Excerpt
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page
Abstract
Acknowledgement
Table of Contents
List of Tables
List of Figures
List of Appendices
Chapter I Introduction
Background of the Study
Review of Related Literature
Statement of the Problem
Hypotheses of the Study
Conceptual Framework
Significance of the Study
Scope and Limitations of the Study
Definition of terms
Chapter II Research Methodology
Research Design
Sampling Design
Research Locale
Research Instrument
Validity
Data Gathering Procedure
Data Analysis Procedure
Statistical Treatment
Chapter III Presentation, Interpretation and Analysis of Data
Demographic Profile of Respondents
Findings –Tables, Statistical Output – tests performed
Chapter IV Conclusion and Recommendations
Summary of Problems and Hypotheses
Summary of Findings
Recommendations
References
Appendices
ABSTRACT
Title of the Study: Marketing Strategies and Growth of Youth-owned Business during COVID-19 Pandemic Researcher: Robe Kazzeir Lou Magtubo
This study aimed to determine the level of effectiveness of the marketing strategies used and growth of the youth-owned business during the COVID-19 pandemic, which data was gathered through an online survey questionnaire and was analyzed using the mean and non-parametric tools.
The analysis of the study revealed that during the COVID-19 pandemic, regardless of ownership and location of the business, the level of effectiveness of marketing strategies as to product and promotion is the same. However, there is a difference on the distribution strategy as the businesses need to innovate to surpass the lockdowns and boarder restrictions of some areas of the market. As to the growth of the youth-owned business, regardless of the ownership and location of the business, they are all growing in a high rate and are using the aforementioned marketing strategies to strive and compete in the harsh and negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic to the economic sector of the Philippines, specifically in San Jose de Buenavista, Antique.
To help the youths in sustaining their businesses and help elevate the unemployment rate of the country, this study provides recommendations to the authorities to strengthen the youth entrepreneurship in the Philippines.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The researchers wish to convey their profound gratitude and genuine appreciation to the following persons who have helped in the completion of this study:
Mr. Richard E. Bandoja, CPA, MBA, Group Research Adviser, for the intelligent pieces of advice, comments, timely suggestions with kindness, enthusiasm and dynamism, and encouragement to complete this study as well as his understanding despite of his busy schedule and personal commitments, yet he did not fail to extend his help to a very great extent in accomplishing the task;
Mr. Roderick Aquino, MBA, Research Instructor, for the understanding, patience and the opportunity to conduct this study. His guidance during the early stage of the study is the foundation to where the study is now;
Justine P. Claud, for the unwavering mental and emotional support, encouragements, a helping hand and positive efforts in helping accomplished this task. Your support has been a great help to keep the study going and be productive all throughout the task;
Mikee Delos Santos, co-research leader, for the suggestions and comments and recommendation especially on the proper formatting of the research study; and
God, for the strength, the gift of wisdom and knowledge He bestowed upon us on the duration of our task. He never failed to guide and help us all throughout the semester and this study will never be made possible without His Grace.
LIST OF TABLES
1. Distribution of the respondent of the study
2. Level of effectiveness of marketing strategy when taken as a whole
3. Level of effectiveness of marketing strategy when categorized according to sex
4. Level of effectiveness of marketing strategy when categorized according to location
5. Level of growth of youth-owned business when taken as a whole
6. Level of growth of youth-owned business when categorized according to sex
7. Level of growth of youth-owned business when categorized according to location
8. Hypothesis test summary of level of effectiveness of marketing strategy in terms of product, distribution, and promotion when grouped according to sex
9. Hypothesis test summary of level of effectiveness of marketing strategy in terms of product, distribution, and promotion when Grouped according to location
10. Hypothesis test summary of level of growth of youth-owned business in terms of sales, profit, assets, and capital when grouped according to sex
11. Hypothesis test summary of level of growth of youth-owned business in terms of sales, profit, assets, and capital when grouped according to location
12. Correlations of marketing strategy and growth of youth-owned business
LIST OF FIGURES
1. A paradigm showing relationship between independent and dependent variables
2. Sex composition of the respondents
3. Location of youth-owned business
4. Age of respondents
LIST OF APPENDICES
A. Letter to Jury Members
B. Profile of Jury Members
C. Results of Jury Validation
D. Letter to Respondents and Survey Questionnaire
E. Grammarian Certificate
F. Statistician Certification
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents and discusses the background of the study, the review of related literature, statement of the problem, hypotheses of the study, conceptual framework, definition of terms, scope and limitations of the study and significance of the study.
