UNIVERSITY OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION
Fr. Selga St., Davao City
Philippines
THE FIVE COMPETITIVE FORCES THAT SHAPE STRATEGY
Of DAVAO CITY NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
INTRODUCTION
Accompanying the technological revolution of the 1990s, there are many new opportunities and challenges for secondary schools to contend with. Demands for contemporary education have seemingly grown at a rapid pace.
Public schools are not spared from these demands and competition prompting the Department of Education (DepEd) to instigate measures that will answer such pressure.
School managers concentrate single-mindedly on their direct rivals in the fight for market share, or students’ enrolment in the case of schools. They fail to notice other elements in the competitive environment, which often offer disastrous results.
The essence of strategy formulation is coping with competition. Yet it is easy to view competition too narrowly and too pessimistically. While one sometimes hears executives complaining to the contrary, intense competition in an industry is neither coincidence nor bad luck. In the fight for market share, competition is not manifested only on the other players. Rather, completion in an industry is rooted in its underlying economics, and competitive forces exists that go well beyond the established combatants in a particular industry. Customers, suppliers, potential entrants and substitute products are all competitors that may be more or less prominent or active depending on the industry.
The state of competition in an industry depends on five basic forces. The collective strength of these forces determines the ultimate profit potential of an industry. Whatever their collective strength, the corporate strategist’s goal is to find a position in the industry where his company can best defend itself against these forces or can influence them in its favor. The collective strength of the forces may be painfully apparent to all the antagonists; but to cope with them, the strategist must delve below the surface and analyze the sources of each. For instance, what makes the industry vulnerable to entry? What determines the bargaining power of the suppliers?
Knowledge of these underlying sources of competitive pressure provides the groundwork for a strategic agenda of action. They highlight the critical strengths and weaknesses of the company, animate the positioning of the company in its industry, clarify the areas where strategic changes may yield the greatest payoff, and highlight the places where industry trends promise to hold the greatest significance as either opportunities or threats.
Education will be fundamentally different in the next millennium. Current pressures—new technology, shifting demographics, rising costs, and changing workforce needs among them—will drive change, although just which direction the industry will go is unclear.
THE IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION
Education in the Philippines evolved from early settlers to the present. Education in the country is in great importance because it is the primary avenue for upward social and economic mobility. Philippine educational system has a very deep history from the past in which it has undergone several stage of development going to the present system of education.
Philippine education is patterned after the American system, with English as the medium of instruction. Schools are classified into public (government) or private (non-government). The general pattern of formal education follows four stages: Pre-primary level (nursery, kindergarten and preparatory) offered in most private schools; six years of primary education, followed by four years of secondary education.
College education usually takes four, sometimes five and in some cases as in medical and law schools, as long as eight years. Graduate schooling is an additional two or more years. Classes in Philippine schools start in June and end in March. Colleges and universities follow the semestral calendar from June-October and November-March. There are a number of foreign schools with study programs similar to those of the mother country. An overall literacy rate was estimated at 95.9 percent for the total population in 2003, 96 % for males and 95.8 % for females.
Secondary school in the Philippines, more commonly known as "high school" (Filipino: paaralang sekundarya, sometimes mataas na paaralan), consists of four levels largely based on the American schooling system as it was until the advent of the comprehensive high schools in the US in the middle of last century. The Philippine high school system has not moved much from where it was when the Philippines achieved independence from the US in 1946. It still consists of only four levels with each level partially compartmentalized, focusing on a particular theme or content.
DepEd specifies a compulsory curriculum for all high schooling, public and private. The first year of high school has five core subjects, Algebra I, Integrated Science, English I, Filipino I, and Philippine History I. Second year has Algebra II, Biology, English II, Filipino II, and Asian History. Third year has Geometry, Trigonometry, Chemistry, Filipino III, and World History and Geography. Fourth year has Calculus, Advanced Algebra, Physics, Filipino IV, Literature, and Economics. Minor subjects may include Health, Music, Arts, Technology and Home Economics, and Physical Education.
In selective schools, various languages may be offered as electives, as well as other subjects such as computer programming and literary writing. Chinese schools have language and cultural electives. Preparatory schools usually add some business and accountancy courses, while science high schools have biology, chemistry, and physics at every level.
