Crest and valleys of Businesses: A Case study of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in the

Municipality New Bataan during pandemic.

A THESIS
PRESENTED TO
THE FACULTY OF NEW BATAAN NATIONAL SENIOR HIGH
SCHOOL DAVAO DE ORO

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT
OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR RESEARCH PROJECT

BY:
Christian Miguel Baluca
Clarence Penaflor
Godvir A. Ogabang
Ivan P. Tabino
Jethrone C. Guillar
Joanna Briz
John Lloyd Canastra
John Marc F. Canoy
Kimberly Joy Garcia
Klarck Jaeros Adajar

MAY 2021
Crest and valleys of Businesses: A Case study of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in the
Municipality New Bataan during pandemic.

A Qualitative Research

Presented to Sir Crispin Samoya

Christian Miguel Baluca

Clarence Penaflor
Clark Adajar
Godvir A. Ogabang
Ivan Rey P. Tabino
Jethrone C. Guillar
Joanna Pretzy Gyl A. Briz
John Lloyd Canastra
John Marc F. Canoy
Kimberly Joy Garcia
Maylene A. Suralta

May 2021

i
 APPROVAL SHEET

This Thesis entitled “CREST AND VALLEYS OF BUSINESSES: A CASE STUDY OF

SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES IN THE MUNICIPALITY OF NEW BATAAN
DURING
PANDEMIC” was prepared and submitted by CHRISTIAN MIGUEL BALUCA, CLARENCE
PENAFLOR, GODVIR A. OGABANG, IVAN P. TABINO, JETHRONE C. GUILLAR, JOANNA BRIZ, JOHN
LLOYD CANASTRA, JOHN MARC F. CANOY, KIMBERLY JOY GARCIA, and KLARCK
JAEROS ADAJAR in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Research Project has been examined
and is recommended for the acceptance and approval for Oral Examination.

CRISPIN SAMOYA
Professor

COMPREHENSIVE EXAMINATION-PASSED

Approved by the Panel of Examiners on Oral Examination

JESSA JOY ANDARZA CINDY B. DEGUITO

Panel Panel

Accepted and Approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Research Project

ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First of all, we liked to thank the Almighty Father for the wisdom, courage and strength he has

bestowed upon us for everyday especially in this academic journey. The completion of this study

would not have been possible without the help of these generous people in terms of their time,

expertise and resources.

To sir Crispin Samoya, our research adviser, thank you sir for sharing your expertise and for

your guidance all throughout the journey in the pursuit of this research. To our panelist Ma'am

Irene Bulan and Ma'am Rona Apolinario, thank you for your comments and suggestions to

better this study.

To our family, for the unending love, support and understanding that kept us motivated in

finishing this research paper.

Lastly, to all people who have been part of this study who contributed a lot in many and different

ways. Hundredfold thanks to all of you.

i
DEDICATION

We dedicate this big achievement to the Almighty God, to our family, friends and students.

To our parents thank you for always being supportive the consistent support and encouragement,

thank you for being our inspiration. Also, to our research adviser Mr. Crispin Samoya thank you

for guiding us with your expertise and for your full support to finish this study. I also dedicate

this to our participants for trusting me and for sharing their stories

i
 ABSTRACT

CREST AND VALLEYS OF BUSINESSES: A CASE STUDY OF SMEs IN THE MUNICIPALITY

OF NEW BATAAN DURING PANDEMIC

The primary objective of this study was to explore the experiences and challenges

encountered by small and medium enterprise owners to their businesses during the onslaught

of pandemic. The study was conducted in the municipality of New Bataan Davao de Oro. A

case study was employed as the research design and purposive sampling was utilized in selecting

the 4 participants who owns small business in New Bataan. The identities of the four participants

were kept confidential for the security and ethical considerations. The findings of the study revealed

that the challenges encountered by the participants related to studies were the shutdown of

business and low income. Their coping mechanism were focused on using online platforms to

Present and sell their products. The insights they developed contained focus on the positive

things, do not lose hope, be optimistic and innovative, and always pray for guidance of our

almighty God.

v
TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE........................................................................................................i
ACKNOWLEDGMENT........................................................................................iii

DEDICATION......................................................................................................iv
ABSTRACT..........................................................................................................v

CHAPTER
I. INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................1

Rationale.............................................................................................................................1
Purpose of the study…......................................................................................................2

Research Questions................................................................................................4
Review of Related Literature...........................................................................................5

Theoretical lens..................................................................................................................13
Conceptual Diagram..........................................................................................................15
Significance of the study….................................................................................................16

Scope and limitation..........................................................................................................17

Definition of Terms…..................................................................................................18
II. THE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY..........................................................................20

Research design and procedures…..................................................................................20

Research Locale….......................................................................................................22
Research participants…...............................................................................................23

Ethical considerations….......................................................................................................24
Role of researchers…...................................................................................................25

Data collection procedure...................................................................................................26

Interview guide questions….................................................................................................27
Data analysis…............................................................................................................. 28

Trustworthiness and credibility...........................................................................................29

III. INNOVATIVE BUSINESS OWNER...........................................................................30

Force to shutdown................................................................................................................30
A big difference......................................................................................................................31

Trying out new products to sell...........................................................................................32

vi
 Upgrading business.........................................................................................................33
Getting advices from other people...............................................................................34

Patience and perseverance of business owners….....................................................34

Being prepared in any situation.....................................................................................35

Passion is a must in having business..........................................................................36

Goals amidst difficulties.........................................................................................37

IV. THE EXPERIENCED BUSINESS WOMAN..............................................................39

Low income caused by health protocols…....................................................................39

Loss of jobs having negative effects to business…......................................................40
Financial struggles…..........................................................................................................41

Getting a lot stocks on the basic needs of people..................................................41

Finding ways..........................................................................................................42

Experience form past incidents or situation to cope up early................................42

Patience and perseverance of business owners...................................................43

Being prepared in any situation and all times.........................................................44

Never losing hope and keep on grinding................................................................44
V. THE INFLUENCED BUSINESS OWNER................................................................46

Low income caused by health protocols.................................................................46

Pandemic causing less customers to business......................................................47

Using social media in selling goods for publicity....................................................48
Online platforms being a big help to business owners............................................48

Being prepared at all times.....................................................................................49

Believing in one’s self as business owner..............................................................49

Business owner being reverent through tough times.............................................50

VI. THE HARDWORKING AND GOAL ORIENTED GELA..........................................51

Business forcing to shutdown caused by pandemic...............................................51

Pandemic causing less customers to businesses..................................................52

Using social media in selling goods and publicity...............................................53

Online platforms being very big help to business owners...................................54

Patience and perseverance of business owners.................................................55

Being prepared in any situation and all time.......................................................56
 Business owners being reverent through tough times........................................57
Goals for business...............................................................................................58

VII. FINDINGS.............................................................................................................59

State of business before the Pandemic..............................................................60

A good location...................................................................................................61
Impact of the pandemic to small and medium enterprises.................................62

The strategies used in addressing those challenges in the pandemic................68

Different Coping Mechanism in dealing the Challenges

encountered by business owners during the pandemic.....................................68

Experience is the best teacher...........................................................................73

Insights and Realizations after all the experiences in the lockdown..................74

Being prepared..............................................................................................................77

Being passionate................................................................................................80
Being reverent in tough times.............................................................................81

Goals and dreams for business owners….................................................................82

VIII. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION....................................................................85

Discussion...........................................................................................................86

State of businesses before the pandemic...........................................................86

Impact of the pandemic to small and medium enterprises.................................87

Different Coping Mechanism in dealing the

Challenges encountered by business owners during the pandemic....................88

Goals and dream for business owners.................................................................91

Implications for Practice.........................................................................................93

Implication for Future Research............................................................................94

CONCLUDING REMARKS....................................................................................95

REFERENCES...........................................................................................................97
APPENDICES............................................................................................................101

A. Interview guide questions.................................................................................101

B. Documentations...............................................................................................102
CURICULUM VITAE.....................................................................................................103
 Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION

Rationale

The rapid increase of coronavirus presents an alarming effect on all business

industries. Many stores have been takedown and closed because of the government

protocol to not operate. Many small business owners have been hardly affected by

this unfortunate situation and lost their daily income. COVID 19 coronavirus is a

disease that popped out of nowhere and is what the whole world is battling in this

present time. Pandemics seem to occur at 10-50 year intervals due to the

emergence of new virus subtypes from virus reassortment ( Potter,2001).

Dealers, wholesalers, traders, and brands come across many short supply

issues, in marketing, sales, demands, and the flow of money. Workers and

employees are experiencing a huge downfall because of this virus, the loss of jobs

and the loss of salaries, some companies need to lessen their employees because

they are lacking in funds, also some other companies are forced to close due to

bankruptcy that leads the workers to lose their jobs. The COVID 19 outbreak is likely

to cause bankruptcy for many well-known brands in many industries as consumers

stay at home and economies are shut down. ( Tucker, 2020)

1
 We conducted this study to dig deeper on to the effects and challenges in small

and medium enterprise owners in the municipality of New Bataan. This study will aid

those businesses and owners to have knowledge how to boost their sales and

business during this pandemic. Also, this study will open the minds of our officials, local

government units and business authorities to give lending hands to those small and

medium enterprise owners for them to have knowledge, prepared, and adaptive in

unexpected dilemma such as this pandemic.

Purpose of the study

Numerous businesses and jobs have adjusted to the current phenomenon of a

pandemic crisis. Back then, when the dilemma commenced in our nation, most

departments and markets followed the mandatory not to operate for safety purposes.

Eventually, in a while, many types of businesses slowly operate but with limited clients

and consumers that we can see around us, especially today, although some people

lost their jobs because of the Pandemic.

The purpose of this particular study is to dig deeper into the effects of the

Pandemic on all types of business, may it big or small. In addition, we also want to

know their strategies for coping with the current situation we're all in today.

2
 At the end of this study, we hope to further understand its effects to help

businessmen/women facing this problem as well. Besides, we see all of these

business owners grinding for success even though we're in a pandemic.

As we can we today, many businesses have gone slow, but others went up, which

this research will also talk about.

3
RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. What are the disadvantages that the Pandemic brought to Businesses? Are there

any advantages?

2. What are the changes that the Pandemic brought to SMEs?

3. How does business owners compare how their business is going now to what it

was before when there was no pandemic?

4. What are the different marketing strategies that business owners use or apply

during the Pandemic?

4
 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERARURE

"Business is an institution which produces goods and services demanded by people".

This means that a business is an institution that produces goods and services needed by

society. If the community needs to increase, the agency will also increase business

develop to meet those needs while getting a return. (Brown and Patrello 1976)

Business is the sum of all activities organized by the people who engage in commerce

and industry that provides goods and services to maintain and improve standards in the

quality of their lives. (Gloss, Steade, and Lowry 1996).

According to the book of Bengt Karlof entitled "Business Strategy: A guide to concepts

and models 1989, business strategy is a business experience and creativity in the ability

to integrate elements of knowledge in new innovative ways. Therefore, integrating new

ways of strategies will help to gain profit.

Strategic moves were often based on the forecast of probable future trends, based on

which goals were formulated in economic terms. Similar to J.-C. Spender (2014) also

stated in his book that, strategy always begins with a chosen purpose, the ideas that

sum up the owned mind will help him or her to pursue profit. (Book title. Business

Strategy Managing uncertainly, Opportunity, and Enterprise by J.-C. SPENDER).

5
In addition to the book of ( J.-C. SPENDER 2014), strategy is a freely chosen goal that

aims to achieve or improve performance measured against that goal. The business

strategy reflects the vast variety of goals that lie open to businesses in a capitalist

democracy and the difficulties in achieving them.

However, business activities were affected by the global Pandemic. The normal cycle of

businesses was having severe fluctuations. Many business establishments stopped their

operations, some took the risk of minimizing their workforce and causing unemployment,

and some even have no choice but to close.

