Wednesday, August 27, 2008 The Aboitiz business culture By Antonio V. Osmeña Estatements
LONG before the Spanish arrived, Cebu was an entrepot that linked local traders with those of the Malay archipelago and the South China Sea.
As Cebu was drawn into the Spanish political orbit, the port’s commercial relations with the Malay world declined and eventually ceased. The 16th century traders from the south were replaced early in the 17th century by Muslim raiders in search of places to plunder and for slaves from the emerging Christian settlements in the Visayas.
The Spanish colonial policy precluded the exploitation of Cebu’s commercial potential; efforts to restrict the trans-Pacific trade to Manila deterred the development of competing port cities. By the middle of the 17th century Cebu has become a commercial backwater, apparently unattractive to both Cebuanos and Spaniards.
When Cebu re-emerged as a major Visayan entrepot in the first half of the 19th century, it did so not as a Malay trading port looking south, but as a link in an extensive commercial network centered in the markets of Europe and North America.
The City of Cebu was originally intended to be a Spanish settlement. As the number of resident Spaniards diminished during the 17th and early 18th centuries, Cebu ceased to be a Spanish city. In 1751, all pretence as a Spanish community disappeared when the government disbanded the city council due to lack of qualified members. Today, the City of Cebu has a small group of Spaniards and Spanish mestizos.
However, in the 16th century, Parian emerged across the narrow estuary on the city’s north side. To minister to these wandering souls and to convert the Chinese and their offspring, the Bishop of Cebu founded a secular parish in 1614. The parish of San Bautista had a broad jurisdiction over the Chinese of the Parian.
In 1860, the Spanish Government issued a decree opening the port of Cebu to direct foreign trade. In 1863, foreign vessels began to appear in Cebu to take on cargoes of sugar and hemp for direct shipment to ports outside the Philippines. Foreign merchant houses rapidly became the port’s leading creditors.
Among the important changes brought about by the opening of Cebu’s port was the influx of the Chinese, who came to play an increasing dominant role in the urban economy.
Don Ramon Aboitiz, the patriarch of the family-owned Aboitiz & Company that is now under the leadership of Jon Ramon Aboitiz, was one of the few hard working Spaniards who managed to evolved against the highly competitive business market in Cebu’s Chinese mestizo community.
Don Ramon had the foresight to create a business culture wherein the next generation of Aboitizes do not have to squabble over the business operations.
Most of the big family-owned businesses in Cebu are quite united in attaining their business objectives. But some of the big Chinese family-owned businesses are experiencing legal squabbles. Obviously, the success of the first generation family-owned business, in many cases, could not be carried on to the second generation because of the failure to develop and create a business culture that promotes family unity.
Don Ramon’s foresight to develop a strong second and third generation of Aboitiz siblings to run the business resulted in sound corporate politics. Family businesses in Cebu should adopt the Aboitiz business culture.
In many respects, Cebu presents a likely environment for extensive business opportunities. The thousands of students who find in Cebu the opportunity for obtaining excellent education provide hope to our country’s future. However, they are losing hope in government bureaucracy and its failure to introduce intermediate- and long-range planning.
The Aboitiz Future Leaders Business Summit, which is designed for students, should be replicated with local government leaders as participants.
A city or the municipalities in Cebu Province should be form a corporate entity offering cultural, social and economic advantages that are superior to those offered to residents in competing neighboring islands. The people in government, especially the elected officials, should perform good governance to impart to the students the importance of values.