Secondary students used to sit for the National Secondary Achievement Test (NSAT), which was based on the American SAT, and was administered by DepEd. Like its primary school counterpart, NSAT was phased-out after major reorganizations in the education department. Now the National Achievement Test is administered to second year students. Higher education institutions, both public and private, administer their own College Entrance Examinations (CEE). Vocational colleges usually do not have entrance examinations, simply accepting the Form 138 record of studies from high school, and enrolment payment.
The Department of Education proposes an additional two years of compulsory education, that, is called K+12 program. This program has been criticized by parents of students in kindergarten (that is expected to enter the grades 11 and 12) because it may be expensive and 'only an impediment to the students'. But the government wanted to continue this program amid of these complaints, because 'it will improve the quality of education and improve the literacy rate in the country'.
POLITICAL AND LEGAL ASPECT
Many laws have been passed relative to the provision of education in the Philippines. The most recent law was passed in August 2001. This was Republic Act No. 9155, otherwise called the Governance of Basic Education Act. This law states the goal of basic education, which is the provision of skills, knowledge and values to the school age population and young adults, for them to become caring, self-reliant, productive and patriotic citizens.
Filipinos have deep regard to for education. Education occupies a central place in Philippine political, economic social and cultural life. It has always been strongly viewed as a pillar of national development and a primary avenue for social and economic mobility.
A clear evidence of the value placed on education is the proportion of the national government budget going to the sector. The Department of Education (DepEd), the country’s biggest bureaucracy is given the highest budget allocation among government agencies each year as required by the 1987 Philippine Constitution.
The 1987 Constitution likewise guarantees the right to education for every Filipino. It provided that, the “State shall protect and promote the right of all citizens to quality education at all levels and shall take appropriate steps to make education accessible to all”.
The right of every Filipino to quality basic education is further emphasized in Republic Act 9155 or the Governance of Basic Education Act of 2001. Along with Republic Act 6655 or the Free Secondary Education Act, these laws reaffirm the policy of the State to protect and promote the rights of all Filipinos by providing children free and compulsory education in the elementary and high school level. This pertains to six years of free tuition fees for children aged 6 to 11, and free four years of secondary schooling for those aged 12 to 15.
Along with “Education for All”, the Philippines is also committed to pursue eight time-bound and specific targets under the Millennium Declaration which it signed on September 2000. The Declaration, in general, aims to reduce poverty by half in 2015 (22.65 percent proportion of the population below poverty incidence and 12.15 percent below subsistence incidence by 2015). With the adoption of the Declaration, the Philippines likewise affirmed its commitment to the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) geared towards reducing poverty, hunger, diseases, illiteracy, environmental degradation and discrimination against women. These goals have been mainstreamed in the country’s Medium Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP) 2004-2010 including policies and plans related to children, access to primary education and gender equality. Specifically, Part IV of the MTPDP focused on “Education and Youth Opportunity.”
However, despite the legal mechanisms, budget prioritization and increased access, Philippine education has been dogged with issues. Among the issues that needs to be resolved but have improved lately include the high dropout rates, high number of
repeaters, low passing grades, lack of particular language skills, failure to adequately
respond and address the needs of people with special needs, overcrowded classrooms and poor teacher performances. These problems in turn resulted to a considerable number of illiterate Filipinos and out of school youths and graduates who are not prepared for work.
THE PHILIPPINE EDUCATION STRUCTURE
The Philippine education system includes both formal and non-formal education. The formal education is a sequential progression of academic schooling at three levels:
elementary (grade school), secondary (high school) and tertiary (college and graduate levels). By structure, Philippine education is categorized either as basic (preschool, elementary and high school) or tertiary (college, graduate and technical/vocational).
Basic education pertains to optional preschool at age 3 to 5, then six years of elementary schooling for aged 6 to 11, and four years of secondary schooling for aged 12 to 15. Excluding early childhood care and development (ECCD) or preschool, Philippine formal basic education subsystem is one of the shortest in the Asia Pacific with just 10 years of basic schooling compared with 11 to 12 years in other countries.