Big, medium, or small enterprises, none were spared. The 2019 Coronavirus Disease

(COVID-19) pandemic has led to the closing of all but essential businesses in California.

Some nonessential businesses have remained open. (Medel et al., 2020)

On a global scale, such as in Macau, the epidemic has wreaked havoc on small

businesses in the region. Because of their limited scale and lack of bureaucracy, Small

Medium Enterprises (SMEs) were able to respond rapidly and efficiently to the epidemic.

Nonetheless, several challenges in terms of crisis preparation, management, resilience,

and renewal have been identified. Since crisis management is a continual process,

continuous learning by the incorporation of lessons learned can help to reduce the

likelihood of a future crisis. Rather than relying on government support, local small

6
enterprises should work to improve their sustainability and renewal plans to sustain and

rebound from this public health crisis. (Alves et al., 2020).

Many challenges continue to hinder digital technologies' adoption by small and medium

scale enterprises (SMEs) in developing economies. Comparatively, there are more

success stories by SMEs in emerging markets. (Ikpe Justice Akpan, Elijah Abasifreke

Paul Udoh, Bamidele Adebisi Journal of Small Business & Entrepreneurship, 1-18, 2020)

According to Cherish Kay Pastor, the start of the Extreme Community Quarantine in the

Philippines last March 2020 became the intervention of the

government to slow down the spread of the coronavirus or more commonly known as

COVID-19. The Pandemic was interfering with many operations in the world which

brought challenges to all affected countries including the Philippines (Available at SSRN

3574385, 2020)

Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies 3 (1), 1-6, 2020 says that COVID19 Pandemic,

as declared by the World Health Organization, disrupts classes around the globe that

including in the Philippines. (Cherish Kay Landicho Pastor) What this implicates also

apply to businesses all around the world. It affects the big and even small businesses.
7
So, in this research, we aim to help readers find a suitable solution to their current

situation.

COVID-19 Pandemic. We also look at some of the plausible things marketers and those

who are going into business using online platforms can do during a crisis. Given the

magnitude of the Pandemic, business strategies and activities need to be reconsidered.

Although the lessons and approaches presented in the Editorial are not entirely new,

especially to those in digital marketing, business technology, and innovation, they have

to be evaluated and planned out in a new light. Despite the devastating effect of the

crisis, it is hoped that the Editorial will shed some ideas and perpetuate the discourse

about the moving forward of business in Asia at these times. (Hiram Ting, Jeffrey Ling,

Jun Hwa Cheah//Asian Journal of Business Research Volume)

This research shows competition among business owners around us (big or small)

despite us being amid a pandemic that greatly affects business performance.

Although competition (simultaneous cooperation and competition) should positively affect

business performance it is unclear how the implementation of these business-to-

business marketing strategies can take place during large-scale emergencies. Therefore,

guided by resource-based theory and the relational view, this investigation examines

8
how organizations have used the competition to cope with the novel Coronavirus

(COVID-19) Pandemic. Key examples include retailers sharing information about stock

levels, pharmaceutical organizations working together to develop a vaccine,

technological giants collaborating for the greater good, and charities forming alliances for

a joint cause. This paper strengthens the extant literature by highlighting the

heterogeneity of competition strategies that firms can use within a global crisis.

Practitioners must balance the risks and rewards of competition activities. In turn, they

should decide whether to continue to cooperate with their competitors once the

Pandemic has ended, or resume operating under individualistic business models.

(James M Crick, Dave Crick)

This study was conducted to assess the self-reported and observed food safety practices

(FSP) of food handlers, who deliver food products that are prepared and cooked at home

during the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Philippines. 751 participated in the online survey

and were selected using criterion sampling. The observed reports showed that the food

handlers at home do not meet food safety standards. Observed practices further show

very poor adherence to guidelines.

Government and non-government agencies should work together towards educating the

food handlers at home on effective ways to learn about food safety concepts so they

could become advocates of safer food practices. (Mark Raguindin Limon Current

Research in Food Science 2021)

9
The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) virus, which emerged in Wuhan City, Hubei Province

of China, spread to other countries over time and was declared a global epidemic by the

World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11, 2020. With the epidemic, curfews were

imposed, workplaces closed, production decreased, and shopping stopped, except for

basic supplies. COVID-19 endangered human health as well as increased risk

perception in financial markets. Large decreases occurred in stock markets in a short

time, companies lost value, and stock prices dropped.

This study investigates the effect of the COVID-19 outbreak on global markets between

January 21, 2020, and April 7, 2020. Global markets are represented by Morgan Stanley

Capital International (MSCI)' World, emerging market, European and G7 indices. Fourier

Cointegration test detects a long-term relationship between stock markets and COVID-

19. (Zekai Şenol, Feyyaz ZEREN Avrasya Sosyal ve Ekonomi Araştırmaları Dergisi

2020)

Early in 2020, the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) spread around the world, disrupting

lives and societies. In some places, public responses to COVID-19 were remarkably

rapid and forceful, particularly in comparison to global environmental crises. What can

we learn from these responses to promote the mitigation of global environmental crises?

We hypothesize that supportive public responses to COVID19

were partly promoted by strong personal norms: feeling morally compelled and

responsible to act. We discuss what aspects of COVID-19 may have engaged

antecedents of personal norms, and how these dynamics could be enhanced in global

environmental crises to promote their mitigation. (Thijs Bouman, Linda Steg, Thomas

1
Dietz Nature Sustainability, 2021)

The COVID-19 outbreak shocked the world's economies in the year of 2020. As this

Pandemic spread around the globe, many experts feared that the global food supplies

might start running short, especially if supply chains were disrupted. COVID-19 also

added to the uncertainty of the business operation.

Therefore, it is critical to understand how COVID-19 Pandemic affected the global food

supply and market. In this study, we investigate the impact of COVID-19 on agricultural

export companies in China using unique firm-level survey data. We found that although

on average agricultural businesses experienced declines in the exports, exports of some

agricultural products especially grain and oil held strong and even increased, implying

the essential demand for staple food during the Pandemic. Not surprisingly, exports of

the medicinal herb also increased significantly during the Pandemic. However, exports of

goods such as edible fungus and horticultural products sharply decreased. Our results

also showed that in general, the impact of COVID-19 on smaller firms was more severe

than that on larger firms. The results of this study can provide useful guidance and

implications for agricultural businesses and policymakers on their COVID-19 mitigation

efforts to navigate this global Pandemic. (xi LIN, Yu Yvette Zhang Journal of Integrative

Agriculture 2020)

The Philippine response to COVID-19 has been described as being one of the longest

and strictest lockdowns in the world. Why has the Philippine government relied heavily

on draconian measures in its "war" against COVID-19? And what discourse informed the

framing of its response as a war against the virus? This article argues that the

1
government's reliance on draconian measures was a consequence of securitizing

COVID-19, appreciating the virus as an "existential threat." The securitization of COVID-

19 was reinforced with a narrative characterizing the situation of the country as being at

war against an "unseen enemy." This war-like narrative, however, invariably produced a

subject, the pasaway. As the perpetual enemy of health and order, the pasaway became

the target of disciplining and policing. The targeting of the pasaway was informed by

deep-seated class prejudices and Duterte's authoritarian tendencies. (Journal of Current

Southeast Asian Affairs by Karl Hapa)

Small, local business establishments situated in Olongapo, Zambales, are just one of the

many provinces in northern Luzon affected by the COVID-19 crisis. There are also

provinces in Zambales that were immensely affected by the COVID19, and these have

an overwhelming impact on large businesses' revenue worldwide, more so in small

locally owned business establishments. Business owners are being compelled to take

extreme measures to pursue operations. Thus, many are apprehensive about their

futures. Unemployment has become widespread while the nation's smallest businesses

are at risk of bankruptcy. During the nationwide Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ)

imposed by the Duterte

administration, all establishments offering services were temporarily suspended, which

led to its temporary rapid closure or, even worse, let go of their employees.

1
For instance, establishments renting inside the Ayala Malls Harbor point, Hotels in the

Barrio Barretto, Olongapo City, and even schools in nearby Zambales were among those

affected the smaller the business, the harder the blow. During the Gradual lifting of the

quarantine protocols, the situation briefly changed due to the current Pandemic. There is

a need to rethink strategies on how to uplift the economy, particularly in the localities. An

online strategy is one way to help our economy, and it must get the boost needed by

implementing online businesses and selling and other online services. These would not

just benefit. This will help ensure the blending of the technological platforms that may

sustain our local economy. This research will present the dreary effects of COVID-19 in

small businesses and study the findings in line with the survey to study and consider

solutions to address them. (Froilan Delute Mobo, Abdul Rahmat, Marijoy Samonte Pagal

Jurnal Bisnisman: Riset Bisnis dan Manajemen 2020)

Theoretical Lens

Our study is anchored on the study of John Robert Rilveria, The development

of the Filipino Coping Strategies Scale. This was based on the qualitative data on the

resilience of Filipinos and how they cope with stressful life experiences. According to

his study, there are nine coping strategies: cognitive reappraisal (pagsusuri), social

support (paghingi ng tulong), problem-solving (pagtugon), religiosity

1
(pagkarelihiyoso), tolerance (pagtitiis), emotional release (paglabas ng saloobin),

overactivity (pagmamalabis), relaxation/recreation (paglilibang), and substance use

(pagbibisyo).

The coping strategies we used in our study are cognitive reappraisal, social

support, and problem-solving. These strategies are practiced by business owners

who were highly affected by the pandemic.

1
1
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The study will recognize the tactics and strategies of some business owners to

increase their sales in this current Pandemic. Hence, the study will be beneficial for

the following;

Economic Factors. The result of the study will provide ideas for those workers

that have been unemployed because of coronavirus to start over again. Therefore,

the data collected in this study will help old and new business owners to gain profit

during the Pandemic.

Technological Factors. One of the strategies that this study has gathered is in line

with an online business. So, the collected data would raise the consciousness of

business owners to know and have online platforms for their business.

1
 Sociocultural Factors. The study will provide a handful of information and ideas to

guide business owners to implement new rules and have good service to customers.

Small businesses. The result of the study will help small businesses to increase

their sales, owing to the strategies being gathered by this study.

Students. The data gathered in this study would allow students to get ideas about

business strategies and encourage them to start a business at a young age.

Moreover, it will enable them to understand the business industry from their

perspectives.

Future researchers. The study serves as threshold data to generate future

research related to business strategies.

SCOPE AND LIMITATION

Amid the Pandemic, there are a lot of businesses that have been closed due to

the rapid increase of coronavirus. Alternatively, there are also some vendors and

owners that continue to sell goods in the market. The kinds of strategies owners

apply to their businesses limit this study. We want to investigate the strategies they

applied to their businesses to propose those tactics to help those small businesses

from their struggles to sell their products. It would be a great opportunity to support

people to start again during this current global Pandemic.

1
DEFINITION OF TERMS
To have a deeper understanding of this study. The following words are

organizationally defined.

Bureaucracy - a system of government in which most of the important decisions are

made by state officials rather than by elected representatives.

Business - an organization or enterprising entity engaged in commercial, industrial,

or professional activities.

Covid-19 - is a disease caused by a new strain of coronavirus. 'CO' stands for

corona, 'VI' for the virus, and 'D' for disease. Formerly, this disease was referred to

as

'2019 novel coronavirus' or '2019-nCoV.'

Crisis - a stage in a sequence of events at which the trend of all future events,

especially for better or for worse, is determined; turning point. a condition of

instability or danger, as in social, economic, political, or international affairs, leading

to a decisive change.

Dilemma - a situation in which a difficult choice has to be made between two or

more alternatives, especially equally undesirable ones.

Fluctuations - an irregular rising and falling in number or amount; a variation.

Havoc - widespread destruction.

Non-ergodic - is a fundamental but too little-known scientific concept.

1
Organizational dynamics - is another word for organizational behavior, a cross-

discipline field that deals with how people behave in an organized group setting,

such as a place of business.

Pandemic - is a disease outbreak that spreads across countries or continents. It

affects more people and takes more lives than an epidemic.