Background of the Study
Recently, Young entrepreneurs are among the hardest hit during the COVID-19 crisis. Lockdown and social distancing, reduced demand, disrupted supply chains and other challenges have forced many to close their business. Others are only just surviving. International surveys suggest that nearly 90% of young entrepreneurs report a negative impact on their business, including reduced customer demand, supply chain disruptions, and distribution disruptions. About one-quarter of those surveyed reported that they have stopped their business completely (OECD 2020).
The development of youth enterprise is an important and significant strategy for fostering economic participation amongst young women and men. For many young men and women employment opportunities in the existing public and private sector are insufficient to meet the demand for employment. Youth’s natural disposition for innovation and change make young people well suited for entrepreneurship, provided the community can give youth the right support to overcome their challenges and improve their odds of success. Local economic development benefits from youth entrepreneurship in terms of employment creation, product and service innovation, market competition, community revitalization, and income generation.
Young people, however, often only consider entrepreneurship or setting up a business as an option of last resort. It is only pursued when education, training or employment options have been exhausted. David Halabisky, a Policy Analyst of Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities (CFE), OECD provided a brief overview of youth entrepreneurship issues. He noted that young people often indicate a strong interest in becoming entrepreneurs but that young people are about half as likely as adults to be self-employed. Moreover, they tend to operate smaller businesses in sectors with low barriers to entry and high levels of price competition. Therefore, youth-operated businesses tend to have lower survival rates. Entrepreneurs face many obstacles that limit their long-term survival and development. The youth entrepreneurship gap can be explained by several factors, including a lack of experience in the labour market, lower levels of entrepreneurship skills, lower levels of savings that can be invested into the business, and smaller professional networks that can be used to access resources.
San Jose de Buenavista is the center of trade and business in the Province of Antique and there’s a lot of different businesses that offers a variety of products. While some are shutting down during the COVID-19 pandemic, many are taking the risk on starting up a business despite the threat of loss. This resulted to many businesses to sprout during the pandemic and mostly are owned by young entrepreneurs. It is therefore important to determine the level of effectiveness of the marketing strategy used and growth of youth-owned business in San Jose de Buenavista during the COVID-19 pandemic; hence, this study.
Review of Related Literature
Marketing Strategy
Marketing strategy is a significant driving force that distinguishes the success of many organizations not only by well-developed marketing strategies outlining where, when, and how the firm will compete but also by their ability to execute the marketing strategy decision options chosen (e.g. Day and Wensley, 1988; Varadarajan, 2010). The appropriate and effectively implemented marketing strategies are required to productively guide the deployment of the limited available resources via the firm’s marketing capabilities in pursuit of desired goals and objectives (Black and Boal 1994; Varadarajan and Clark 1994).
An effective marketing strategy combines the 4 Ps of the marketing mix. Marketing mix means the product, distribution, promotion and pricing strategies to produce and carry out exchanges and achieve the target markets. "Marketing mix - interrelated actions and solutions to meet consumer needs and to achieve the company's marketing goals, a whole" (Sereikienė-Abromaitytė, 2003). "Marketing mix - a set of relevant factors and solutions that enable customers to meet the (national) needs and achieve the goals set by the company (Pruskus, 2015). According to Singh (2016), marketing is a complex range of marketing mix solution variables used in the company seeking to sell their goods and services.
