Shaun T. Dy's Business & Economics Perspective Blog

There's no denying that we're in the Asian century. We have the rise of Mandarin as one of the major languages of the world. In fact, it's the second most spoken language. However, I feel Chinese schools in the Philippines weren't exactly prepared to teach Chinese--only how to memorize without understanding. That's exactly why I didn't like the Chinese language subject. If there was one thing I hated about the Chinese language subject--it was the use of zhuyin. The use of Romanizing wasn't allowed. I could agree to learn to read the characters. However, Zhuyin may not be the best course of action in regard to the international community . I even feel that Zhuyin (a subject I hated) may be as obsolete as the Filipino ancient alphabet.  It wasn't until college that I got into pinyin. People had been checking out Taiwanese entertainment. I remembered Googling and found Romanized lyrics. Those who were college students in the 2000s (under the K+10) may remem...

I really must laugh and cringe at the stupidity of so-called thought leaders on Facebook. I did name some of them such as Silent No More PH. From a photo of whipped cream to red onions (above). The photos were taken at a mall grocery . I even wonder if the people of Silent No More PH (and since when were they ever silent) ever bother to do a simple supply chain analysis . That's why I wrote an article where I addressed if social media gossipers even know anything about supply chain analysis (read here ). It would be idiotic to go to a shopping mall and expect public market (palengke in Tagalog) price levels.  It's because we have this simple supply chain analysis to think about public markets vs. malls  ScienceDirect.com Just think about how the supply chain goes. So, let's think about the suppliers of raw materials. Let's think about one of the unavoidable problems of the gasoline price increase. How many times do I need to tell people that the prices of gasoline are a...

This is the problem when one's stingy with health. Health is also wealth. If the only thing one thinks about is money then they're missing the point. If one only thinks about financial wealth then one hasn't truly seen another depth of wealth which is health. I've seen some people who have had their stupidity with generational stinginess (read here) . If I'm not wrong, the boomers (1946-1964) tend to suffer from a lack of flexibility to change. Some people have even dismissed insurance calling it useless . However, what they don't see is that insurance could've covered problems like temporary relief for their loved ones or reduced the costs of hospitalization bills in the long run.  It's one thing when people have contingency savings. It's good to set money aside for emergencies. Buying insurance and paying it monthly or annually is part of the plan. However, some people just hold on too much to their money. Some older generation people refused to ev...

It's really funny (and frustrating) to see all the posts on Facebook concerning inflation. "Thought leader" page Silent No More Philippines is just one of them. I couldn't help but laugh (and cringe) when they started complaining about the prices of goods increasing. Unfortunately, that page is only known for complaining since the reign of former Philippine president, Rodrigo R. Duterte and the recent reign of Philippine President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. Once again, I'd like to state that I didn't vote for Marcos Jr. The problem with that page isn't their criticism. The problem is that the page hardly displays solutions. In fact, recent posts that they have complained about inflation and the increase in price of Jollibee fast food makes me ask, "Do they know a thing about supply chain management ?" That's why I really refuse to take advice from social media gossipers, especially in matters about economics (read here ). ScienceDirect.com I dec...

It's been some time since I did a food review, right? As of right now, I feel like I've been burdened not taking Hotel & Restaurant Management and chose Business Administration instead. Both departments today are under the School of Business and Economics (SBE) at the University of San Carlos (USC).  Having been a fan of almost everything that they can offer to customers--I decided to do some research. I'm not surprised that its owner, Reynaldo B. Villan Sr. aka Bongbong. The timeline from their very own website shares the humble beginnings of Bongbong or Villan Sr. Right now, you can check all their branches here . The humble beginnings of Villan Sr. (I'll use this one instead of Bongbong to avoid confusion with Philippine President, Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. who goes by that nickname) aren't surprising. I've read how Jollibee was the little bee that could. Tony Tancaktiong wasn't born wealthy and had to face the challenge of foreign food companies. Vill...

I guess nobody saw the Asian 21st Century coming, right? China was once a poor nation but look at it now. Vietnam was once a poor nation but look at it now. Singapore was once a poor nation but look at it now. The late great Lee Kuan Yew wrote his book From Third World to First . I'm afraid some people have been using it to go against the presidency of Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. while ignoring what else Lee Kuan Yew had to say. Lee Kuan Yew described the Filipino press to be rambunctious on pages 304-305 which I agree. I'm afraid that the Filipino press may have had a hand in getting rid of any economic or political reforms that could help the Philippines. Yet, one policy has been holding back the Philippines for decades and yes, it's the Filipino First Policy .  Reviewing the Filipino First Policy and why it has no place in the rising Asian 21st century I remembered how the values education subject taught Carlos P. Garcia's stupid Filipino First Policy as a Filipino value...

One of the corniest (and for me, rather offensive ) jokes is, "Bitter? Just add sugar!" I'm told to ease down because it's just a joke like if someone calls me stupid and I should learn to just "laugh it off". However, I feel that the problem with the mindset that says, "If it's bitter, just add sugar!" is how often it goes from just a joke to a bad mindset . Sugar isn't entirely bad since we do take sugar when we eat fruits. The problem is too much sugar . With Christmas around the corner, it's very easy to think of high sugar consumption. Christmas songs tend to sing a lot about sweets . A Filipino cover of "Frosty the Snowman" sings about two sweets named puto and suman which are two kinds of rice cakes. There's also the serving of puto bumbong which is made from purple rice served with butter. Christmas tends to be associated with sweets as well.  Now, this isn't a post to completely discourage the consumption of s...