Perpetuate - make (something, typically an undesirable situation or an unfounded

belief) continue indefinitely.

Plausible - (of an argument or statement) seeming reasonable or probable.

1
 CHAPTER 2

THE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter covers the methodology of the research study; the research design

and procedure, research participants, ethical consideration, role of the researcher,

data collection procedure, and data analysis.

Research Design and Procedure

In the research process, the type of research approach we used in this study is

qualitative research. We will focus more on the effects and the strategies of some

business owners during the pandemic. Because of the rapid increase of coronavirus,

we will prioritize the different strategies they come up with to cope with the current

situation. We aim to help those businesses that have been greatly affected by this

coronavirus by imposing the different strategic methods we collected in this study to

help them earn daily income and provide for their daily needs.

To gather the list of data of strategies, we will conduct an in-depth interview by

using our research questions with the parents or relatives of our group mates in this

study who own various kinds of businesses. Social media will be a big help to us

also on our interviews since we’re still in the middle of the pandemic, for us to gather

more information about the experiences of local business owners around. We will do

a group discussion to have deeper knowledge about the strategies that we have

collected. To achieve group discussion, we will create a group chat for us to

2
communicate and assign members to do their respective responsibilities for our

research to work out fine. We only had a little problem with teamwork since not all of

us can go online because of personal reasons such as no internet connection or no

gadgets at all but we all worked it out. We will discuss the strategies one by one to

know if this specific strategy will have a great impact and will be a great solution to

help businesses that have been affected by this pandemic. We also aim to help the

business industry cope and arise during the pandemic with our research. Each of us

will be tasked to at least interview one or two business owners with the questions

that we formulated and send them to our group chat.

2
Research Locale

The study was conducted at the Municipality of New Bataan, Davao de Oro with a total

population of 51,466 people. The chosen location is the most accessible place for the

research since it is where we all live in. New Bataan, officially the Municipality of New

Bataan (Cebuano: Lungsod sa Bag-ong Bataan; Tagalog: Bayan ng Bagong Bataan), is

a 1st class municipality in the province of Davao de Oro, Philippines. According to the

2020 census, it has a population of 51,466 people. Geraldford N. Balbin has been its

mayor since July 2016. It is about 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) from Compostela, 40 kilometres

(25 mi) from the provincial capital Nabunturan, and 75 kilometres (47 mi) from Tagum

City. The municipality was founded on 18 June 1968, through Republic Act No.

According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 51,466 people. [3]

The town's festivals include Araw Celebration, held annually on 18 June; Founder's Day,

held every 10 August; Sal’lupongan Festival, held every 13 June. Its patron saint is Saint

Anthony of Padua.The municipality was one of the hardest-hit towns of Typhoon Pablo

when it hit the town on 4 December 2012.

The town got its name from the migrants coming from the Province of Bataan who

settled in the town either during the Commonwealth or Post-War Period.

2
Research Participants

The researchers have observed the population and participants of this study

thoroughly. This study will focus on the ups and downs of business owners in

Barangay Cabinuagan, New Bataan, and Davao de Oro. The study participants will

be chosen using purposive sampling, and the researchers had the discretion to

choose them based on persons who could supply and fulfill the most data. We will

ask five (4) small business owners, who run a furniture shop, vegetable store, and a

sari-sari store. We will conduct online interviews to quickly reach the participants

because their businesses also handle online transactions. All of our participants are

affected by this pandemic, but undoubtedly, they are working to develop better

solutions and methods to keep their businesses running. There will be 4(four)

respondents that has different type of business from one another.

2
ETHICAL CONSIDERATION

In collecting our research data, we the researchers will first ask permission from

the respondents if they are okay to be interviewed, and if they are comfortable being

asked with our questionnaire that our research teacher has also approved.

All the respondents who will approve and answered our questions also asked if it

would be okay if their identity will be published in our research paper or if they

wanted it to be confidential. If the respondents want their identity to be hidden, we

the researchers will prepare nicknames or alias beforehand and ask if they were

okay with it or create their nicknames.

We will give our respondents the freedom to not accept our Interviews since not

all people want interviews. Surely, there will be certain people who will deny our

interview but we will respect their decision rather than pursuing them to participate in

our research. Also, there will be participants who prefer the interview questions in

Bisaya because they understand it much better, making our interview participant-

friendly.

Hopefully, we will find it easy to conduct the interviews with the participants, it's

finding those respondents who are willing to participate in our research that's the

hard part since most of them are busy taking care of their business most of the day.

2
Role of the Researcher

The researcher's job is to try to understand what study participants are thinking

and experiencing. We will gather information by using statistics and interviewing the

participants. We will gather data to see the bigger picture and present it to potential

users as a whole.

The role of a researcher is to compile the data acquired and address it without

any bias. It is also the role of a researcher not to be biased about the topic and not

let their feelings hinder their judgment about the topic. A researcher needs to be as

neutral as possible.

So as a researcher, we need to take the necessary field observations, choosing

the right artifacts, pictures, diary sections, and so forth. To assess the information,

we need to interview people consistently with the design. After this is managing data

under the design and finally presenting the study to you without causing them to be

biased.

2
 Data Collection Procedure

In the process of our research data collection, we will use the internet to collect

all the information we need from our selected participants in our research. Social

media has been of great use to us in the data collection since we can't interview the

participants face to face to keep the safety of both the Interviewee and Interviewer. We

will use a recorder on the participant's responses to the questions we ask them to

provide us with a good and exact answer before we transfer it to our research paper.

Before conducting the interview, we will ask each participant first whether they

prefer the questions in the English language or Bisaya since not all of them can quickly

understand the questions in English. We will also let them have the freedom to answer

the questionnaires in Bisaya or English to comfortably give us their response to each is

our questions to them about their businesses. After the interview, this will be the time for

us Interviewers to translate their respective responses to our questions into English for it

to be finalized and to be transferred to our research paper

2
Here is our list of questionnaires that our group took time to discuss and constructed for
our Qualitative research:

IDI: 1. What are the experiences you experience in your business during the on slaught
of the pandemic?

1.1 When did your business start and what made you enter the business industry?

2. What are the challenges your business faced during pandemic?

For Main question no. 2 ( copinh mechanisms)

2.1 What are the strategies you used in addressing those challenges?

3.1 In what way this experience help you sustain your business?

3.2 In what, this experience changes your perspective a businessman?

2
Have you received any financial support from any government agencies?

Data Analysis

Collecting data from different participants also means different responses to the

questions that we asked them, but there are a lot of responses from them that they are in

common. Common answers from the participants mean they are facing the same

situations as other participants of our research as well. All of our participants in this

research are different local small business owners.

Some of these common responses from the participants are that their business is

quite slow in making a profit caused by the ongoing pandemic, which brings fewer

customers. Most of them also have difficulties getting stocks for them to sell since it's not

very safe to travel to different places today. Many of our participants who haveonline

businesses told us that the pandemic gives them great advantages since people prefer

buying things today that are delivered to their houses. Online shops also give customers

a convenient experience and make them safe staying home at the same time. On the

data analysis , we used crewell’s thematic analysis which is a qualitative data analysis

approach.

2
Trustworthiness and Credibility

Trustworthiness is important in evaluating its worth and it is one of the major

concerns in qualitative research. To attain trustworthiness and validity of results in this

study, four strategies were utilized which are credibility, transferability, dependability, and

confirmability.

Credibility. The researcher attained credibility by utilizing the most fitted research

method for this study and identifying the most appropriate participants. An interview

guide was used during the interview containing general research questions and specific

questions. Participants were encouraged to speak freely and express their feelings,

opinions and ideas as mentioned by Lincoln and Guba (2000), Credibility establishes

whether the research findings represent plausible information drawn from the

participants’ original data and is a correct interpretation of the participants’ original views.

2
 CHAPTER III

Innovative Business owner

The first informant whom we call Ma’am Eleonor is an owner of a small eatery at

Poblacion, New Bataan. Eleonor is a lawful wife and a mother of 2 Children. She started

her business on year 2017, two years before the pandemic started.

Force to shut down

Ma’am Eleonor shared the negative effects of pandemic to her business.

Oo, among business Kay nihinay jud ato na time. Baberquehan pamn
business namo sauna pero napugos gyud mi ug sira samong negosyo
tungod sa pandemic. Dali rajud kaayo mi nanira Kay dako kaayo ug
negative effects Nag pandemic sa business namo.

(Yes , our business really went slow that time. We had barbeque business
before the pandemic forced us to stop and made us close it. Our business
easily closed because of the negative effects of the pandemic)

3
A big difference

Eleonor or Elle further elaborates how her business was going back then when there

was no pandemic.

Well, as tag iya sa usa ka negosyo, I can say nga naa jud kalahian before
and during the pandemic. Before the pandemic was way better kay
daghan mamalit and if dghan ka ug income in a day, mas mapadali ang
pag rolling sa kwarta ug pinaagi niana mas mulambo pa ang small
business, while during this pandemic is a bit sad I can say, kay gipit ang
mga tao,wala silay enough para ipalit labi na tong time nga bag o pa nag
occur ang covid .

(Well, as an owner of a business, I can tell you that there is a difference

between before and after the pandemic. Before the pandemic, things were
much better because there were so many customers, and if you make a
lot of money in a day, the cash flow of the money is much easier, and as a
result, small businesses grow much faster, whereas during the pandemic,
things are a little sad, because some customers don’t have enough money
at the time when COVID-19 occurs.)

Naapektuhan ko ani sa duha ka pama agi, sa advantage ug

disadvantage. Usahay kapoyon jud ko kana makuuapan nah pero kaya ra
gihapon nako ma manage na maka bangon pirme. Ang advantage Kay
naktuon jud ko

3
 sa pag manage sa akoang oras na na apply jud nako sakong pang adlaw-
adlaw na panginabuhi and umaabot na kaugmaon.

(It affects me in two ways by its advantage and disadvantage. Sometimes

when I get tired I feel like I’m to faint ko but I still can manage to get up.
The advantage is at least I know now how to have a good time
management so that I can apply it to my lifestyle and to my future.)

Trying out new products to sell

Mrs. Eleonor shared that she tried out a new business and products to sell.

Tung nakita nako nga naa jud progress , nag tukud mi ug tindahan pag
abot sa pandemic , ug tung na observe namo na maayo man sya nag
sugud na dayun mi ug gamay lang gud na karenderya.

(Now that I can see the progress. We planned to build a store when
pandemic arrived, and when we observed that there was indeed a
progress, we immediately started a humble local eatery business.)

3
Upgrading business using all their past income before pandemic.

Never be afraid to try something new, because life gets boring when you stay within the

limits of what you already know. Just like ma’am Eleonor’s case she tries to find new

ways to earn her daily income back.As what the famous saying said “ pag may itinamin

may dudukutin” , ma’am Eleonor’s case is just a perfect scenario.

Bago nag lockdown, gi tukud namo among negosyo sa mga Kita namo sa
pag panindq ug bisan unsa . Tanan Kita namo tong Wala pay pandemic
Kay among gi gamit para mag ka negosyo napud karong pandemic.

(Before the lockdown, we build and construct our business with the
earnings we receive from selling goods. All those incomes from our
business back when there was no pandemic was use to innovate out
business so that we can compete and gain profit while in the pandemic.)
She added to her response

Akong maingon kay wala koy masyadong na encounter nga challenge on

getting costumer during pandemic it’s bcos I did know na mubagal jud ang
pagduol sa costumer after the said lockdown.

3
 (I can state that I haven’t had any difficulties acquiring customers
throughout the pandemic because I anticipated that people would arrive
slowly following the lockdown.)

Getting advices from other people to our business

Listening to a simple advice from other people may help you in the near future . Ma’am

Eleonor shares how a friends advice help her to pursue her business.