Product. The product itself is at the beginning of marketing strategy efforts toward firm performance and is the heart of brand because it is the primary impact on what consumers experience with a product or rather a brand, what they heard about the product from others through word of mouth, and what the firm can win customers about their product in their communications. Therefore, designing and delivering a product or service that fully satisfies customer needs and wants is a prerequisite for successful marketing strategy implementation, regardless of whether the product is a tangible good, service, or organization. According to Keller, (2003) in order to create brand loyalty, consumers' experiences with the product must, at least, meet, if not actually exceed, their expectations. Customer satisfaction is determined by exceeding customers‟ expectations. The image of the product is paramount to winning customers in international markets.
Place. Place is also known as distribution. It is concerned with the availability of products or services to customers. In order to implement a successful marketing strategy, it is important to form the habit of evaluating and reflecting upon the exact location where the customer meets the salesperson in which products and services are converted into cash. Sometimes a change in distribution channels can lead to a rapid increase in sales, although figures vary widely from product to product, as it can be costly in getting the product to the customer. Place encompasses of various methods of transporting and storing goods, and then making them available for the customer. The success formula is getting the right product to the right place at the right time through effective distribution systems. The choice of distribution method will depend on a variety of circumstances.
Promotion. Promotion is one of the strongest elements in the MM. Promotional actions are mainly meant to complement personal selling, advertising and publicity (Burnett, 2008). Promotion helps the trader and sales force to show the product to the customers in an effective manner and encourage them to purchase. Promotion depends on many mixtures of its components which are used to realize the organization's marketing objectives. Advertising is a strong element of promotion mix (Singh, 2012). The main purpose of the advertising is to make and evolve the image of a product in the market zone. It is one of the significant tools of competition which saves the dynamism of industry. Promotion mix determines the positioning of the product in the target market. It should be considered as an expense and hence added to the cost of a product (Borden & Marshall, 1959).
Pricing. Of all the aspects of the marketing mix, price is the one, which creates sales revenue to the firm - all the other elements are costs. The price of an item is clearly an important determinant of the value of sales made. In theory, price is really determined by the discovery of the value perception of the item on sale by customers. Thus far, marketing managers must develop the habit of continually examining and reexamining the prices of the products and services they sell to ensure the firm's prices are still appropriate to the realities of the current market situation. Sometimes it is necessary to lower prices depending on market demand fluctuations and intensity of competition. At other times, it may be suitable to raise the prices all depending on market circumstances.
Growth of Small Business
“Growth is defined as a change in size during a determined time span” (Dobbs & Hamilton, 2007, p. 313). Growth is an important phenomenon in small enterprises. In fact, their survival essentially depends on their power to participate in the market with other big companies. Growth decreases the possibility of closing small businesses (Rauch & Rijskik, 2013). Strengthening is important not merely for the enterprises and their owners but for all stakeholders since these companies thrust forward the economy by underscoring diversity of products and services. The growth phenomenon of small enterprises had been widely analyzed within entrepreneurship. One motive is that most fail to expand during their life span (Davidsson, Achtenhagen & Naldi, 2010; McKelvie & Wiklund, 2010) and small businesses refrain from growing (Doern, 2009). According to Brush, Ceru & Blackburn (2009), some enterprises do not desire growth and others desire slow growth even though they are successful as much as those that grow fast. In fact, most new enterprises do not go beyond the stage when they initiated their activities (Headd & Kirchhoff, 2009), with the exception of the so-called “gazelles” (Julien, 2002), or young enterprises with very fast growth (Sims & Regan, 2006).