Basic education is being handled by the DepEd while college is under the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and vocational/technical and non-degree training under the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), which is under the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). TESDA runs a variety of skills development centers throughout the country. Although being overseen by CHED, local colleges, however, are being operated by local governments as indicated in the local government code.
DepEd also handles the alternative learning system (ALS) for out-of-school youths and adults through its Bureau of Alternative Learning System (formerly Bureau of Non-formal Education). Islamic educational institutions or Madaris (plural of Madrasah) are also under the jurisdiction of DepEd, although most operate independently of each other and exist without passing through the standardization process. Most madaris are privately-owned and rely on the support of the local community or donors.
THE EDUCATION FOR ALL
In 1990, there was a World Declaration on Education for All (EFA) in Jomtiem, Thailand, which prescribed that Basic Learning Needs shall be met for all by various means. As a response, the Philippines crafted and implemented the 10-year EFA Philippine Plan of Action covering 1991-2000. The EFA plan articulated the country’s national goals, objectives, policies and strategies, as well as the regional programs for implementation for the first decade of the EFA movement. Under the 1991-2000 Plan (EFA 1), the thrusts included:
§ Early Childhood Development
§ Expansion of self-sustaining community-based ECCD
§ Use of innovative approaches to parent education
§ Promotion of preparatory education
§ Accreditation of private pre-school programs and institutions
§ Differentiated approaches for special categories of children
§ Strengthening of health, nutrition and other allied services
§ Socio-cultural adaptation of curriculum, materials and approaches
§ Single agency to coordinate programs for ECCD
§ Universalization of Quality Primary Education
§ Enhancing the holding power or student retention of schools
§ Using alternative teaching-learning delivery modes
§ Strengthening home-school partnership
§ Emphasis on higher-level thinking skills
§ Upgrading teacher competencies
In 2000, the Philippines, as a reaffirmation of the vision set in the 1990 World Declaration, committed itself to the following EFA 2015 Goals at the World Education Forum in Dakar:
Goal 1: Expand and improve comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children;
Goal 2: Ensure that by 2015, all children, particularly girls, children in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to complete free and compulsory primary education of good quality;
Goal 3: Ensure that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life skills programs;
Goal 4: Achieve a 50 percent improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2105, especially for women and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults;
Goal 5: Eliminate gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2015, with focus on ensuring girls full and equal access to and achievement in basic education of good quality; and
Goal 6: Improve every aspect of the quality of education, and ensure their excellence so that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills.
The Governance of Basic Education Act of 2001 (Republic Act 9155) provides the legal basis for the decentralization of basic education management and governance to the level closest to the learners – the school and community. The DepEd started the adoption of policy on Principal Empowerment in mid-1990s when some of the administrative and instructional supervision functions of the divisions were delegated
to school heads. The said reform produced improved learning outcomes in several schools as a result of delegating some decision-making functions to the principals. However, this development was short-lived and not sustained in some schools.
When the empowered school heads were assigned to other areas, the capabilities of the entire school system had not yet been fully developed, thus it had not been able to sustain whatever improvements started.
Projects were also implemented to build the capacities of the different levels, particularly the schools and the division offices. DepEd implemented the Third Elementary Education Project (TEEP) and the Secondary Education Development and Improvement Project. Both projects were financed through loans from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Japan Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC). These projects covered the identified poorest provinces nationwide under the government’s Social Reform Agenda. Specific support provided to the schools and divisions under the two projects were for the implementation of school-based management (i.e., training on the preparation and implementation of a school Improvement plan, resource mobilization and management) and putting in place a decentralized basic education management system at the division level. The projects also supported initiatives to build the capacity of the division office in strategic planning, monitoring and evaluation and financial management.
The Third Elementary Education Project piloted the direct provision of school-based resources, especially to selected elementary schools. At present, only a few public elementary schools are directly receiving their maintenance and other operating
expenses allocation from the national government. DepEd’s current policy is for the Schools Division Superintendents to decide whether to release the budget to elementary schools either in cash or in kind. In most cases, schools receive their respective allocation in kind which may not even be the items they actually need. On the other hand, majority of the public sec ondary schools are directly receiving their allocation from the national government through their own school accounts.