Ang amo Jung Plano Kay e renovate nalang Ang among tindahan , pero
akong Isa ka amigo nga Tig baligya ug isda ni tambag nako nga
picayune daw nako among negosyo na karenderya para didto oud sila
mangaon sa murag makinabang Ang among tagsa ka negosyo.
(Our primary plan is to renovate our store, and a friend of mine who sells
fish to us advised me to pursue our eatery so that they can eat there as
well, so that we both benefit from the business we have.)

Patience and perseverance of business owners

Maam Eleonor describe how pandemic mold her as a person .

3
 Pandemic ang nag tudlo sa ako sa ato kung unsaon pag survive sa mga
lisud na panahon, kaya na nato atubangon Ang unsa pamay mo abot na
problema

(Pandemic taught us how to survive in tough times, and we are ready to

face uncertainties as soon as they arise)

Elle again added.

Nakaya nako atubangon ang mga pagsulay ug kakapoy sa pag atiman

sakong negosyo sa pag pahulay ug pag ampo nya pag surrendering tanan
sakong mga porbelema sa Ginoo.
(I coped up with the challenges and stress in handling my business by
taking a break in my well being and then praing, surrendering my worries
to God.)

Being prepared in any situation all the time

Theres no harm in hoping for the best as long as your prepared for the worst. She

elaborates how important it is to be ready at all times.

3
 Isip Isa ka negosyante , Ang akong pag tanaw sa kinabuhi Kay na usab
jud . Dapat dli lang ta mag relax relax , Kung gusto ma ta naay ma kab ot
sa atongnegosyo dli ta mag expect ma makuha nato na dayun sama sa
pag abot sa pandemic , daghan na bankrupt . Naa pay daghan problema
na pwede maka apekto sa atoa ug sa atong negosyo so dapat kailangan
nato mahimong amdam.

(As a businesswoman, my perspective on life has changed. I should not

be relaxed. When you want to achieve something in your business, never
expect to get it because we never know what’s coming, like when
pandemic came, bankcruptcy happened. There are a lot of problems that
can affect your business so you must always be prepared.)

Passion is a must in having business

People with great passion can make the impossible happen , just like ma’am eleonor

she is so passionate to her business that she will do anything just to succeed.

Kailangan jud nimo mangitag paaran ug mag try ug bag o na mga

pamaagi Kay negosyante man ta ,mo try Kung unsa Ang mga uso or
kanang kinahangaln sa tao Kay makatabang na sa pag Lambo sa
negosyo.

3
 (You should be innovative as a businesswoman, what are the trends and
demands in these times, it will help to improve your business.)

Na reliaze jud nako pag ayo dli jud lalim mag gunit ug negosyo basin pag
Gamay na na negosyo. Dapat mu agi jud kag daghna na kakapoy ug
sakripisyo usa ka muabot sa babaw.
(I did realized that it’s not easy to run a business even if it’s just a little
business. You need to undergo lots of stress, sacrifices before getting on
the top.)

Goals amidst difficulties

Eleonor expressed her desire by sharing her dreams for her business even throughout

the pandemic.

Basin pag unsa ka lisod na dra, gusto jud nako ug akong paningkamotan
para mahitabo ni ma mulambo akong negosyo Kay tanan man butang sa
kalibutan nag sugod sa gamay. Pasalamat sad ko na maka experience ko
ani na kalisod Kay bali gamit jud siya na pag naa pa mga mahitabo
simbako palayo , Kay Dina kayo ko mga lisod Kay naka agi nmn ko.
No matter how hard it is, I really want and I will work hard to make it
happen , that my business will bloom because all things here in the world

3
started small. I am thankful that I experience this because I can really use
it if a lot of unnecesseties comes in the future but I hope not, so that I
won’t be struggling so much.

3
 Chapter lV

The experienced businesswoman

Informant number two whom we call Ante Josephine , an owner of a sari-sari store

located in Crssing Panag , New Bataan .She started her business way back 2008 so

you can really tell that she has went through a lot of experience in her 14 years of

managing her business.

Low income caused by health protocols

Ante Josephine shared her experience during onslaught of pandemic.

Na schock jud ko pag abot sa sugud sa pandemic ,hadlok tung time na

nag takud takud ug nagka strikto Ang mga protocol. Tungud Ani lisud para
sa akong negosyo Ang maka halin Kay gamay ra tao manggawas.

(When the pandemic started I was shocked, that time it was just starting
and spreading that’s why I slowly feel its effect but it’s getting scarier as
the protocols are getting more strict. This reason makes it more hard for
my business to gain profit because there are less people going outsides
their house.)

3
 Ang batas jud nga gihimo sa gobyerno ang pinakadako na hadlang para
maka kuha kog customer.
(The law that was made by the government is the biggest hurdle that
stopped me from attracting customers.)

Loss of jobs having negatives effects to Businesses

She shared that a lot of people lost their jobs because of the pandemic which has a big

impact on her business.

Daghan jud kalahian Kay Ang epekto sa pandemic bag o jud para sa akao
ug lisud para sa ako Ang mas survive Ang business . Ako oud napansin
na mag daghan Ang mangutang kaysa mo bayad, tungud Kay daghan
tao nawad an ug trabaho.

(There are many differences because of the effects of this is like a new
challenge for me to survive my business. I also noticed that the debt is
getting bigger than the payments because a lot of people lost their jobs.)

4
Financial struggles

Dako jud kaayo siyag epekto kay nag lisod nakog pangitag kwarta
ipampalit namog pagkaon.
(It has a really big effect because it was hard for me to find money to be
used for buying foods.)

She adds to her response

Di jud nako malimtan nga gigamit jud nako ako imahinasyon Dala
paningkamot para mapalambo ug mapadayon ako business.
(I would never forget that I really used my imagination to make my
business grow and continue.)

Getting a lot of stocks of the basic needs of people

She also said how she really want to help her neighbor by getting a lot of stocks for

their basic need so that it will be convenient for them.

Akong pama agi ? , Kanang mo adto ko ug mall para mangumpra nga

dako dako ko ug capital paliton jud nako Ang mga basic na
panginahanglan sa mga tao Kay Ang uban dli ka adto or ka travel , ako
Kay naa man koy travel pass maong himoon nako Ang akong best oara

4
 ma palit Ang mga panginahanglan sa baranggay ug mag save nalang oud
ug dagha stock.

(My strategy? Whenever I went to the store to restock, if only I have a big
capital I will buy the basic needs of the people because they are having a
hard time to travel and since I have a travel pass, that’s why I will do my
best to buy the basic needs of our baranggay and save more.” Stocks.)
Finding ways

Nangita kog pamaagi para ma reach ang mga customer maski di sila
muadto physically sa amo store maong napili nako mag online.
I needed to find a way to reach customers without themhaving to go to
our store physically that is why I chose to go online

Experience from past incidents or situation to cope up easily

Life is a journey to be experienced, not a problem to be solved. She shares how her

experience help her to stand firm in this pandemic .

Wajud koy gibasehan, na remember nako akoang experience atong

nagbagyo diri sauna and daghan kaykog na kutlo ug nagpasalamat jud ko
sa Ginoo kay bisan paman sa kalisod, gibuhat jud ko nag inspirasyon
para mabuhi mi niining pandemya.

4
 (Actually, I don’t have any basis. I feel like I experienced what I wen t
through during the typhoon, I feel like I already learned a lesson and I
thank God because what I had experienced is a big challenge for me as I
make it as an inspiration for survival and that’s what I’m doing when the
pandemic arises.)

Patience and perseverance of business owners

Ante Josephine also add that the keys for your business to survive and be sustainable

in the midst of the pandemic that our country is experiencing is having a lot of patience

and perseverance.

Kung gusto ka maka kwarta jud, dapat willing to waita jud ka. Ug gusto ka
mupadayon, sabton jud nimo imohang mga costumers kay ug dili di nana
sila mubalim saimoha, dapat give and take ba.

(Patience. You have to be patient because now a days, the business has
more debts rather than the payments. That’s why if you want to survive,
you need to understand the customer. And if you don’t know how to

4
 understand the customer, you will lose your customers. That’s why
customer and the sellers should practice give and take.)

Being prepared in any situation and all the time

She elaborated how essential it is to be ready and prepared at any situation and

circumstances that may come in the future.

Never jud magpakampante lang labaw na rong pandemya or sa mga

kalamidad na muabot kay daghan jud ug mga ups and downs na
mahitabo basta nagtukod kag negosyo. Maningkamot lang gyud unya
ubanan ug pag ampo.

(You shouldn’t just make yourself and your business prepared in times of
pandemic and calamities, you should be prepared anytime especially on
the challenges that might happen when it comes to business. For me,
patience and hard work and prayers.)

Never losing hope and keep on grinding

Never lose hope , things can change. Aunt Josephine emphasize this quote by sharing her

thoughts and experiences in the negative impacts of covid to business owners.

Di jud dapat ka mawalaag paglaom, pagkugi ug pag hustle sa imo Negosyo

. Nya para nako dili rani ma apply sa negosyo pero apil pud sa imo trabaho
ug tanan na imo ginabuhat para mabuhi. Dapat mag himo kag goal nga
imo gusto makab-ot sa imo kinabuhi para naa kay burning passion para sa
imo
gusto ma achieve. Dapat naa kay passion kung unsa man imo
gibuhat mapa negosyo man nimk o trabaho o maski unsa imo buhaton sa
imo kinabuhi.

4
(You should never lose hope, put in a lot of effort and hustle in your business. Well this for

me doesn’t just apply to business but to your work as well and everything that you do as a

living. You have to set goals that you want to achieve in your life for you to have that

burning desire in hustling for what you want to achieve. You gotta have passion on what you

do whether it’s your business or your job or anything that you do in your life.)

4
 Chapter V

The influenced Business owner

The third informant is a businesswoman whom we’d like to call Nanay Elma. She owns

a vegetable store which she sells in every “tabo” in different places especially in New

Bataan because she has a store here which she rents.

Low income caused by health protocols

Nanay Elma shared that she experience low income in her business which is an effect

of the health protocols by there Government for public safety.

Sa pag sugud sa pandemic lisud para sa amoa na ma kita labi na nga

among baligya Kay gulay ug lamas , tungud sa lockdown mahadlok na
mogawas Ang mga tao tungud oud sa mga protocol , Isa lud tung gi na dli
sa Ang pag tinda pag tabo. Pero kayloyan man pud na maayo na Ang
oanhon na ka tarong nami ug pamalogya.
(When the pandemic started it’s really hard for us to gain income
especially that our products are vegetables and spices, because of the
lockdown many people are afraid to go the market because of heavy
lockdowns and lot of protocols , especially when market day have been

4
 advise to temporarily close . But fortunately our situation now is a lot

better we can continue our business.)

Pandemic causing less customers to businesses

She shares that the pandemic cause her business to have less customers.In the
pandemic, only few number of people can go outside the house especially those who
has food pass, quarantine pass and those who have work which has an impact on
businesses.
Lahi rajud sa una nga Wala pay pandic Kay Ang mga tao walay gi huna
huna na virus ug maka adto Sila bisan asa , pero karon kapandemic na
lisud Kay limited Ang mga customer na naka apekto oud sa among
negosyo.

(It’s totally different when there is still no pandemic because people were
not minding any virus and they can freely go anywhere and it’s easy to
gain income everyday , but now that there is pandemic it’s really hard
because of the limited customers it also affect our business.)

4
Using social media in selling goods for publicity

Today, the power of social media really went up especially the fact that physical contact

is limited. A lot of people took advantage of it ,not just in communication but also in the

business world and Nanay Elma is one of those.

Nag sugud mi ug post online sa among baligya tapos with free delivery sa
ila balay.
(We started posting our products online with free delivery on their houses.)

Online platforms being a big help to business owners

She elaborates how online platforms gave her a big helping hand on keeping up with

other business owners.

Tungod aning pandemya, na uso jud ang online selling ug online

shopping ug tuod man very effective jud sya aron mas mo mulambo pa
ang business.

(Because of pandemic online selling and online shopping is very popular

and we can see that it’s an effective strategy and even our co vendors are
using it.)

4
Being prepared at all times

Nanay Elma explains the importance of being able to prepare yourself at all times and

that you should always bear that in mind.