The complex phenomenon of growth of small enterprises requires further research since several studies have been developed to measure the companies´ growth. Achtenhagen, Naldi & Melin (2010) reviewed studies on growth published between 1997 and 2008 and identified 56 articles, most of which endeavored to explain why enterprises grow (growth as a dependent variable); however, other articles dealt with growth strategies or on growth intentions and desires. The need for further studies may be justified due to the fact that theories developed to explain the growth of big enterprises are not adapted to foreground the same phenomenon in small ones (Davidsson et al., 2010). Since Penrose´s investigations in 1959 (Penrose, 2006), debate on the theme is still on and reaches several directions encroaching on growth indexes, growth determinants and impairments, and explication models.
According to Janssen (2009a), a company´s growth is essentially the result of expansion of demands for products or services. “It first results in a growth in sales and consequently in investments in additional production factors to adapt itself to new demands” (Janssen, 2009c, p. 23). However, Achtenhagen et al. (2010) researched entrepreneurs´ ideas on growth and listed the following: increase in sales, increase in the number of employees, increase in profit, increase in assets, increase in the firm´s value and internal development. Internal development comprises development of competences, organizational practices in efficiency and the establishment of professional sales process. This was the most important index for entrepreneurs that participated in the research. However, increase in the number of employees was not necessarily considered a sign of growth. Davidsson et al. (2010) reported that growth may be related to new markets, especially in the case of technology firms, with reference to diversification. They are also of the opinion that growth may occur alternatively as an integration of part of the value chain, a sort of vertical growth, or when a firm introduces itself within a market not related to the technology in which it works, which would be a non-related diversification. Another type of growth may be related to the combination of market-product by entrance into the market.
Youth-owned Business
Becoming an entrepreneur potentially offers benefits to the young person through deepening their human capital attributes (self-reliance, skill development) and increasing their levels of happiness (Blanchflower and Oswald, 1998, from Kiruja 2013). There are also many titles that explain the theory of entrepreneurship and assessment of the business and business environment. To understand entrepreneurs, the researchers should look at three areas: namely how entrepreneurs act (i.e., what it is they do); what happens when entrepreneurs act (i.e., what are the outcomes of their actions); and why people choose to be entrepreneurs (i.e., what motivates them to be entrepreneurs) (Douglas and Shepherd, 2002). Nowadays, among the common motives that bring potential entrepreneurs to start a business are external stimuli. There is always an interest in promoting entrepreneurship and support of entrepreneurship from more subjects. Nowadays, everyone can see support from the European Union, local governments, business agencies and business centers. They support the businesses, especially new businesses with funds, advisory activities or with creation of business incubators. In the recent years, this kind of support of different natures could the main motive why many of those who were afraid to start a business without help, have overcome their fears and became entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurs are the backbone of our economy. The Philippines is an entrepreneurial country. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), including micro-enterprises, account for 99 percent of all business establishments and 60 percent of the exporting firms in the Philippines. According to the Department of Trade and Industry, SME's currently employ about 55 percent of the Philippine labor force and contribute 30 percent to total domestic sales volume.
Some benefits of youth entrepreneurship includes creating employment, providing local goods and services to the community, thereby revitalizing it, raising the degree of competition in the market, ultimately creating better goods and services for the consumer, promoting innovation and resilience through experience-based learning, promoting a strong social and cultural identity, and continuously creating and growing diverse employment opportunities different than the traditional fields available in a particular city. A young person setting up a new business may provide ‘demonstration’ or learning externalities in that they may act as a role model for other young people. Indeed, one of the reasons why youth entrepreneurship is so attractive is that it offers an indigenous solution to economic disadvantage (De Clercq and Honig, 2011; Greene, Mole, and Storey, 2008).