Regional offices were not included when the TEEP started in the mid-90s, because at that time there was no clear policy on the specific roles of the regional offices insofar as decentralization is concerned. There was even a proposal to dissolve he regional offices. RA 9155, however, specifically provides that the main function of the regional offices is quality assurance. They are mandated to monitor and evaluate the performance of all schools within their jurisdiction and provide technical support to divisions and selected schools which are lagging behind in key outcome indicators. Together with the project Basic Education Assistance for Mindanao (BEAM), the 7 TEEP and the Secondary Education Development and Improvement Project provided interventions that aim to develop and strengthen the capacity of the regional offices as the “inspectorates” of the entire DepEd system.
The support of the TEEP, Secondary Education Development and Improvement Project and BEAM paved the way for the application of School-Based Management in a number of schools nationwide as well as the strengthening of basic education management systems in selected divisions. But full decentralization has yet to effect.
Systemic approach is called for so that the whole DepEd, including the regional and central offices will be supportive of the reform. Currently, the capacity of the entire DepEd system to support full decentralization is perceived to be weak as it still lacks
human, material and financial resources to push the implementation of School-Based Management on a larger scale and eventually cover all public schools nationwide. Right now, the challenge is how to expand the EFA networks at the sub-national and local levels.
In terms of financing EFA, worth noting is the substantial contributions of other basic education stakeholders in implementing various basic education programs/projects/initiatives. The Special Education Fund of the LGUs and the resources of the private sector through the Adopt-A-School Program are making a difference in terms of improving learning outcomes in selected schools. However, there is still much to be desired in the appropriate use of resources, particularly the Special Education Fund as a big portion is allocated to fund non-academic activities.
The increasing gross enrolment rate in early childhood education programs by both public and private schools in recent years can be attributed to the implementation of the Early Childhood Care and Development Act or Republic Act No. 8980. Signed on
December 5, 2000, the law is considered a landmark in the country’s education history as it provides the national policy that institutionalizes an integrated and comprehensive system of early childhood care and development. It also serves as the blueprint for the country’s entire program for children 0 to 6 years old. The policy takes on a holistic approach to bring about optimum development of children through convergence of health, nutrition, psychosocial stimulation and early education programs and services aimed at giving children good health and nutrition, appropriate early education, love and protection from harm at home, center and in the school. The law also mandates the est ablishment of coordinating mechanisms at the national and local levels to ensure sustained multi-sectoral collaboration. This is a significant shift from the earlier piecemeal or fragmented delivery of ECCD services.
Anchored on the Dakar Framework for Action on EFA and following the heels of the Philippine EFA 2000 Plan, the country came up with the Philippine EFA 2015 National Action Plan. Like what the MTPDP does to the economy, the current EFA is the overarching framework for basic education. It was guided by a review of previous studies, similar undertakings and a series of consultations with various stakeholders.
Technical Working Groups, each covering a major area of concern such as: Early Childhood Care and Development; Formal Education; Alternative Learning System; Governance; and Financing were formed to help in the crafting of the EFA 2015 Plan.
The EFA 2015 Plan emphasizes the need to provide basic education for all and add a dimension to what has been thus far almo st exclusively school-based education. It points to an “urgent need to respond to the learning needs of youth and adults are
either have never been to school, have dropped out, reverted to illiteracy, or need basic or advanced skills to find jobs.” It suggests a “viable alternative learning system” to formal schooling that together with the schools can ensure that “minimum learning achievement will be a reality for all Filipinos.” Thus, the EFA 2015 Plan emphasizes that educational opportunities are channels of learning which can become effective conduits of values orientation, consciousness and information useful and relevant to a wide range of social goals.
The Department of Education started the planning process for EFA 2015 Plan in
2002 and it took three years to complete. A DepEd undersecretary served as EFA National Coordinator for the multi-sectoral technical working group working on the plan. The delay in the completion and adoption of the Plan did not hinder the country from continuously implementing programs, projects and initiatives that are supportive of the EFA goals and targets. Through the long and extensive planning process, the partnership among the different basic education stakeholders was expanded and strengthened.