Niining pandemya nabag o jud akoang mg pananaw sa kinabuhu di gyud

dapat ta maging kampante dapat andam ta ug unsa may mahitabo. Dapat
ug magplano ka kabalo ka sa mga advantages and disadvantages ug
imoha ng e pursuo nga plano , dapat always naay plan B. Ug dapat di jud
ta mu give up dayon, padayon lang gyud bsan pa man ga lisod .

(This pandemic experience change my perspective that we should always

be prepared and ready on what may come in the future. We should always
have plans and be adaptive on any kinds of situations. We should never
give up that easily and continue to persevere even if feels like it’s not
going our way in our business.)

Believing in one’s self as a business owner

She elaborates that having confidence and believing in yourself is really one of the key

to having success even throughout difficulties.

4
 Simple ra kaayo, tungod sa kalisod sa kinabuhi ug tungod sa atong mga
pangandot, wajud dapat sa pilianan nato ang mag tinapulan. Dapat dli
nato edown atong sarili ug unsa sa mga kapabilidad nato.

(It’s simple , because of the difficulties in life and because of our dreams
being lazy is not an option , we should not look down ourselves and our
capabilities.)

Business owners being reverent through tough times

Nanany Elma said that you also have to pair those hardwork and efforts with pryers and

faith in the Father God.

Gitudlo sa pandemic nako kay dapat andam jud dapat ta maski unsa may
panghitabo na ato atubangon ug di jud nato kalimtan ang pag salig nato
kay Lord ug mag ampo na e-guide ta. Dapat itrato nato ang atong
customers ug maayo para mubalik pa sila nato.

(Pandemic taught me that we should be ready in any circumstances that

we have to face , and we should not forget out trust to the lord and pray
For guidance. We should treat our customers nicely so that they will go
back to us.)

5
 Chapter Vl

The hardworking and Goal oriented Gela

The fourth informant is a young entrepreneur who helps in managing their food store

in Poblacion New Bataan. We’d like to call her in the name, Gela. They started their

business way back 2015.

Businesses forcing to shutdown caused by the pandemic

Gela elaborates that they were forced to close their business because of getting

lot income compare to there was no pandemic.

Pag sugod sa lockdown tungod sa grabeng pag Taas sa mga na

covid, wla jud mi choice kundi e temporary na esarado among
negosyo , dli lang Kay nihinay siya ,Kay tungod pud mao ang order
dria sa amoa. Maygne kay mas ni arang-aranag na ang panahon nag
balik nami ug operate.

(When the lockdowns started and because of heavy rising cases of

covid, we don’t really have a choice but to temporarily close our
business not just because it’s going slow but because we’re told to ,
fortunately now that our situation are getting better we are back on
operating.)

5
 Gela further elaborates her experiences.

Ang mga pagsulay na akong na atubang sa mga customer sa pandemya

Kay Kung unsa na pama agi na ma attract sila na mupalit sa akong mga
prokdukto sakong negosyo may sukad sa pag abot sa pandemya Kay ni
gamay jud ang customer nako tungod sa mga balaod nya ang uban
mahadlok mugawas.

(The challenges that I encountered in business customers during the

pandemic is what will I do to attract them to buy my products in my
business because ever since the pandemic started, the number of
customers in my business really lessen for there are prohibitions and others
have fear going outside.)

Pandemic causing less customers to businesses

She said that because there are no classes, they now have less customers because

most of their income comes from students who stop by to eat especially when it’s already

afternoon where the students come out from school.

Tung wla pay pandemic , ang among negosyo Kay ok jud , tungud sa mga
estudyante, pero tung pang abot sa pandemic Ang mga estudyante karon
Kay lahilahi ug pamaagi sa eskwela tapis naa ra sa balay maong naka
apekto jud sya sa negosyo.

5
(When there still no pandemic ,our business was totally okay and doing good ,
beacause of the students , but pandemic come students now are on different
learning system and at home and it really affected our business.)
She adds to her responses.

Ang pag ka gamay jud sa mga customers tungud sa mga protocol

ug heavy lockdowns , grabe jud kaayu ang epekto sa negosyo pero
ang pinaka kasakit Kay kanabg watay mabuhat kundi musunod.
( The lessen of customers because of the protocols and heavy
lockdowns, it really have a big effect on the business but the most
painful part is that we have no choice but to follow)

Using social media in selling goods for publicity

Gela says that she started doing online business for good publicity and attract

customers because they have free deliveries which a lot of people prefer because

they don’t want to go outside.

Nag sugud ko ug gamit kanang sa online para ebaligya among

produko , tungud Kay ang mga tao halos naa Naman cellphones .
Naga deliver pud ko sa mga nag order tapos naga add on lang ko ug
bayad Kung layulayu

5
 ilang location , pero ana man jud kailangan nato maningkamot para
ma survy nato Aung negosyo bisan karong pandemic.
(I started using online platforms to sell our products in our business since
a lot of people use their phones and scroll on Facebook and social media.
I do deliveries to those costumers who order and we just add fees when
their location is kind a it’s kind a tiring but you have to put in a lot of effort
for your business to survive amidst the pandemic.)

Online platforms being a big help to business owners

She elaborates that having social media Isa really a big helping hand in having

business amidst the pandemic.

Dapat gyud mag effort jud ta sa atoang mga gipang baligya, mamaligya
jud kag unsay uso ug demand kay dghan kaykag ka kompetensya jud ug
mamaligya ka. Kung unsay uso, di jud nimo palampason nga di ka ability
kay sayang, bahalag ginagmay lang basta kanunay.

(We had to be innovative and adaptive into the market world since there
are a lot of competitors out there. Whatever’s a trend , we well those just

5
 for us to gain profit even it it’s the hard way as long as we gain money in
a clean way.)

She added to her response.

Kuan , medyo budget budget jud mi sa among mga palitonon sama

sa mga panginahanglan sa balay .
( We make sure to budget our expenses like the needs inside the house )

Patience and perseverance of business owners

Gela says having patience and perseverance is a must in having a business especially

amidst the pandemic.

Kani nga panghitabo gitabangan ko nga magpadayon bisan sa

kalisod, mu grow ug maging better nga negosyante. Di lang kay
gitagaan kog kaalam apan gitagaan sad kog taas nga pasensya
nga di gyud mu undang.

(This experience help me for my business to be sustainable even

throughout uncertainties by molding me into a more mature and
better

5
 businessman. It did not only give me knowledge and experience on how
to handle business amidst unexpected occurrence but it also gave me
the patience on my business and not to give up easily.)

Being prepared in any situation and all the time

She said that being ready should be always, not just in situations like the pandemic

but also on other necessities that may come.

Dapat andam gyud ka sa kanunay, mao gyud na ang nakutlo nako

niining panghitaboa, taas kayo akoang expectations sakoang negosyo
nya wako kahuna huna nga possible diay mahitabo ang mga di nimo
gina expect.

(Being prepared on whatever happens is a must , that’s the

perspective

that this experience gave me compared to before where all I think is

my plans for my business without thinking about uncertainties that
may come

5
Business owners being reverent through tough times

She explains how essential it is for people to have faith in God and being prepared

as well for your to survive in the pandemic in having a business.

Kung naay pandemic o maski unsa pay maabot, dapat andam ug

prepared ta sa tanang challenges na maabot sa atong negosyo ug

labaw na sa tanan, dapat di nato makalimtan mag ampo kay God.

(If pandemic or other unnecesseties come, we should be ready and

prepared in all that challenges that may come in our business and

most of all, we should not forget to pray to God.)

Reminiscing the time where the protocols were so strict because of the covid cases,

she further elaborates.

Gi dawat lang namo Ang atong kahimtang karon , pero dli Ibig sabihin

na dli namo maningkamot ug dli namo ni sya himoong hadlang sa

among paglambo.

(We just accept the situation what we are right now but this does not

mean that we should not grind ,and we make sure that this will not be a

hindrance for us to be successful.)

5
 Ang imo jung pag ka abtik mo dawat sa mga panghitabo , abtik mo

lihok , ug dapat ready sa tanang panahon Kay makatabang jud

sya sama sa among mga negosyante.

( The fast adoption to any situation, fast initiative, and always be ready

beacause it is a really big help for us entrepreneurs.)

Goals for business

Thinking about positive outcomes, she elaborates that she wanted her business to

still be successful with the help of her experience.

Syempre gusto namo na mas mo Lambo ug mag padayon

ghapon among negosyo Kay para man ghapon ni sa amoa .

( Of course we want our business to grow and still be present

beacause this is not for other people this is for us )

5
 Chapter Vll

FINDINGS

This chapter presents the results of the research questions that explored the

experiences of small and medium business owners in the municipality of New

Bataan. The various experiences of these individuals were disclosed through in-

depth interview, the research informants were selected through purposive sampling

based on the uniqueness of their stories. In keeping with the research ethics of

qualitative research, codes have been used in order to conceal the identities of the

research informants or participants. The presentation of the result was done

according to the order of the specific research question used in this study.

Did businesses went slow when the pandemic started?

In this section, the findings of the first major research question “Did businesses went

slow when the pandemic started?” The responses were presented in verbatim; that

is, transcribing them based on the language of the participants used during the

interview. Conforming to the research ethics, the identities of business owners had

been concealed to ensure protection regarding to their rights to have privacy.

5
State of business before the Pandemic

This part of the themes presents the themes that had emerge from the specific

Question. There are four (3) themes that were drawn out from the question, “

How would your describe your business before the pandemic?” These are:

Plenty of customers, stable and a good position.

Plenty of customer.The respondents pictured their business with a lot of

customers and getting a lot income before the pandemic started.

Elle shared:

Well, as tag iya sa usa ka negosyo, I can say nga naa jud kalahian before
and during the pandemic. Before the pandemic was way better kay daghan
mamalit and if dghan ka ug income in a day, mas mapadali ang pag rolling
sa kwarta ug pinaagi niana mas mulambo pa ang small business, while
during this pandemic is a bit sad I can say, kay gipit ang mga tao,wala
silay enough para ipalit labi na tong time nga bag o pa nag occur ang covid
.

(Well, as an owner of a business, I can tell you that there is a difference

between before and after the pandemic. Before the pandemic, things were
much better because there were so many customers, and if you make a lot of
money in a day, the cash flow of the money is much easier, and as a result,
small businesses

6
 grow much faster, whereas during the pandemic, things are a little sad, because
some customers don’t have enough money at the time when COVID-19
occurs.)

Gela support led Elle’s statement by saying:

Usa pa niabot Ang pandemya daghan jud mig customer labi na sa hapon kay
daghan ug studyante mamalit bago sila manguli.
(Before pandemic arrived, we really have many customers specially in the
afternoon because there are many students who buy before going home.)

Stable. The informant felt more secure in her income before the pandemic.

Elma shares:

Nindot jud ang daghan sa negosyo nako ato nga time kay daghan
mamalit ug gulay
Nya stable akong income.

(My business had a good run that time because there are many people
who bought vegetables and my income is stable.)

A good location.

Naka pwesto ako tindahan sa kanto nya daghan motorista mangagi tapos mamalit sa
amoa kaya kusog amo tindahan

(My store is located at a crossing then many motorcycle riders pass by then buys at our
store , that’s why our store is strong.)

6
(My store is located at a crossing then many motorcycle riders pass by then buys at
our store , that’s why our store is strong.)

Impact of the pandemic to small and medium enterprises

This part presents the themes that had emerged from the specific question. There

are five (5) themes that were drawn out from the question, “What challenges have

you encountered in your getting customer on the effects of the pandemic?” These

are: Force to shut down, low income, trying out new products to sell, loss of jobs

causing low income and less customers.

Force to shut down. The informants picture the experiences of their businesses

when the pandemic arrived. It is one of the bad experiences they will never forget as

a business owner Majority of the informants revealed that they went through a lot of

negative things that force their business to shut down.

