The SM Group plans to continue investing in the country amid the economy’s sustained upward momentum, SM Investments Corp. vice chairman Teresita Sy-Coson said Tuesday.
“Our group believes the Philippine market is still growing and we will go where the market wants us to be”•brick and mortar, virtual or online or omni-channel. We will continue to give our customers the wide array of choices, and many options of services. We will continue to improve our customer service every year,” Sy-Coson said in her acceptance speech as ‘Management Man of the Year’ awardee from the Management Association of the Philippines.
Sy-Coson, chairman of BDO Unibank Inc., said as the SM Group continued to grow, the communities where its businesses were located would also grow by employing local people and working closely with local providers of goods and services, small and medium enterprises, local government units and public institutions.
The eldest child of tycoon Henry Sy said the group’s organization, across across all businesses, was geared toward good customer relationships to all level of customers and maintaining good community relationships.
“We make sure our goods and services are reasonably priced and generally affordable. Our malls are meeting places for families and friends. The residences are affordable options for city living. While we serve mostly the mid-market, we also offer some aspirational or even premium leisure products for the discerning upmarket too like Aura, shopping, Tagaytay Highlands, and Conrad and Radisson hotels,” Sy-Coson said.
“BDO and China Bank follow the same market strategy. BDO serves a large segment of the mid-market, large corporates, consumers and even microfinance clients,” she said.
Sy-Coson recognized her father, also the Management Man of Year awardee in 1999, for constantly guided her in running the business in order for the company to “My dad has always constantly told me: Should you be lacking in core competence in any endeavor we undertake, we should work extra hours and work harder to speed up and catch up with our colleagues in the business world. I learned how to keep up the pace when doing business with men who have wider business exposure. I was guided constantly by my dad, my late husband, and my four brothers, who all helped me along,” Sy-Coson said.
“It took us a long time to understand my dad’s drives and his teachings. We learned a lot though, amidst all the arguments, hard feelings and complaints. We could not understand then why our lives and our discussion are all about business. When we think we did something right and expected his congratulations, he would just say ‘not bad’ but thought that we could do better. But we now see the wisdom of his demanding character. In the past few years, my siblings and I continue to grow and enhance the business based on his guidance and principles of business leadership,” she said.