From 2000-2005. Before the official adoption of the Philippine EFA 2015 Plan, the existing Social Development Committee (SDC) lodged at the National Economic and
Development Authority (NEDA) was used as the structure and mechanism to engage various sectors in the discussion of EFA-related concerns at the policy and program levels. The Committee is composed of various government agencies in-charge of the social sector, including education. The limitation of the said structure is the non-representation of local governments, NGOs and civil society organizations. At the sub-national levels, the Regional Development Council-Social Development Committee (RDC-SDC) is the regional counterpart while the Local Schools Boards at the provincial, city and municipal levels are the structure that served as the EFA forum. The Local Schools Boards also serve as an advisory committee to the LGU on educational matters such as the use of local appropriations and to determine the annual supplementary budget for basic education within their locality.
From 2006 onwards. After the completion of the Philippine EFA 2015 Plan, the country adopted a new EFA structure for better coordination and implementation. The current National EFA Committee is chaired by the Secretary of Education and co-chaired by the Education Network represented by members from the civil society. The National EFA Committee has the following functions: a) national coordination; b) policy-making; c) social mobilization and advocacy; d) resource mobilization; e) preparation/ updating of annual national targets; f) monitoring and evaluation and; g) overseeing the creation and operation of sub-national alliances. Backstopping the Committee is the National EFA Secretariat.
Other members of the Committee include the CHED, TESDA, DOH, DSWD, NEDA,
Basic Education Committees of Congress (Senate and House of Representatives), Council for the Welfare of Children, Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Budget and Management (DBM), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), DOLE, Department of Science and Technology (DOST), National Anti-Poverty Council (NAPC), National Youth Council (NYC), Office of Muslim Affairs (OMA), Philippine Information Agency (PIA), Southeast ASEAN Ministers of Education Center for Innovation Technology (SEAMEO-INNOTECH), Union of Local Authorities in the Philippines (ULAP), and the UN Commission in the Philippines. A Memorandum of Agreement was executed to obtain the commitment of each partner agency which stipulates each one’s roles and responsibilities in attaining the EFA goals and targets.
One of the urgent and critical tasks of the Philippine Education For All 2015 Plan is the continuous monitoring and assessment of the country’s progress in the attainment of the EFA goals and targets and the efforts of various stakeholders to implement EFA. The results of the monitoring and evaluation exercise will be used for policy reformulation; planning and programming; and program/project redesigning at different levels. As articulated in the BESRA Program Implementation Plan (2006 version), one of the priority areas is the establishment of a quality assurance and accountability framework. The DepEd initiated the following to achieve this objective:
§ Formulation and validation of the Sector Monitoring and Evaluation Framework. This will be used as basis for tracking progress in attaining the EFA goals and targets and in monitoring the contribut ions of stakeholders (DepEd, other government agencies, LGUs, NGOs and the private sector) to EFA implementation;
§ Revision of DepEd’s Organizational Performance Indicator Framework to capture recent developments and emerging priorities in the Department which are not reflected in the BESRA (i.e., technical and vocational education). The Framework is being promoted for use by government agencies to determine priority expenditures, assess accomplishments, identify targets and report results; and
§ Organization and initial training of Regional and Division EFA Monitoring and Evaluation Teams in 17 regions and 187 divisions nationwide. The major function of the teams is to conduct system monitoring and evaluation at their respective levels to aid planning, policy reformulation, project designing and implementation, and continuous assessment of the progress and gaps in the attainment of the goals and targets set in the EFA 2015 Plan. The initial training conducted by DepEd was on basic principles and tools on monitoring and evaluation. Major outputs of the training were the draft Regional EFA Assessment Reports covering the period 2000-2005 which served as inputs to the Country EFA Mid-Decade Assessment Exercise. Aside from the global EFA Mid-Decade Assessment guidelines, the country used the Sector Monitoring and Evaluation Framework as its guide.
The Philippine EFA Mid-Decade Assessment is responding to both the monitoring and evaluation thrusts of the country as well as the Global EFA Movement. The global report provides a chart showing how countries around the world are measured against four criteria: universal primary education, adult literacy, the quality of education and gender parity. Unesco reported that steady progress has been made in all criteria but the pace may not be sufficient for the EFA goals to be met by 2015 especially in many African countries.