Elle shared:

Oo, among business Kay nihinay jud ato na time. Baberquehan pamn business namo
sauna pero napugos gyud mi ug sira samong negosyo tungod sa pandemic. Dali rajud
kaayo mi nanira Kay dako kaayo ug negative effects nag pandemic sa business namo.

6
(Yes , our business really went slow that time. We had barbeque business before
the pandemic forced us to stop and made us close it. Our business easily closed
because of the negative effects of the pandemic)

Gela added:

Pag sugod sa lockdown tungod sa grabeng pag Taas sa mga na covid, wla jud mi
choice kundi e temporary na esarado among negosyo , dli lang Kay nihinay siya
,Kay tungod pud mao ang order dria sa amoa. Maygne kay mas ni arang-aranag
na ang panahon nag balik nami ug operate.

(When the lockdowns started and because of heavy rising cases of covid, we don’t
really have a choice but to temporarily close our business not just because it’s
going slow but because we’re told to , fortunately now that our situation are getting
better we are back on operating.)

Low income. In every kind business in the businesses world experiences this kind of

situation that becomes a hindrance for businesses to grow. It is just a matter a

matter of handling it in a right manner.

6
Josephine expressed her desire by saying:

Na schock jud ko pag abot sa sugud sa pandemic ,hadlok tung time na nag
takud takud ug nagka strikto Ang mga protocol. Tungud Ani lisud para sa
akong negosyo Ang maka halin Kay gamay ra tao manggawas.

(When the pandemic started I was shocked, that time it was just starting and
spreading that’s why I slowly feel its effect but it’s getting scarier as the
protocols are getting more strict. This reason makes it more hard for my
business to gain profit because there are less people going outsides their
house.)

Elma stated:

Sa pag sugud sa pandemic lisud para sa amoa na ma kita labi na nga among
baligya Kay gulay ug lamas , tungud sa lockdown mahadlok na mogawas Ang
mga tao tungud oud sa mga protocol , Isa lud tung gi na dli sa Ang pag tinda
pag tabo. Pero kayloyan man pud na maayo na Ang oanhon na ka tarong
nami ug pamalogya.

(When the pandemic started it’s really hard for us to gain income especially
that our products are vegetables and spices, because of the lockdown many
people

6
 are afraid to go the market because of heavy lockdowns and lot of
protocols , especially when market day have been advise to temporarily
close . But fortunately our situation now is a lot better we can continue our
business.)

Trying out new products to sell. The respondents felt that their business is stagnant so

they tried to be innovative and creative to try things for their business to grow and be

sustainable amidst the pandemic.

Elle shared:

Tung nakita nako nga naa jud progress , nag tukud mi ug tindahan pag abot
sa pandemic , ug tung na observe namo na maayo man sya nag sugud na
dayun mi ug gamay lang gud na karenderya.

(Now that I can see the progress. We planned to build a store when
pandemic arrived, and when we observed that there was indeed a
progress, we immediately started a humble local eatery business.)

6
Loss of jobs causing low income. During the pandemic, a lot of people lost their jobs

because a lot of big establishments were force to close and let go of their of their

employees which also has a big impact to small and medium enterprises because it

causes them to buy less goods and services.

Josephine added:

Daghan jud kalahian Kay Ang epekto sa pandemic bag o jud para sa akao ug
lisud para sa ako Ang mas survive Ang business . Ako oud napansin na mag
daghan Ang mangutang kaysa mo bayad, tungud Kay daghan tao nawad an
ug trabaho.

(There are many differences because of the effects of this is like a new
challenge for me to survive my business. I also noticed that the debt is getting
bigger than the payments because a lot of people lost their jobs.)

Less number of customers. When the pandemic arrived, most people have fears

going outside their because of the danger of getting infected by the virus. The

government impose a protocol that only one person in the family is allowed to go

outside and that’s the person that has a good pass and quarantine pass.

6
Elma conveyed:

Lahi rajud sa una nga Wala pay pandic Kay Ang mga tao walay gi huna huna
na virus ug maka adto Sila bisan asa , pero karon kapandemic na lisud Kay
limited Ang mga customer na naka apekto oud sa among negosyo.

(It’s totally different when there is still no pandemic because people were not
minding any virus and they can freely go anywhere and it’s easy to gain income
everyday , but now that there is pandemic it’s really hard because of the limited
customers it also affect our business.)

Gela added by saying:

Tung Wala pay pandemic , Ang among negosyo Kay ok jud , tungud sa mga
estudyante, pero tung pang abot sa pandemic Ang mga estudyante karon Kay
lahilahi ug pamaagi sa eskwela tapis naa ra sa balay maong naka apekto jud
sya sa negosyo.

(When there still no pandemic ,our business was totally okay and doing good ,

beacause of the students , but pandemic come students now are on different

learning system and at home and it really affected our business.)

6
The strategies used in addressing those challenges in the pandemic

In this section, the findings of the second major research question “How did

you cope with the challenges that you encountered relating to your business?”

The responses were presented in verbatim; that is, transcribing them based on

the language of the participants used during the interview. Conforming to the

research ethics, the identities of business owners had been concealed to ensure

protection regarding to their rights tohave privacy.

Different Coping Mechanism in dealing the Challenges encountered by business

owners during the pandemic.

This part presents the themes that had emerged from the specific question. There

are five (5) themes that were drawn out from the question, “What are the strategies

used by there owners in addressing those challenges amidst the pandemic?” These

are: blissful, chaotic, complete, quarreling, and does family bonding.

6
Renovating Business. The informant renovated her business in order to catch up

with the current situation and to make it grow

Elle shared:

Bago nag lockdown , gi tukud namo among negosyo sa mga Kita namo sa
pag panindq ug bisan unsa . Tanan Kita namo tong Wala pay pandemic Kay
among gi gamit para mag ka negosyo napud karong pandemic.

(Before the lockdown, we build and construct our business with the earnings we
receive from selling goods. All those incomes from our business back when
there was no pandemic was use to innovate out business so that we can
compete and gain profit while in the pandemic.)

Supplying a lot of stocks to sell. It is said that it is better to stock up now than to be

sorry later. This informant made use of this saying by buying more than stock than

necessary.

Josephine said:

Akong pama agi ? , Kanang mo adto ko ug mall para mangumpra nga dako
dako ko ug capital paliton jud nako Ang mga basic na panginahanglan sa
mga

6
 tao Kay Ang uban dli ka adto or ka travel , ako Kay naa man koy travel pass
maong himoon nako Ang akong best oara ma palit Ang mga panginahanglan
sa baranggay ug mag save nalang oud ug dagha stock.

(My strategy? Whenever I went to the store to restock, if only I have a big
capital I will buy the basic needs of the people because they are having a
hard time to
travel and since I have a travel pass, that’s why I will do my best to buy the
basic needs of our baranggay and save more.” Stocks.)

Use of social being big help in selling goods: Social media is a powerful platform

to reach many people. This informant used social platforms to promote her

business

Elma said:

Nag sugud mi ug post online sa among baligya tapos with free delivery sa
ila balay.

(We started posting our products online with free delivery on their houses.)

7
Gela added:

Nag sugud ko ug gamit kanang sa online para I aligya among prody , tungud
Kay Ang nga tao halos naa Naman cellphones . Naga deliver pud ko sa mga
nag order tapos naga add on lang ko ug bayad Kung layulayu ilang location ,
pero ana man jud kailangan nato maningkamot para ma survy nato Ang
negosyo bisan karong pandemic.

(I started using online platforms to sell our products in our business since a lot
of people use their phones and scroll on Facebook and social media. I do
deliveries to those costumers who order and we just add fees when their
location is kind a it’s kind a tiring but you have to put in a lot of effort for your
business to survive amidst the pandemic.)

Elma added again:

Tungod aning pandemya, na uso jud ang online selling ug online

shopping ug tuod man very effective jud sya aron mas mo mulambo pa
ang business.
(Because of pandemic online selling and online shopping is very popular and
we can see that it’s an effective strategy and even our co vendors are using it.)

7
Gela added again:

Dapat gyud mag effort jud ta sa atoang mga gipang baligya, mamaligya jud kag
unsay uso ug demand kay dghan kaykag ka kompetensya jud ug mamaligya
ka. Kung unsay uso, di jud nimo palampason nga di ka ability kay sayang,
bahalag ginagmay lang basta kanunay.

(We had to be innovative and adaptive into the market world since there are a
lot of competitors out there. Whatever’s a trend , we well those just for us to
gain profit even it it’s the hard way as long as we gain money in a clean way.)

Getting advices from other people. Having many friends and connections is a

gift.This informant made use of this gift.

Elle said:

Listening to a simple advice from other people may help you in the near
future . Ma’am Eleonor shares how a friends advice help her to pursue her
business.Ang amo Jung Plano Kay e renovate nalang Ang among tindahan
,

7
 pero akong Isa ka amigo nga tig baligya ug isda ni tambag nako nga picayune
daw nako among negosyo na karenderya para didto oud sila mangaon sa
murag makinabang Ang among tagsa ka negosyo.

(Our primary plan is to renovate our store, and a friend of mine who sells fish

to us advised me to pursue our eatery so that they can eat there as well, so

that we both benefit from the business we have.

Experience is the best teacher. There is no better teacher in life than

toexperience it yourself.

Josephine shared:

Wajud koy gibasehan, na remember nako akoang experience atong

nagbagyo diri sauna and daghan kaykog na kutlo ug nagpasalamat jud ko sa
Ginoo kay bisan paman sa kalisod, gibuhat jud ko nag inspirasyon para
mabuhi mi niining pandemya.

7
 (Actually, I don’t have any basis. I feel like I experienced what I wen t through
during the typhoon, I feel like I already learned a lesson and I thank God
because what I had experienced is a big challenge for me as I make it as an
inspiration for survival and that’s what I’m doing when the pandemic arises.)

In what way these experiences helped in sustaining and developing your

business?

In this section, the findings of the third major research question “Based on

experiences, what insights did the informants gain and what realizations did they

arrive at?” The responses were presented in verbatim; that is, transcribing them

based on the language of the participants used during the interview. Conforming to

the research ethics, the identities of business owners had been concealed to ensure

protection regarding to their rights tohave privacy.

Insights and Realizations after all the experiences in the lockdown.

This part presents the themes that had emerged from the specific question “. There

are six (6) themes that were drawn out from the question,”What are your insights

and realizations after going through all your business experiences in the pandemic?

?” These are: Having patience and

7
perseverance, having faith in yourself, being prepared, passionate, grinding for

success and being reverent in tough times.

Having patience and perseverance. Patience is a virtue and persevering is a

matter of will power. If you can endure any suffering that life throws at you, it

transforms you into a stronger and wiser person.

Elle conveyed:

Pandemic ang nag tudlo sa ako sa ato kung unsaon pag survive sa mga lisud
na panahon, kaya na nato atubangon Ang unsa pamay mo abot na problema
(Pandemic taught us how to survive in tough times, and we are ready to face
uncertainties as soon as they arise)

Josephine added:

Kung gusto ka maka kwarta jud, dapat willing to waita jud ka. Ug gusto ka
mupadayon, sabton jud nimo imohang mga costumers kay ug dili di nana
sila mubalim saimoha, dapat give and take ba.

7
 (Patience. You have to be patient because now a days, the business has
more debts rather than the payments. That’s why if you want to survive, you
need to understand the customer. And if you don’t know how to understand
the customer, you will lose your customers. That’s why customer and the
sellers should practice give and take.

Gela also added:

Kani nga panghitabo gitabangan ko nga magpadayon bisan sa kalisod, mu

grow ug maging better nga negosyante. Di lang kay gitagaan kog kaalam
apan gitagaan sad kog taas nga pasensya nga di gyud mu undang.

(This experience help me for my business to be sustainable even throughout

uncertainties by molding me into a more mature and better businessman. It
did not only give me knowledge and experience on how to handle business
amidst unexpected occurrence but it also gave me the patience on my
business and not to give up easily.)

