures or an increasingly global customer base, the fact is that many companies are looking outside the United States, particularly in the Philippines, for help in handling customer interactions and hosting their call center infrastructure. Outsourcers are taking the lead and “offshoring” is helping them provide unparalleled flexibility in ramping up and down programs and handling volume spikes. Many in the US fear offshoring because it is sometimes perceived as part of a contraction of the US call center industry. Let’s take a somewhat different view — the growth of call centers worldwide is a sign of an increasing commitment to customer care, and an inevitable outcome of the use of globe-spanning technologies like IP telephony and advanced call routing. International outsourcing enhances the abilities of American companies to more effectively manage their customer care resources. Whether you are at an American firm facing the question of outsourcing for the first time, or an offshore call center hoping to attract business from North America and Europe, offshoring is the biggest trend to hit call centers in years. (A special digital supplement from the editors of Call Center Magazine, August 2003).
But why offshore/outsource in the Philippines? What are its advantages against its neighboring countries like China, India, Japan and Singapore? Are these advantages enough to sustain Etelecare’s profitability and growth in our country? And aside from these Philippine advantages, what are its unique marketing propositions to its U.S. clients that make eTelecare the leader in the Philippine Call Center Industry?
This article will tackle these points. It will show (and is limited to) why Philippines has the greatest advantage over all the other prospective Asian countries and using these advantages, what other values does eTelecare offer that make its clients invest in their services.
INTRODUCTION
I have learned that development, in the context of our society, is all about change for the betterment of the quality of life of people. This can be achieved through many ways. Social Marketing (socmar) and Social Mobilization (socmob) are two of them.
In this article, I would like to focus my research on the field of reproductive health. I’ll be showing three (3) socmar/socmob projects as they deal with this issue from different parts of the world.
OVERVIEW
There are three (3) socmob and socmar projects that I would like to tackle in this paper. These projects are as follow:
1. PROJECT ACTION
This is a “multi-faceted intervention strategy that directly addressed the reproductive health practices of young adults and related socio-cultural environmental factors.” (Source Documents: Blair, 1995; Population Services International, 1996.)
With the use of the social mobilization and social marketing strategies, the target audience was made more aware of the practice of safe sex to improve the quality of their life, particularly that of their health, thereby, helping them to bring about development as a people.
As a social mobilization project, let’s see how they were able to follow the necessary steps: (based on Chapter 4 summary of our textbook)
2. THE PHILIPPINES MULTI MEDIA CAMPAIGN FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
This is an “example of a project that uses the “Enter-educate model” to combine the use of popular media formats with the marketing of a referral service.” (Source Document: Rimon, J., et al., 1994.)
3. THE PROFAMILIA MASS MEDIA CAMPAIGN
In the Atlantic Coast of Colombia, research indicated that freedom and unconstrained lifestyle among young men were very rampant. They were not at all very much concerned with birth spacing and maternal/infant health and their attitude towards sexuality was very carefree. The campaign message, “keep being free, use Tahiti condoms,” and materials were then developed according to these findings to help curb this incidence.
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Welcome to MSSP 101- Manufacturing and Selling of Spa Products!
Most of us are aware that we now live in very stressful times. It takes a lot more of our energy to be able to earn our keep and pursue our dreams. Our economy is barely surviving and our country’s political climate doesn’t help at all. At the end of the day, can we say that we’re happy and satisfied? Was a day’s hard work worth whatever it is that we are living for? Maybe yes. Maybe not.
In the midst of all this, many of us still think of better ways to cope with life’s hardships. Many of us still yearn to be able to have that dream vacation, that dream career, money in the bank, a business perhaps, something that will inspire us to move on and continue striving for success and be better people. And so we work hard, day in and day out, hoping that someday, we get to live the life that we want —- stress-free and happy.
“Can I have some light. Please?”, asked Tom.
Julie gave him her lighter without uttering single word.
“Where are you going? You look awfully serious back there.”
“Nowhere special. I just want to get out of the city so I bought the cheapest tickets available.” replied Lola, wondering why this guy is suddenly interested.
It has been so long since she was in a shallow conversation with someone. And she remembers hating it back then. All she cared about before was doing her cases and speaking to fellow lawyers, clients & judges. She never really bothered to make social contacts. And now this. She doesn’t know if she is welcoming the feeling or not. He does look cute though, she thought.
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Back in high school, there was a debate whether Sabah must be part of the Philippines or Malaysia. Apparently, Malaysia won and it’s no wonder why our country was trying to make it part of our archipelago too. The moment we landed at Kota Kinabalu airport, we didn’t feel any different. Apart from the Caucasians/Europeans lurking everywhere, Malaysians could easily be mistaken for Filipinos. They look like us, the sound of their language is Tagalog-like and the city itself feels very homey, as if I was just taking a stroll in old Manila. They even have a bay area very similar to our Roxas Boulevard. Even the countryside felt like we were on our way to Ilocos, Bukidnon or Sorsogon.