Thus the assessment exercise is to gauge the progress the country has so far made in its commitments. The assessment exercise is part of the regular activities of the DepEd and is coordinated by the National EFA Secretariat which is an organic unit in DepEd. The review process started from the initial capacity-building of DepEd Regional and Division monitoring and evaluation teams. The process adopted the “learning by doing” approach to build the monitoring and evaluation capabilities of the organizational staff. Subsequently, the DepEd consolidated the regional reports and came-up with the Consolidated EFA Assessment Report which covers mainly its services/programs/projects and their outcomes.
The assessment process involved other members of the National EFA Committee tocapture the contributions of other basic education stakeholders in the implementation of EFA. The Council for the Welfare of Children which is the secretariat of the Early Childhood Care and Development Council is mainly responsible for analyzing the performance of the Early Childhood Education sub-sector, particularly the status of services for 3-4 years old children. The Education Network, on the other hand, contributed to the analysis of the Alternative Learning System and undertook a Case Study on the Children Working in a Sugar Cane Hacienda in Sipalay, Negros Occidental. DepEd tapped partner donors to accelerate the preparation and finalization of the report. UNICEF provided financial assistance for regional, national, sub-national consultations and validation workshops. The final draft of the Assessment Report is then presented to the National EFA Committee for final review and endorsement to the NEDA–Social Development Committee, Cabinet Level for approval.
THE ECONOMY OF EDUCATION
According to the human capital theory, the economic development of a nation is a function of the quality of its education. In other words: the more and better educated a people, the greater the chances of economic development.
The modern world in which we live is often termed a "knowledge society"; education and information have become production factors potentially more valuable than labor and capital. Thus, in a globalized setting, investment in human capital has become a condition for international competitiveness.
In the Philippines, I often hear harsh criticism against the politics of globalization. At the same time, regarding the labor markets, I can hardly think of another nation that is so much a part of a globalized economy than the Philippines with nearly ten per cent of the overall population working beyond the shores of the native land.
Brain drain. Apart from the much debated political, social and psychological aspects, this ongoing mass emigration constitutes an unparalleled brain drain with serious economic implications.
Arguably, the phenomenon also has an educational dimension, as the Philippine society is footing the bill for the education of millions of people, who then spend the better part of their productive years abroad. In effect, the poor Philippine educational system is indirectly subsidizing the affluent economies hosting the OFWs.
With 95 per cent of all elementary students attending public schools, the educational crisis in the Philippines is basically a crisis of public education. The wealthy can easily send their offspring to private schools, many of which offer first-class education to the privileged class of pupils.
Social divide. Still, the distinct social cleavage regarding educational opportunities remains problematic for more than one reason. Historically, in most modern societies, education has had an equalizing effect. In Germany, for instance, the educational system has helped overcome the gender gap, and later also the social divide. Today, the major challenge confronting the educational system in the country I come from is the integration of millions of mostly non-European, in most cases Muslim, immigrants. Importantly, this leveling out in the context of schooling has not occurred in this part of the world. On the contrary, as one Filipino columnist wrote a while ago, "Education has become part of the institutional mechanism that divides the poor and the rich."
Let me add an ideological note to the educational debate: Liberals are often accused of standing in the way of reforms that help overcome social inequalities. While, indeed, liberals value personal freedom higher than social equality, they actively promote equality of opportunities in two distinct policy areas: education and basic heath care.
For this reason, educational reform tends to have a high ranking on the agenda of most liberal political parties in many parts of the world.
Gargantuan problems. While the DepEd very patiently and impressively charted out the four policy directions of the political leadership of his ministry (taking teachers out of elections, establishing a nationwide testing system, preserving private schools, raising subsidies for a voucher system), to me -- as a foreign observer -- these remedies sound technocratic considering, what one writer in this paper has recently termed, "the gargantuan magnitude of the problems besetting Philippine basic education."
Let me highlight two figures: Reportedly, at last count more than 17 million students are enrolled in this country's public schools.
At an annual population growth rate of 2.3 per cent, some 1.7 million babies are born every year. In a short time, these individuals will claim their share of the limited educational provisions.
"We can't build classrooms fast enough to accommodate" all these people, said the DepEd Undersecretary, who also recalled the much lamented lack of teachers, furniture and teaching materials.