Having faith in yourself. In making any decisions, you need to have full confidence in

your self and skills in order to do it well and make it to it’s full form

7
Gela said:

Simple ra kaayo, tungod sa kalisod sa kinabuhi ug tungod sa atong mga

pangandot, wajud dapat sa pilianan nato ang mag tinapulan. Dapat dli
nato edown atong sarili ug unsa sa mga kapabilidad nato.
(It’s simple , because of the difficulties in life and because of our dreams
being lazy is not an option , we should not look down ourselves and our
capabilities.)

Being prepared. Being prepared means being ready for almost any situation that

happens. Preparation takes time but it is worth it and you will see it’s purpose when

the time comes.

Elle said:

Isip Isa ka negosyante , Ang akong pag tanaw sa kinabuhi Kay na usab jud .
Dapat dli lang ta mag relax relax , Kung gusto ma ta naay ma kab ot sa
atongnegosyo dli ta mag expect ma makuha nato na dayun sama sa pag
abot

7
 sa pandemic , daghan na bankrupt . Naa pay daghan problema na pwede maka
apekto sa atoa ug sa atong negosyo so dapat kailangan nato mahimong
amdam.

(As a businesswoman, my perspective on life has changed. I should not be

relaxed. When you want to achieve something in your business, never expect
to get it because we never know what’s coming, like when pandemic came,
bankcruptcy happened. There are a lot of problems that can affect your
business so you must always be prepared.)

Josephine added:

Never jud magpakampante lang labaw na rong pandemya or sa mga

kalamidad na muabot kay daghan jud ug mga ups and downs na mahitabo
basta nagtukod kag negosyo. Maningkamot lang gyud unya ubanan ug pag
ampo.

(You shouldn’t just make yourself and your business prepared in times of
pandemic and calamities, you should be prepared anytime especially on the
challenges that might happen when it comes to business. For me, patience
and hard work and prayers.)

7
Elma expressed her desire by saying:

Niining pandemya nabag o jud akoang mg pananaw sa kinabuhu di gyud dapat

ta maging kampante dapat andam ta ug unsa may mahitabo. Dapat ug
magplano ka kabalo ka sa mga advantages and disadvantages ug imoha ng e
pursuo nga plano , dapat always naay plan B. Ug dapat di jud ta mu give up
dayon, padayon lang gyud bsan pa man ga lisod .

(This pandemic experience change my perspective that we should always be

prepared and ready on what may come in the future. We should always have
plans and be adaptive on any kinds of situations. We should never give up that
easily and continue to persevere even if feels like it’s not going our way in our
business..
Gela also added:

Dapat andam gyud ka sa kanunay, mao gyud na ang nakutlo nako niining
panghitaboa, taas kayo akoang expectations sakoang negosyo nya wako kahuna
huna nga possible diay mahitabo ang mga di nimo gina expect.

79
 (Being prepared on whatever happens is a must , that’s the perspective that this
experience gave me compared to before where all I think is my plans for my
business without thinking about uncertainties that may come.)

Being passionate. Passion is the one that fuels your desire to achieve things. You

need passion to keep things going and make whatever you want come true.

Elle shared:

Kailangan jud nimo mangitag paaran ug mag try ug bag o na mga pamaagi Kay
negosyante man ta ,mo try Kung unsa Ang mga uso or kanang kinahangaln sa
tao Kay makatabang na sa pag Lambo sa negosyo.

(You should be innovative as a businesswoman, what are the trends and

demands in these times, it will help to improve your business.)

80
Being reverent in tough times. You may be the most talented business man out there

but without God,you are nothing. No matter where life takes you,never forget God and

pray.

Elma conveyed:

Gitudlo sa pandemic nako kay dapat andam jud dapat ta maski unsa may
panghitabo na ato atubangon ug di jud nato kalimtan ang pag salig nato kay Lord
ug mag ampo na e-guide ta. Dapat itrato nato ang atong customers ug maayo
para mubalik pa sila nato.
(Pandemic taught me that we should be ready in any circumstances that we have
to face , and we should not forget out trust to the lord and pray for guidance. We
should treat our customers nicely so that they will go back to us.)

Gela added:

Kung naay pandemic o maski unsa pay maabot, dapat andam ug prepared ta sa
tanang challenges na maabot sa atong negosyo ug labaw na sa tanan, dapat di
nato makalimtan mag ampo kay God.

81
 (If pandemic or other unnecesseties come, we should be ready and prepared in
all that challenges that may come in our business and most of all, we should not
forget to pray to God.)

Goals and dream for business owners

This part presents the themes that had emerged from the specific question “. There are

four (4) themes that were drawn out from the question,”Despite what you have been

through in your business amidst the pandemic, what are your goals and dreams for your

busines?” These are:

Chasing dreams. We all have something we want to achieve even as a child. As

we grow up, we start to realize what we want and start chasing your dream. You

face hardships as you follow your dreams but never give up and just go for it.

Elle shared that:

Basin pag unsa ka lisod na dra, gusto jud nako ug akong paningkamotan para
mahitabo ni ma mulambo akong negosyo Kay tanan man butang sa kalibutan
nag sugod sa gamay. Pasalamat sad ko na maka experience ko ani na kalisod
Kay bali gamit jud siya na pag naa pa mga mahitabo simbako palayo , Kay Dina
kayo ko mga lisod Kay naka agi nmn ko.
(No matter how hard it is, I really want and I will work hard to make it happen ,
that my business will bloom because all things here in the world started small. I

82
 am thankful that I experience this because I can really use it if a lot of
unnecesseties comes in the future but I hope not, so that I won’t be struggling so
much.)

Being reverent in tough times. All businessmen don’t want their business to go

bankrupt, instead they all want to make it grow and flourish.

Josephine shared her desire by saying:

Gusto jud nako mapalambo ako negosyo kay kabalo ko kaya nako kay
nalampasan nako ang kalisod na dala sa covid.
(I really want to make my business flourish because I know that I can because
overcame the hardships brought by covid)

Elma added:

Pangandaoy jud nako sakoang negosyo ug maglambo kiniug magpadayon.

(My plan is to continue my business and for it to grow then continue it.)

Continue it throughout difficulties. When sorrounded by difficulties, keep going. Tough

situations makes you strong.

83
Gela said that:

Syempre gusto namo na mas mo Lambo ug mag padayon ghapon among negosyo Kay
para man ghapon ni sa amoa.
(Of course we want our business to grow and still be present beacause this is not for
other people this is for us )

84
 Chapter Vlll

DISCUSSION AND

CONCLUSION

This chapter presents the discussions and recommendations on this study that

explored the experiences of Small and medium-sized enterprises in the municipality of

New Bataan.

Research informants were chosen based on the uniqueness of their story as a

product of experiencing the effects of the pandemic to in order to probe the experiences

of small and medium business owners in New Bataan. In-depth interview was done

during the interview with the informants. All throughout the entire interview, adherence

to the informants confidentiality of their identity and credibility was observed. Their

responses were transcribed and analyzed. Themes were drawn out from their

responses which paint the picture of their experiences as a business owner who

experienced the big impacts brought by that pandemic.

The sequence of the presentation for this chapter was based on the order of the

research questions in the interview guide. The discussions section highlighted the

themes, which were the findings in the study, and corroborated with related literature

and studies.

85
Discussion

The key participants in this study are four small and medium-sized business

owners bearing different experiences throughout the pandemic. Significant stories and

experiences are gathered and presented in this section. The structured themes and the

emerging themes were made as bases in the discussion of the findings in this study.

Each theme was linked to related literature and studies to add substantially to the

discussion.

State of businesses before the pandemic

This structured theme summarizes the views of the foue small and medium size

business owners as to how they see their businesses situation and status before

the pandemic started The emerging themes are plenty of customer,stable and a

good location.This is how the research informants describe their busines before the

pandemic arrived.

86
Impact of the pandemic to small and medium enterprises

This structured theme summarizes the views of four small and medium sized

business owners as to what the pandemic affected the situation and status of their

business during the pandemic. The emerging themes are force to shut down, low

income, trying out new products to sell, loss of jobs causing low income and less

customers.. This is how the research informants describe the effects of the

pandemic to their respective businesses. Around half of MSMEs have temporarily

closed as a result of the pandemic,9 with the majority of these closures due to

severe drops in demand and supply chain disruptions. Market and retail mall

closures have a significant impact on MSMEs. After the epidemic, almost 60% of

MSMEs cut staff every month, and more than half of MSMEs stopped paying

wages to employees.10 The impact on employment was particularly severe in Java

and Bali. Naturally, this was due to the population and economic activity

concentration. The impact varied across industries, particularly retail, in the service

industries, of which MSMEs make up a substantial component. Personal services,

food and beverage, and hospitality enterprises are all examples of entertainment,

arts and culture. There hasn’t been any.

87
Different Coping Mechanism in dealing the Challenges encountered by

business owners during the pandemic.

Four informants have shared their how they cope with the challenges

encountered in their business during the pandemic. Out of their responses 5

themes were drawn out. These are renovating business, supplying a lot of stocks

to sell, use of social being big help in selling goods, getting advices from other

people and out of experience.Business owners narrated their coping mechanisms

in facing challenges relating to their business. Use of social media is being

practiced by two of the informants since it has been a huge help to businesses

during the pandemic.While many MSMEs are battling to stay afloat during this

challenging period, some are coming up with creative solutions. For example, in

Yogyakarta, a grassroot initiative is assisting ordinary people and small companies

in addressing the pandemic’s impact. In reaction to the pandemic, SONJO

(sonjo.id) has grown organically, advocating for resilient, sustainable living and a

circular economy.

The pandemic has hastened the deployment of digital technologies. Digital

platforms, such as e-commerce, have benefited certain SMEs. According to the

Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs, e-commerce sales have increased by 26% to

3.1 million transactions per day since the pandemic began.

88
11 However, only 13% of the 64 million existing MSMEs (roughly 8 million

MSMEs) are actively using digital marketplaces such as Shopee, Blibli, and

Tokopedia.12 This indicates that there is significant room for MSMEs to go

digital.SME merchants were shown to have diverse attitudes regarding social

media marketing in the qualitative study. Others were hampered by their lack of

knowledge when it came to social media marketing. The second (quantitative)

study demonstrated the general applicability of TAM, demonstrating that perceived

ease of use influenced SME retailers’ attitudes toward using social media

marketing during the COVID-19 crisis. The education level of business owners

affects their impressions of social media marketing, according to both research.

The qualitative study revealed that SME merchants have varying perspectives

toward social media marketing. Others were held back by their lack of

understanding of social media marketing. The second (quantitative) study

established TAM’s general applicability by showing how perceived ease of use

influenced SME retailers’ attitudes toward implementing social media marketing

during the COVID-19 crisis. According to both studies, the level of education of

business owners influences their perceptions of social media marketing.

89
 Entrepreneurs demonstrate their ability to innovate by implementing survival

strategies for managing the impact of a crisis on their business, such as marketing

innovation through alternative promotion or pricing (Naidoo, 2010), alternative

distribution channels (Yu-Lian, 2008), product reengineering, and the use of low-

cost, high-impact online campaigns (Bourletidis & Triantafyllopoulos, 2014).

Insights and Realizations after all the experiences in the lockdown

The small and medium business owners shared their insights and realizations after

all the experiences in life relevant to having to experience the effects of the

pandemic. Out of the responses, themes were drawn out. These are having

patience and perseverance, having faith in yourself, being prepared, passionate,

grinding for success and being reverent in tough times. In today’s world, all

entrepreneurs realize that business management and networks are inextricably

linked to a company’s survival and success. When questioned about their most

essential changing capability, most entrepreneurs underlined the importance of

maintaining a large network for pandemic growth. Customers seek out brands about

90
which they are passionate and have some sort of connection. Small businesses

have the advantage of combining with other businesses to create something new.

Entrepreneurs have stated that they have hired some contract employees to deal

with the uncertainty of the times. Financial stability is critical for small enterprises.

Due to cash flow issues, they do not have much financial flexibility at the moment.