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If you happen to be in a career situation where waking up everyday to cater to the whim of your devil-incarnate boss is the highlight of your day, then this book is for you. True, it deals entirely on fashion and other vanity-laden stuff this world has to offer, but it could touch your heart if you let it. Plus, it’s not so bad to be acquainted with beautiful things like Jimmy Choo and Manolo Blahnik shoes, or couture dresses from Chanel, Prada, and Loius Vuitton. It’s actually liberating to know that even those people with jobs “a million girls would die for” do also live a pathetic and hellish life in exchange for so-called prestige in the publishing industry. That is the life of Andrea Sachs, fresh out of college, who got the job as Miranda Priestley’s assistant, the editor-in-chief of Runway, the no. 1 fashion magazine, a job “a million girls would die for”. And it’s up to her how she can cope and just suck it all up as long as she can, destroying the few good relationships she has but still emerging victorious towards the end. This book shows its intended readers that there is life after fashion, beauty and glamour. For people like Andrea Sachs, it’s up to you where to draw the line. In the end, the opportunities can be boundless.
SELECTION OF PARTICIPANTS
a. Eight (8) students were randomly selected among the Grade 6 students of St. Michael Academy in Meycauayan, Bulacan. I was only able to gather their first names due to time constraint as I was only allowed to talk with the students during their afternoon recess. Students Were randomly chosen by their Class Adviser. They were Christian, Milca, Charmaine, Anna, Sophia, Rachel, Vince and Carmina.
b. The students were led to a room and were asked to take their seats prior to starting the FGD.
II. INTRODUCTION
a. I introduced myself and they in turn briefly introduced themselves.
b. I told them that for a period of 20 minutes, we will be talking about Math and Science and that I was hoping everybody could actively and honestly participate.
The tide has just subsided and the coral formation that was not visible from where I was standing moments ago, are now slowly coming into view as the sky displays its magnificent pink into the horizon. It’s such a picture perfect sunset. It makes me think about my all-time favorite song PINK LIFE, for it somehow inspires me to think that my life has been such a miracle the last couple of months and now my faith is again tested as I start to think what my purpose in life really is and what is it that I am bound to really do. Just like these corals that are ever so shyly coming into view as the day retires, I hope that the corals of my life will soon show themselves to me as my short retreat is about to come to an end and tomorrow, I face another day, with my questions still left unanswered.
What do I want to do? What do I want to be? What do I want to become? These questions are usually popular among young kids in school and are more often than not asked by their teachers to make these hyper kids pause for a while in an attempt to make them contemplate on how they want to see themselves when they grow up. These questions are even given as homework to young students who are then required to produce an essay or some artistic drawing out of it. Popular answers would be that of a doctor, teacher, nurse, pilot, astronomer and scientist. Maybe these days, the list of things children want to be when they grow up could be altogether different. Perhaps most of them would want to be superstars or superheroes considering the proliferation of reality TV shows and superhero movies.
Anyway, my point is, questions such as these are NORMAL subjects among kids. But when asked by 30+ year old adults, it’s something else. Could it be another symptom of late quarter life crisis? Whatever it is, it surely is a dilemma and no laughing matter albeit its sounding pathetic and absurd, especially these days when the largest economy in the world is experiencing what could be termed as another major depression. Shouldn’t I be very concerned? The practical side of my brain is telling me that this is definitely not the right time to be selfish and to think only of what I want. I should just be concerned about making money and saving money as long as I can. But is that all there is to it…money? What about life? What about living? What about feeding one’s soul and being happy? I am back to where I started and this is not a good thing…
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You know that famous song SUNSCREEN ( well it used to be famous, considering what kinds of music kids are into these days) where the singer mentioned that the most interesting 40 year old folks he knows still don’t know what to do with their life? Well, here are two interesting 30 year old yuppies who may seem happy and successful as if the whole world is at their feet, but in actuality, they’re just like everybody else, struggling to find out who they really are and enjoying (sometimes depressing) themselves in the process.
It was a rather cold and wet early morning. The sun was about to rise and everything outside the glass enclosure was misty and beautiful. Julie was craving for her usual dose of nicotine paired with a cup of strong coffee. It doesn’t really help her wake up since caffeine has the opposite effect on her. At least it would help her put everything back into proper perspective. However, considering that she just quit her high-powered career in the world of law and politics and left everything she thought was her entire universe, she couldn’t really get much clearer than this.
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