In short, there are too little resources for too many students.
Two alternatives. In this situation, logically, there exist only two strategic alternatives: either, one increases the resources, which is easier said than done considering the dramatic state of public finances, or one reduces the number of students.
This second alternative presupposes a systematic population policy, aimed at reducing the number of births considerably.
But this, too, is easier said than done, considering the politics in this country -- or to quote Congressman Reyes: "Given the very aggressive and active intervention of the Church addressing the population problem is very hard to tackle."
A GLIMPSE OF THE HISTORY OF DAVAO CITY NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
The Davao City National High School first known as Davao Provincial High School had its humble beginnings in 1922, built in a nipa hut structure at Magallanes Street. It opened its door to 67 eager students with Mr. Dominador Fernandez as the Officer-in-Charge and later Mr. Adolfo Cascolan as the Principal with (3) three teachers assisting him.
On March 1, 1937, by virtue of Commonwealth Act No. 51, Davao officially became a city, the name of the school was fittingly changed to Davao City High School.
To meet the needs of the increasing enrolment, another building was constructed, but this was completely destroyed by bombs during the Japanese American war in 1946. The School, then moved to a more spacious site at Villa Abrille Street. The Principals assigned to run the school were Mr. Onofre Hipe in 1946-1948 and Mr. Pastor C. Escalante in 1948-1949. Finally in June 1950, the Davao City High School was transferred to its own building at its present site in a 62,567 sq. m. along Florentino Torres Street. The Tiongko Family donated the site. The Principals who runned the school then were Mr. Proceso G. Gabor in 1949-1953, Mr. Eugenio B. Cauilan in 1943-1946 as Officer-in-Charge and as Principal in 1953-1963, Mr. Gregorio Quiaoit in 1963-1965, Mrs. Juanita T. Domingo in 1965-1970 and Mr. Enrique Panlilio in 1970-1978.
In 1978-1990, Mrs. Angelina C. Señal became the Principal to occupy the item of a Principal IV. After her retirement, her Assistant Principal Mrs. Florie U. Marasigan got the designation to be the next Principal from 1990-1994, followed by Mr. Reynaldo C. Escaño in 1994-1996. Mr. Francisco dela Peña Jr. became the acting Principal from 1996-1999 after Mr. Reynaldo C. Escaño was transferred to General Santos City.
With the Nationalization of all Secondary Schools in the Country, Davao City High School changed its name into Davao City National High School. At present, it has 36 building, an Auditorium, and a school clinic. Rizal Shrine, Heroes Tree Park, several mini-gardens, covered path walks; new comfort rooms are just a few improvements in the school at present. The population soared to more or less 8000 students comprising 150 sections. It has 160 teachers and 32 administrative and non-teaching staff.
The school has become the Melting Pot of Secondary Education in Davao City. Students come from the different districts of the City to enrolled at Davao City National High School, primarily for free and quality education it caters.
Davao City National High School has been referred to as the premier public school in Region XI. It has been a leader school in Science, Mathematics, English and Arts. It is an avenue in implementing different trust and programs of DECS/Dep. Ed. In 1994 it implemented the Engineering and Science Education Project (ESEP) a curriculum of DOST catering students who are good in Science and Mathematics and prepare them for engineering courses. In 1997, Davao City National High School launched Ease Program (Effective, Affordable, Secondary Education). It is an alternative learning system for students who want to finish high school but cannot attend classes regularly because of their disadvantage situation. In 2002, DCNHS was one of the selected schools to offer Special Program of the Arts (S.P.A.) a national program for students who have demonstrated talents or potentials in arts such as music, dancing, visual arts, theater arts, media arts and creative writing.
CONTENDING FORCES
Porter (1980) developed the Five Force industry analysis Model, which has a theory that there are five forces that determine competition in an industry. These forces form the basic characteristics of competition in an industry. Hence the strongest competitive force determines the profitability of an industry and its importance in st rategy formulation. By far, the Five Forces Model, which forms the ba sis of this study, is the most influential and widely used framework for eval uating industry attractiveness.