These hard realities were known to all entrepreneurs.Before the coronavirus, the

entrepreneurs in the research were already on the market and knew who their

customers were.

This lockdown, combined with their different social and cultural status, allows them

to engage with their staff and customers in unexpected ways.(Rashid and Ratten,

2020)

Goals and dream for business owners

The business owners shared plans and dreams in life. Out of the responses, three

(3)themes were drawn out. These are: Chase dreams, grow and flourish, and

Continue it throughout difficulties. It’d be useful to learn more about how SMEs deal

with sustainability issues (Hind et al. 2013). In terms of change in general, SMEs

are said to have a number of traits that thwart their efforts to become more

sustainable (Jennings and Beaver 1997; Hamann et al. 2009). For example, it is

well acknowledged that SMEs frequently lack the resources (money, time, and

91
human capital) to undertake the desired sustainability-related adjustments inside

their organizations (Van Gils 2005; Bos-Brouwers 2010). (Lee 2008). Because they

frequently adopt a firefighting management style, they lack the knowledge, skills,

and expertise necessary to pursue the long-term strategic transformation required

to create sustainability (Laverty 2004). (Ates and Bititci 2011). Furthermore, SMEs

are expected to change.Furthermore, change inside SMEs is thought to be

managed in a very personalized manner, as the organization’s vision, mission, and

goals are heavily influenced by the intentions and behaviors of the business owner

(Beaver and Prince 2004; Moore and Manring 2009).

As a result, in SMEs, change is frequently perceived as implicit (Bergman et al.

2006), or even as "a process marked by reactive, short-term oriented, incremental

behavior” (Ates and Bititci 2011, p. 5603).However, given growing customer

pressure on SMEs to embrace environmental sustainability (Miles and Covin 2000;

Masurel 2007; Williams and Schaefer 2013), as well as the need for innovative

responses and new product development (Hanna and Walsh 2002), SMEs must

embrace sustainability-related change to remain competitive (Zhang et al. 2006;

Klewitz and Hansen 2014).

92
Implications for Practice

On the experiences of researchers in conducting their SME’s research, there were

five essential themes generated: State of business before the Pandemic, Impact of

the pandemic to small and medium enterprises, Different Coping Mechanism in

dealing the Challenges encountered during the pandemic, Insights and Realizations

after all the experiences in the pandemic, Goals and dreams for business.

The results of these experiences imply that these proprietor-patron are doing their

responsibilities despite the numerous challenges they encountered along their way.

Their frustrations are acceptable, given that there are concerns needed to be

addressed, may they be personal-related, tradesman-related, participant-related, or

institution-related challenges. However, the Local Government Units can give these

concerns attention for the continuity and development. Furthermore, it can be

gleaned from the results that small business owners are struggling with both

personal factors and the factors they do not have hold into.

Concerning this, such problems can be addressed by further strengthening the

existing laws and conducting initiatives to bridge the challenges faced by the

concerned groups of people. These can be in the way of memorandums and

orders, which will necessitate cities and municipalities to conduct various seminars

93
and suggestions to the SME’s. Nonetheless, the findings of this study will serve as

an eye-opener to both local and national policymakers to continually provide

support to the concerning minorities

Implication for Future Research

In as much as this study is bounded only to the small business owners in New

Bataan, Davao De Oro, the following researches are highly recommended:

First, since the findings of this study are not generalizable beyond ten participants,

future research may be conducted on challenges of small and medium business

owners conduct with another set of participants and a higher number of participants

to strengthen the validity of this study’s findings.

Second, future research may be conducted in other places and regions outside

Region XI or Davao de Oro to add more data from other small and medium

enterprises in the Philippines. This is also one way of enriching the existing issue.

94
 Third, future research may also be conducted on what other factors or experiences

of micro enterprises in New Bataan through quantitative studies.

The findings of this study were collated from the collective experiences of SME’s.

Further research may also be conducted through both groups—the business

owners and the clients.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

Based on the data we have gathered, different experiences of business owners in small

business enterprise were explored and unfold. They have shared their struggles,

inspirations, coping mechanism, insights and their dreams in life.

As researchers, we were able to explore untold stories and experiences of those

entrepreneurs out there battling the big impact that the pandemic brought to our country.

We were moved as we got to see the pain and hopes in their eyes as they share their lived

experiences. Coping from such unnecessary is not that easy. There are many adversities as

they face the demands of life. Their longing normal market system and protocols affects

their behavior and even the goals that they want to achieve for their business. This is

something that LGUs and other agencies must take into account. Thus, a regular visit and

95
conversation with business counselor or adviser must be done to help monitor those

business owners out there that needs guidance and help.

Family is an essential part of our economy of however, struggling entrepreneurs

nowadays are common but it does not mean that it is fine to conform to it. We believe that to

causegiving up because of the negative effects of covid is a choice for you can either fight

for your business or give up. To end up into a business shutting down of the choice made.

Further, it is important to guide SME owners and teach them the value and importance of

having knowledges on how to handle business in uncertainties and it can be done through

series of talks and activities that foster methods and ways of coping.

These can have great impacts on their business being sustainable and still continuing to

give them income throughout unexpected situation.

We believe that this study would enable to educate and open the minds of the business

authorities out there and other people around on their view on SME owners from who

experienced a ups and downs during the pandemic. Understanding and sympathy would

take place.

96
 REFERENCES

Ahmad, SZ, Jabeen, F, Khan, M (2014) Entrepreneurs choice in business venture:

motivations for choosing home-stay accommodation businesses in Peninsular Malaysia.

International Journal of Hospitality Management 36: 31–40.

Altheide, D, Coyle, M, DeVriese, K, et al.(2008) Emergent qualitative document

analysis. In: Hesse-Biber, SN, Leavy, P (eds) Handbook of Emergent Methods. New

York, NY: Guilford Press, 127–151.

Ayala, JC, Manzano, G (2014) The resilience of the entrepreneur. Influence on the success

of the business. A longitudinal analysis. Journal of Economic Psychology 42: 126–135.

Baum, T, Hai, NTT (2020) Hospitality, tourism, human rights and the impact of COVID-

19. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management 32(7): 2397–2407.

Biggs, D, Hall, CM, Stoeckl, N (2012) The resilience of formal and informal tourism

enterprises to disasters: reef tourism in Phuket, Thailand. Journal of Sustainable Tourism

97
20(5): 645–665.

Braun, V, Clarke, V (2006) Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in

Psychology 3(2): 77–101.

Brinkmann, S, Kvale, A (2015) Interviews: Learning the Craft of Qualitative Research

Interviewing. 3rd Edition. Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications.

Cai, G, Xu, L, Gao, W (2021) The green Band B promotion strategies for tourist loyalty:

surveying the restart of Chinese national holiday travel after COVID-19. International

Journal of Hospitality Management 94: 102704.

Chadwick, IC, Raver, JL (2020) Psychological resilience and its downstream effects for

business survival in nascent entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice 44(2):

233–255.

Conz, E, Magnani, G (2020) A dynamic perspective on the resilience of firms: a systematic

literature review and a framework for future research. European Management Journal 38(3):

98
400–412.

Barro, R. J., J. F. Ursúa, and J. Weng (2020, March). The coronavirus and the great

influenza pandemic: Lessons from the “Spanish flu” for the coronavirus’s potential effects on

mortality and economic activity. Working Paper 26866, National Bureau of Economic

Research.

Bazerman, Max and Donald Moore (1994). “Judgment in Managerial Decision Making”

Wiley Publishing.

Bloom, N., Eifert, B., Mahajan, A., McKenzie, D., & Roberts, J. (2013). Does management

matter? Evidence from India. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 128(1), 1-51.

Garrett, T. A. (2007). Economic Effects of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Implications for a

Modern-Day Pandemic. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

Garrett, T. A. (2008). Pandemic economics: the 1918 influenza and its modern-day

implications. Review 90(Mar), 74–94.

99
Parsa, H. G., Self, J. T., Njite D., and King, T. (2005) Why restaurants fail. Cornell Hotel and

Restaurant Administration Quarterly, 46(3), 304-322.

10
 APPENDICES

Appendix A. Interview Guide

CREST AND VALLEYS OF BUSINESSES:

A CASE STUDY OF SMEs IN NEW

BATAAN

INTERVIEW GUIDE

1. What experiences did the informants have in their business in the arrival of

pandemic?

1.1. How would you describe your business before pandemic?

1.2. What are your unforgettable experience in your business during the

pandemic?

2. What were the challenges encountered on business by the informants during

pandemic.

2.1. What challenges have you encountered in your getting customer on the

effects of pandemic?

3. How did the informants cope with the challenges brought by the pandemic to

their business?

3.1. How did you cope up with the challenges you encountered relating to your

business?

10
4. Based on experiences what insights did the informants gain and what realizationdid

they arrive at?

4.1. What are your insights and realization after going through all your business

experience in the pandemic?

4.2. Despite what you have been through, what are your plans and dream for

your business?

Appendix B. Documentations

10
 CURICULUM VITAE

JOANNA BRIZ
Address: Prk 1A Village, Brgy Cabinuangan New Bataan Davao de Oro
Birthdate: December 15 , 2003
Cellphone #: 09774546674
Education:
Elementary
Magugpo Pilot Central Elementary School

Secondary:
New Bataan National High School

10
 MAYLENE A. SURALTA
Address: Purok 9 , Pagsilaan , Andap , New Bataan , Davao de Oro
Birthdate: May 27, 2004
Cellphone #: 09489929986
Education
Elementary
Cabinuangan Central Elementary School

Secondary
New Bataan National High School

10
 KIMBERLY JOY GARCIA

Address: Purok 4 , Cabinuangan, New Bataan , Davao de Oro

Birthdate: December 08, 2003
Cellphone #: 00460351409
Education
:
Elementary:
Cabinuangan Central Elementary School

Secondary:
New Bataan National High School

10
 IVAN REY P. TABINO
Address: Purok 14, Andap , New bataan, Davao de Oro
Birthdate: November 18 2003
Cellphone #:09057639319
Education
Elementary
Cabinuangan Central Elementary School
Secondary
New Bataan National high school

10
 GODVIR A. OGABANG
Address: Purok 3a , Cabinuangan, New Bataan , Davao de Oro
Birthdate: March 26, 2004
Cellphone #: 09383147073
Education
Elementary
Cabinuangan Central Elementary School
Secondary
New Bataan National high school

10
 KLARCK JAEROS ADAJAR
Address: Purok 4a , Cabinuangan, New Bataan , Davao de Oro
Birthdate: November 19, 2003
Cellphone #: 09106490169
Education
Elementary
Cabinuangan Central Elementary School
Secondary
New Bataan National high school

10
 CHRISTIAN MIGUEL BALUCA
Address: Purok 2 , Poblacion Crossing Garcia, Compostela Davao de Oro
Birthdate: October 08, 2003
Cellphone #: 09098269215
Education
Elementary
Pedro S. Garcia Elementary School
Secondary
New Bataan National high school

10
 JOHN LLOYD CANASTRA
Address: Purok 4a, New Bataan , Davao de Oro
Birthdate: June 10, 2004
Education
Elementary
Cabinuangan Central Elementary School
Secondary

New Bataan National high school

11
 JETHRONE C. GUILLAR
Address: Purok 3 , Crossing Panag , New Bataan , Davao de Oro
Birthdate November 9 2003
Cellphone #: 09094100530
Education
Elementary
Cogonon elementary school
Secondary

New Bataan National high school

11
 JOHN MARK F. CANOY
Address: Purok 9 , Cabinuangan, New Bataan, Davao de Oro
Birthdate: February 28, 2004
Cellphone #: 09068020479
Education
Elementary
Cabinuangan Central Elementary School
Secondary
New Bataan National high school

11
 CLARENCE PEÑAFLOR
Address: Purok 11, Panag , New Bataan, Davao de Oro
Birthdate: May 06, 2003
Cellphone #: 09531371869
Education
Elementary
Cogonon , Integrated School
Secondary
New Bataan National high school

11