There are 24 million youth in the Philippines today and counting. Of these 24 million, 39% or 9.36M are part of the labor force while 40% or 9.6M are living below the poverty line. Encouraging young people to consider business ownership as a viable option is becoming increasingly important given the current trend towards globalization. Supporting youth entrepreneurship can benefit both the Filipino Youth and the economy. As an answer for the global call to engage the young in economic development and nation building, the Philippine Government has instituted measures through policies and programs. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has issued E.O. 470 in 2005 which enhanced the program of "establishing the Youth Entrepreneurship Program" which largely enjoined the active participation of the private business sector in ensuring the success of the program. The enhancement of this program created the DepEd's Youth Entrepreneurship and Coopertivism in Schools Program (YECS), Student Technologists and Entrepreneurs of the Philippines program (STEP), DTI Youth Entrepreneurship Program and the DOST-Academe Technology-Based Enterprise Development (DATBED).
YECS . The YECS is an official co-curricular program that serves to support, enhance and enrich the work education and skills training program in the curriculum, particularly the TEPP. It aims to establish a shift from the employment creation culture by nurturing the entrepreneurial and cooperative environment, skills and competencies of the students. It is being implemented in partnership with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Cooperatives Development Authority (CDA) and entered as one of DEPED's commitment in the employment summit.
STEP. The STEP is a co-curricular organization to enhance life-long skills and support the learning competencies of the work-education and skills training program of the TEPP component of the MAKABAYAN subject.
YEP. The Youth Entrepreneurship Program is a nationwide program to help young Filipinos develop their entrepreneurial skills by offering them a comprehensive package of interventions. YEP’s official tagline is “Harnessing Our Own Resources for the Advancement of the Youth!” (HOORAY!)
DATBED. It has been the common practice among Filipinos to finish school to be able to secure employment. The DOST however, wants to do away with this perspective by enabling Filipino youths become employer themselves by starting their own enterprise. The DOST-Academe Technology-based Enterprise Development (DATBED) Program "aims to develop entrepreneurial competencies among students, young professionals including out of school youths in selected academic institutions and non-government organizations while at the same time creating income generating projects for the involved institutions."
The Municipality of San Jose de Buenavista, Province of Antique
San Jose de Buenavista is a coastal municipality in the province of Antique. It serves as the provincial capital. The municipality has a land area of 48.56 square kilometers or 18.75 square miles which constitutes 1.78% of Antique's total area. Its population as determined by the 2015 Census was 62,534. This represented 10.74% of the total population of Antique province, or 0.83% of the overall population of the Western Visayas region. Based on these figures, the population density is computed at 1,288 inhabitants per square kilometer or 3,335 inhabitants per square mile. It has 28 barangays. According to the Bureau of Local Government Finance, the annual regular revenue of San Jose de Buenavista for the fiscal year of 2016 was ₱175,660,406.94.
Impact of the COVID-19 to the Youth and the Philippine Economy
Between March and April 2020, the country’s Luzon Island went into a complete lockdown that restricted population movement with only a few exceptions. This resulted in a drastic decline in employment levels, with projections suggesting a maximum of one million people losing their jobs due to the lockdown. In addition, the imposed community quarantine would, at the very least, because cumulative losses in gross value added of three billion Philippine pesos in every select key sector in the country. The COVID-19 crisis has resulted in multiple shocks that can disproportionately impact young people. These shocks include disruptions in education and training, employment and earnings, and increased job search constraints (ILO 2020). COVID-19 risks marking today’s youth as a “lockdown generation”, underscoring the possibility that the pandemic could hollow out future labour market prospects of the young.
Youth employment refers to people over the age of 15 who have a job (either paid employment or self-employment). Having a job is essential for young people to develop on a personal and professional level, as well as a key factor for socio-economic integration in society. Young people are always heavily impacted by economic recessions, but this time, the pandemic is causing economic disruption at an unprecedented speed and scale and young people are disproportionately affected. The danger of a ‘lock-down generation’ is looming. The pandemic has caused a loss of millions of jobs worldwide and the group that has been most affected, due to precarious working conditions, is the young people (a situation that increases exponentially their risk of social exclusion and poverty). As new vacancies are heavily restricted, young jobseekers are facing increasing difficulties to transition to decent jobs. The measures taken to stem the spread of the virus are disrupting their education and training. Young workers are also concentrated in sectors which are most heavily impacted by the economic recession provoked by the pandemic.
