Lagrimas, Lilian

Laylo, Kim Bryan

Llanes, Rocelle
Maderazo, Dheine Louise
Magsino, Yanka Klein
Umali, Jonas Israel
BSA-A1C

1. From time to time, various group clamor for import restrictions or tariffs on foreign-
produced goods, particularly automobiles. How might these be helpful? Harmful?

The Government, specifically in the department of customs who is the one responsible
for the import and export of goods imposed a tax called import restrictions or tariffs as being
added to the cost of the goods which affects the domestic consumers because it becomes a
little expensive.

Import restrictions on automobiles were implemented by President Gloria Macapagal

Arroyo in her Executive Order No. 156. Its main objective is to prohibit the import of used mobile
vehicles. It is to support the Memorandum Order No. 346 which states that we should need to
increase local production of cars to increase the exportation of it which will also help in the
development of the economy.

The government also implemented these restrictions to ensure that imported cars will
not harm the environment and they should pass the emissions standards first. Emission tests
are conducted and imported cars must pass these tests before they get registered in the Land
Transportation Office (LTO). It is to ensure that it will not pollute the country’s atmosphere. This
restriction, on the other hand, will result in illegal activities like smuggling

2. Select two stores you commonly shop at, and state how they compete.

As a group we’ve chosen Penshoppe and Bench, one of the common stores we always
visit when we’re in the mall, and usually they are always located near each other. Penshoppe
and Bench are both merchandising entities based here in the Philippines. Having the same wide
range of varieties of products - clothing, cologne, towels and underwears, the two surely
captured the hearts of their target market which are the young adults and young professionals.

Our first observation on how the two compete is on how they market or advertise their
product, the two both uses famous local and foreign actors and actresses to wear their clothing
just to attract customers. One highlight of this was having a mini-fan event for those foreign
actors like Cole Sprouse for Bench and Korean actor Nam Joo Hyuk for Penshoppe. This kind
of strategy helps them to gain more attention not only to their patrons but also to fan of those
actors.

Second observation is on every product the other have, the other store has the version
of it. Clothes, colognes, makeup, even hand gel and towels have corresponding same item to
another store. SO the two is just improving the product but in reality they are almost selling the
same thing. Another thing we’ve discovered is they use a lot of online advertisement that can
easily seen by their target market. They know that people today are always in their phone
browsing, and people want convenience that’s why we think that it’s a very wise choice to
incorporate technology to their business. In accordance with this, the two has internet-based
web page, wherein you can easily shop in one click.

Even though the two shop are in par on competitiveness there are points wherein
another stands out. Bench already gone global, it has branches in US, China and Middle East,
but Penshoppe is just starting to consider to be global. Having a branch outside the country is a
big risk knowing that there are a lot of stores, famous lines that can easily outshine the brand
but Bench ws doing good, and it gains our respect towards the company. Another thing is our
observation regarding to their design and style in matter clothing, Penshoppe does it better. It is
trendy and minimalist, a very millennial thing. One example of this the “I am different” campaign
shirt, that even though it has the same design, it is has a different serial number that is also
printed in the shirt, we got to admit that this move by Penshoppe was really good and trendy. It
can easily capture their targets and they’ll be able to help. The shirt was a design in campaign
for Anti-bullying.

The two brand offers a good kind of quality goods in a price that’s affordable even for us
students. Even though they both have their strengths and differences, it’s still good to see how
these two compete with each other.

3. List some factors that can affect productivity and some ways that productivity can be
improved.

Some factors that can affect productivity include the labor force-- with the help of these
people who work on the products and if they’re efficient, the output can come out as products of
quality, and well processed. Since the labor force is a factor itself in measuring the productivity,
it can easily be said that it affects the productivity. It affects the productivity in a way that if the
workers, whether they are people or are only machineries, create more and not only process
products just for the sake of doing it, but with the passion to produce a good product, there will
be a higher productivity. This is because, more products are produced and at the same time,
they did not only produce products, but good products. Another factor may be the
suppliers/sources of the materials of the product; in some cases, having problems on
communicating with the sources of the output may be a problem to have an increase in or a
higher productivity within the company and its output. The increase or even decrease in
productivity may also depend on factors that are related to finance or the financial aspect of the
company. In producing a product, we all know that there are inputs, that are bought and used
for processing in order to come up with outputs at the end. If there’s not enough money for the
manufacturing of products, the productivity and even the expected outputs may not be what the
management expects them to be. And, another thing is that when it comes to finances, it does
not only talk about the cash or money used for the operation of the business but also for the
salary of the employees or the labor force, which motivates them to do their job well and try to
be as efficient as possible so they would have a good pay-- this only goes back to the first factor
that was mentioned, since its interrelated. Lastly, since in most businesses, specifically those
that are in line with manufacturing, are using and depending on technology, factors related to
this can also have a massive impact on a businesses’ productivity. Management should make
sure that the equipment and machineries that they are going to invest in, will be able to produce
the products that they expect to be done.

Productivity can be improved by first, having a proper way of segregating the duties of
the employees so that they will be focused on certain works or those that are assigned to them,
thus, being able to perform it better. This will also lessen the burden for each workers, which is
a great help in improving productivity; second, by having at least a strategy or quota about the
output of the product which can motivate and at the same time challenge the workforce or the
people since there will be goals that they would want to achieve and aim for that they know that
when they are able to achieve it, it would be a great fulfillment and joy for them; and lastly, is to
let the labor force rest, so they won’t be too tired to function and work, which we know can result
to a lower productivity and bad outputs.