Wednesday, August 27, 2008

the brand

A brand name according to mr webster is the name which a given brand of goods is known. A brand is an identifying mark;trademark. Or something that distinguishes it from other goods. :) from an accounting point of view this is an intangible asset because it is something that cannot be quatified but i do believe that it is a very powerful weapon that can be used by any company. :) a perfect example of this is my friend's dad, we were discussing about stocks one time and he mentioned that he only buys ayala stocks. The main reason is that you believe in the product or in the company. :) he believes that the company is ethical and always puts shareholder interests first. :) it is the ayala brand for my friend's dad that set it apart from other companies knowing that the company stands for excellence. :) another example here is jollibee and mcdonald's. Why do people prefer the bee over ronald macdonald? :) maybe because people here see that jollibee is more suited for the filipino tongue or is it something that they can identify with? There are so many questions to be asked but one thing i do know is that a strong brand will definitely have an advantage over its competitors. :) a firm believer of this is nobody else but mr warren buffett himself. :) but we do have to admit he was more a student of benjamin graham when it comes to value investing but his path what somewhat influenced by his partner mr charlie munger. :) if it wasnt for charlie munger buffett wouldnt have bought see's candies which was five times its book value, coca cola, american express, just to name a few. :) but munger showed him that even though the company was five times its book value there was still value to be found because the see's candies brand cannot be quantified. :) it doesnt show in the financial statements of the company. :) just doing a little survey among my friends i asked what softdrink would they rather have?? pepsi or coca cola. :) the answers that i got were interesting. :) around 2/3 of the respondents wanted to have a coca cola. :) i got a lot of answers saying that they were already used to drinking coke and that it tastes better. :) i also believe that the advertisements have an influence on the preference of the respondents also(this is just a theory of mine) because the ads condition the viewer subliminally that coke is better. :) and we do have to admit that coke is the stronger brand because just the bottle itself is recognized by millions of people around the world. Another theory of mine is that there is really brand loyalty by consumers. :) the coke distribution network here in the philippines, i believe, is superior compared to its counterparts which makes us come to the conclusion that by the time its competitors are able to penetrate the different parts here in the country most of the time coke was already there first. And when consumers are comfortable or get used to a certain product most of the time they will stick it out with the product. :) that example also applies for smart here in the philippines. :) being the first to really have the widest cellular coverage in the country so it also follows that a lot of people had smart as their first cellular network and a lot of those people have continued to patronize the said network which makes it really hard for other networks to equal their subscriber base. :) and another question i was sharing with my best friend the other day... what if a diffrerent container was used and you put coke inside it and the name on the bottle will be “coco-cola”. Will it sell as good when it was in the distinct coke bottle with the red coca cola logo on it?? :) now you tell me will you yourself buy the product? :) thank you so much for your time. :) for any comments, questions and suggestions please email me at compounder888@gmail.com. God bless to all of you. :) good luck.
ps. today its been two years that i have been sharing my thoughts with all of you. Thank you for joining me in my journey. :) happy birthday mr warren buffett. :)

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

a thought


Americans are getting stronger. twenty years ago, it took two people to carry $10 worth of groceries. today, a five year old can do it. - henry youngman

Sunday, August 10, 2008

china and the world

China has finally had its break-out party and announcing to the world of its arrival with the 2008 beijing olympics. :) how will china affect the world? :) when youre on top everybody follows you. :) just like now, the american culture has a lot of influence all over the world from fastfood, clothes, music, movies and language to name a few. :) looking back at history the united states of america starting from the time of george washington took 100-150 years to be a truly world superpower and now the question is how long will it take china to get to the level that the us is in right now? Or will it ever get that powerful in the future? China is now a big threat to a lot of nations especially when it comes to industries because of china's cheap labor. China's rise to power started in the late 70's or early 80's and since then it has become a hungry machine continually expanding even up tp the point of increasing steel prices all over the world because of its unsatiable demand. The country has been expanding at a meteoric rate and has done so for a lot of years and some say that the bubble will burst soon. Well that remains to be seen. But with progress also comes a downside, pollution in china has been bad even up to the point that the international olympic committee has asked them to do something about it. Any country will welcome progress but it should always be sustainable development. :) pollution was never on their mind when coal fired power plants were being built at an average of one being opened and operated every week in the last few years and when factories were being constructed. In a way you cant blame the officials because these bring income to the city and work for the people but it also comes at a price. Just like the united states i just saw in the discovery channel last night that the us was one of the worst polluted places on the planet. This is because when they were growing they kept on opening coal power plants to supply their energy needs but now they are doing away with it .and are trying to develop clean and sustainable energy. Coal fired power plants are a short term solution with disastrous long term consequences. Tsktsk as they say yin and yang. I've seen on the discovery channel that china have spent billions of us dollars to improve the pollution problem and i laud their officials for taking action. It is never too late. :) china in terms of business and economy is now very stable but i could also say that it is still growing which is the really scary part. :) i believe that business in china has been so good that i know of a lot of people who decided to learn mandarin which shows the spread of chinese influence. :) business has been so good that world class casinos have been sprouting all over macau which of course since 1999 have been given back to china. :) these are just one of the few indicators of china's success and influence. The us right now is still in turmoil with the subprime crisis and it is also an election year and using logic, the new president on his first year still cant get things done and will still try to get the policies that he wants in place so i assume this subprime crisis will still go on for the next 2-3 years. Thats just my opinion and who knows maybe the new president can get america back on its feet right away but that still remains to be seen(lets just hope its not mccain because he will just be another george bush). :) the question, is will this even catapult china faster up in its influence in the world? :) now that is has opened its country to the world will it even increase its tourism industry? There is a lot of money in the tourism industry and it could really help the economy of any country a really concrete example is greece because i believe that maybe half of the country's income is tourism related. If only we could develop our tourism industry more here in the philippines it would really benefit us and it is nice to see that our taipans here see the potential and have invested in the said industry. I just hope our country could also develop the industry more to bring in more revenues for the country. If the balance of power does shift to asia then china and india will be the ones most likely to benefit from it but i do hope it will also benefit our country, the philippines, in a good way. :) im hoping for the best for our country. For a more stable political climate so that we could have a better investing environment. Please feel free to answer the 2-3 poll questions everytime you visit my blog. Let me hear your thoughts, questions and suggestions and send me an email at compounder888@gmail.com. Good luck and God bless to you all. :)

Friday, August 01, 2008

anino

mayroon akong kasama

saan man ay dala-dala

nang dumilim ay nawala

wala na akong kasama

                         

this was a poem a wrote when i was in high school and i decided to write it here right now to reflect my mood. i just want to vent out my loneliness, frustrations, disappointments and anger. i just want to get it out of my system so that i could function properly again.