In the Province of Antique, the COVID-19 pandemic also caused a lot of businesses to shut down and prevented to operate especially those non-essentials. However, the government especially the Department of Trade and Industry, is extending much help to the business owners like the Pondo sa Pagbabago at Pag-asenso Program (P3) for owners of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Through this, the owners would have the capital to start and revive their businesses slowly to improve the economy of the province.
Statement of the Problem
The general objective of this study is to determine the level of effectiveness of the marketing strategies used and growth of youth-owned business in San Jose de Buenavista during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Specifically, this study aims to answer the following questions:
1. What is the level of effectiveness of marketing strategy of youth-owned business in terms of product, distribution, and promotion when taken as a whole and when categorized according to sex and location as the secondary variables?
2. What is the level of growth of youth-owned business during the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of sales, profit, assets, and capital when taken as a whole and when categorized according to sex and location as the secondary variables?
3. Is there a significant difference in the level of effectiveness of marketing strategy in terms of product, distribution, and promotion when grouped according to sex and location as the secondary variables?
4. Is there a significant difference in the level of growth of youth-owned business during the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of sales, profit, assets, and capital when grouped according to sex and location as the secondary variables?
5. Is there a significant relationship between marketing strategies in terms of product, distribution, and promotion, and growth of youth-owned business in terms of sales, profit, assets, and capital?
Hypotheses of the Study
Through the preceding questions, the following hypotheses were formed:
1. There is no significant difference in the level of effectiveness of marketing strategy in terms of product, distribution, and promotion of youth-owned business when grouped according to secondary variables.
2. There is no significant difference in the level of growth of youth-owned business during the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of sales, profit, assets, and capital when grouped according to the secondary variables.
3. There is no significant relationship between marketing strategies in terms of product, distribution, and promotion, and growth of youth-owned business in terms of sales, profit, assets, and capital.
Conceptual Framework
Based on the literature review, the 4P’s of marketing mix of the Marketing Strategy, and above mentioned theory on growth, the conceptual framework for this study is developed to propose how the young entrepreneurs develop their business during the COVID-19 pandemic as to product, distribution, and promotion. Figure 1 depicts the paradigm of the study.
Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten
Figure 1. A paradigm showing relationship between independent and dependent variables
Significance of the Study
This study is vital to all young entrepreneurs, young workers, small business owners, the academe, policy makers and the future researchers.
Young Entrepreneurs . Through this study, the young entrepreneurs will acquire the knowledge on how to put up a business, how to overcome the challenges and come up with a strategic plan to develop and innovate in order to have a stronger foundation for their business. This would also help them learn the different factors that might affect the promotion and development of starting up a business as young entrepreneurs.
Young Workers. The result of this study would give knowledge on young workers who are planning to start their own business. This would serve as their basis on starting up a business rather than just being an employee.
Small business Owners . The result of this would not only for the youth but also to those small business owners who needed the strategies on promoting and developing their businesses. Through this study, the small business owners would also have an insight on how to promote and develop their business in the way the youth did.
Academe. Through this study, the academe will have an insight to step up the education system when it comes to business administration, management, and entrepreneurship. This would give them the need to give a specific purpose on educating young minds in business for it would not only help them in the future but it would contribute to the economy as well.
Policy Makers. Through this study, it would give the policy makers the knowledge that the youths are venturing to the business world that would elevate the economy by reducing the number of unemployment especially of the fresh graduates. This would also help the policy makers recognize the support needed by these youths and they could come up with a policy and programs that would further help the young entrepreneurs especially during this pandemic.
Future Researchers . Through this study, the future researchers will have the knowledge on how the young entrepreneurs promote and develop their businesses in the midst of the pandemic. The researchers will benefit from this study and this can be used as a basis for future research.
[...]