Name: ZABALA, Nicole P.

C/Y/S: BS Architecture 4-1

Subject: Business Management and Application for Architecture

Mid-Term Examination
Questions:
1. You and your (actual) best friend just passed the board exam. You now are both
Architects. Your best friend wants to enter a partnership with you for an
Architectural firm. Should you pursue this?
2. Using the CATWOE and MOST business model, formulate a business structure
for your proposed partnership.
3. Using SWOT, identify the risks involved.
4. Using the FIVE WHYS METHOD while incorporating the results from CATWOE,
MOST, and SWOT, what is the percent of success of your best friend’s business
proposal?
5. Minimum of 2 pages and maximum of 5 pages in word format.

Answers:
1. Yes, but not in the meantime. Starting a business requires more than just a
license to operate. A successful business requires its owners and managers to be
knowledgeable not only in architecture but also in marketing, economics,
organization, leadership, and other aspects. It is through not just one talent, but
many talents and a passion-driven workforce that the business will succeed.
Moreover, I think the key to a successful business is the level of experience the
owners have, and how they are well-prepared to start a business.

2. Applying the CATWOE Analysis:

Customers: Everyone
Actors: CEO, Architects, Interior Designers, Construction Managers, Project
Managers, Engineers, Draftsman, Interns, Technical Staff, Non-Architectural
Personnel
Transformation Process: Incorporating traditional materials and a part of
nature in each project
World View: Make the company’s name and nature recognized to cater to more
customers
Owner: General partners (Partner A and B)
Environmental Constraints: Local and traditional material supply,
environmental concerns, impacts, and regulations, related legislations

In using the CATWOE Analysis, my envisioned partnership business with

my best friend shall focus on serving anyone/everyone. Architectural services may
seem costly to the mass but I wanted to cater to people of any social status and
offer the freedom to design their homes and spaces aligned to their needs. And
one way of making the business convenient and attainable, traditional materials
Name: ZABALA, Nicole P.
C/Y/S: BS Architecture 4-1
Subject: Business Management and Application for Architecture

and local labor shall be used. In addition to this, I think, my best friend and I would
want our business to be known, not for the profit, but to provide service to more
people in need. I also think that the application of green design shall be in favor of
the local climate. However, the use of traditional and local materials could cause
environmental constraints in terms of the impacts of obtaining the material and
other matters.

Applying the MOST Analysis:

Mission: To provide architectural services centered on comfortability to
everyone through green design, responsible practice of architecture,
collaborative techniques, and client-driven initiatives.

Objectives:
- To incorporate and practice green design.
- To make green design attainable to everyone.
- To practice, as much as possible, architecture that is shaped by its
environment.
- To create a company known for its collaborative nature between the client
and the designer.
- To create a company known for the synthesis of the natural and the built
environment.

Strategies:
- Offer a practical approach for the attainment of sustainable and efficient
construction projects.
- Application of green building rating systems.
- Incorporate natural materials in the design.
- Customer-centered practice of architecture.

Tactics:
- Make use of local and traditional materials.
- Incorporate water, wood, stone, and metal elements in the design similar
to the Chinese cosmology of the five elements.
- Practice maximized customer engagement or participation.
- Apply LEED, GREEEN, and BERDE green building rating systems in the
projects.
- Achieve, even if not fully, a green design and approach to every project.

In the application of the MOST Analysis in my envisioned partnership

business, the company’s main mission shall be to provide services that are not
only client-centered but also environmental. Our partnership shall revolve around
the idea of green architecture, even if it’s not suitable for every project, it shall
always be considered if possible. For the business to be successful, the whole
team shall be dedicated to a similar purpose. Additionally, knowing that there is a
lot to consider, the team shall maximize its abilities to offer the best of our services
Name: ZABALA, Nicole P.
C/Y/S: BS Architecture 4-1
Subject: Business Management and Application for Architecture

and be in line with the same goal. It is not an envisioned company that can be
started right away, like a building, its foundation should be well built.

3. Applying the SWOT Method:

Strengths:
- Caters to a wider range of customers.
- Higher chance of being locally known through local material usage and
application.
- Wider area of practice (building types) means greater experience.
- The company will be known for specific branding.
- Green initiative features more benefits than the traditional practice of
architectural concepts.

Weaknesses:
- The initiative for local materials and natural feature project incorporation
may not be in favor of all of the future clients.
- Material supply can be limited or may take too long to acquire.
- There is a lack of applied green techniques and innovations locally.
- Going green may be costly to some clients.
- Project maintenance.

Opportunities:
- Business is open to more architectural and green innovations due to the
demand for green spaces that help in limiting climate change.
- Existing green building rating systems like LEED, BERDE, and GREEEN
to be applied and act as a guide for the company’s projects.

Threats:
- Project maintenance may be costly and can be the basis for the selection
of clients.
- Green architecture or design is not that well-accepted locally due to being
high-priced, and people do not have sufficient knowledge about it.

In the application of the SWOT Method, the risks of the envisioned business
involve the following:
- Limitations on project, techniques and innovation prototypes as the
green design has just started to be used locally.
- Green design is accompanied by high maintenance.
- Challenge to create affordable green design innovations.
Name: ZABALA, Nicole P.
C/Y/S: BS Architecture 4-1
Subject: Business Management and Application for Architecture

4. Applying the Five Why’s Method:

Issue: The client worries about the incorporation of green design
techniques in the project.

Why: The client does not know anything about the innovation.
Why: Green design is not widely and locally known.
Why: Some limited projects and structures apply this approach.
Why: Materials and other requirements are often supplied overseas.
Why: It appears to be costly and requires high maintenance.

Countermeasures:
- During client meetings, initiate a talk about the green design approach
and its benefits.
- Generate sustainable and affordable green techniques that are
attainable to people of any social status.
- Carry the ‘green design movement’ along with the company as an
initiative to make green design a common practice locally.

Question: What is the percentage of success of your and your baest friend’s proposal?
I would like to answer around 80%. The reason for this rating is based on our will
to continue the business despite the challenges it presents: costly, high maintenance, not
locally practiced, etc. Green design movements may be a difficult task or a practice to
pursue locally based on the economic state of the country.
The business, with its goal to cater to and make green design affordable to
everyone, maybe a little bit ambitious. It requires more than just one company to make
the mass switch to greener decisions, not just in architecture. However, the collective
passion of the people offering similar ideas combined with the will to lessen the impacts
of their actions on the climate can be a starter. To add, I think that my envisioned business
will hit it off with the clients and the current market as there is a growing demand for
actions that limit climate change and negative environmental impacts. The business also
has the advantage of local cultural promotion and alternative, though temporary, job
offerings with the goal to incorporate local materials.