Essentially, Porter (1980) postulates that ther e are five forces that typically shape the industry structure: intensity of rivalry among competitors, threat of new entrants, threat of substitutes, bargaining power of buyers, and bargaining pow er of suppliers. The five competitive forces reflect the fact the competition in an industry goes well beyond the established players. All the five forces jointly determine the intensity of industry competition and profitability, and the strongest force or forces are governing and become crucial from the point of view of strategy formulation. To establish the strategic agenda for dealing with these contending forces and to grow despite them, a company must understand how they work in the industry and how they affect the company in its particular situation (Pearce and Robinson, 1997).
The strongest competitive force or forces determine the profitability of an industry and so are of greatest importance in strategy formulation.
Different forces take on prominence, of course, in shaping competition in each industry. Every industry has an underlying structure, or a set of fundamental economic and technical characteristics, that gives rise to these competitive forces. The strategist, wanting to position his company to cope best with its industry environment or to influence that environment in the company’s favor, must learn what makes the environment tick.
This view of competition pertains equally to industries dealing in services and to those selling productions.
THE FIVE FORCES
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THREAT OF NEW ENTRANTS
Maintenance and Other Operating Expenditures (MOOE) of the school is basically based on the number of enrolment for the prevailing school year. Thus, the higher the enrolment, the high would be the MOOE. While Personnel Services (PS) allocations are based on the number of employees working in the school, MOOE would greatly depend on the number of students enrolled.
Students-Teacher Ratio is likewise a consideration, otherwise, lesser enrolment would automatically mean excess of teachers; hence, automatically giving the Schools Division Superintendent the authority to transfer teachers to schools who are short of teaching personnel.
New entrants to industry bring new capacity, the desire to gain market share and often, substantial resources. The seriousness of the threat of entry depends on the barriers present and on the reaction from existing competitors that the entrant can expect.
In the case of Davao City National High School, new entrants would be newly opened private schools, as well as its ANNEX SCHOOL in Madapo Hills, Davao City. DCNHS-Annex was opened upon the directives and orders of then Davao City Mayor, now Vice-Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte, to specifically cater residents in the Madapo Hills Areas.
However, as the school slowly gaining its ground, a number of students and parents opted to transfer to the school, taking into consideration, a huge cut in expenses in transportation.
The full operation of the DCNHS-Annex has cost us a cut in enrolment by almost 500 students, not to mention the fact that the annex has yet to offer 4th year by SY 2012 – 2013.
Brand identification creates a barrier by forcing entrants to spend heavily to overcome customer loyalty. Advertising, customer service, being first in the industry and product differences are among the factors fostering brand identification.
Needless to say, Davao City National High School has established itself as the premier public secondary school in the locality. It is a home to various pilot programs of the Department of Education and has earned its distinction through citations, awards, and recognitions in various competitions in both local and national levels.
Entrants would find it hard to match the curriculum offering of the school. However, the entrants’ potent impact would likely be focused mostly on the enrollees of the General Curriculum, which comprises 90% of the schools general enrolment.
Nevertheless, it has been proven by time that although there is a sign of decrease in the school’s enrolment, it is not significant enough to cause alarm.
The experience curve has become widely discussed as a key element of industry structure. Adherents of the experience-curve concept stress the importance of achieving market leadership; thus, having been existent of 90 years, DCNHS, although constantly threaten by entrants, at the moment, it has not been shaken.
The string of achievements and awards that the school has amassed are tangible testaments of its sincere commitment to provide education at its finest.
To date, there has been no direct threat of entrants; first and foremost, it is because of the fact that opening educational institutions, particularly public school are strictly regulated by the Department of Education.
No public high school will spring side by side, unless otherwise the existing school can no longer accommodate additional enrollees, or the other school offers new and distinct program.
The government can limit or even foreclose entry with such controls as license requirements. Government also plays a major indirect role y affecting entry barriers through controls such as safety regulations.
Threat of entry, therefore puts a cap on the profit potential of an industry.
THE POWER OF SUPPLIERS
The bargaining power of suppliers is described as the market of inputs. Suppliers of raw materials, components, labor, and services (such as expertise) to the firm can be a source of power over the firm, when there are few substitutes. Suppliers may refuse to work with the firm, or, e.g., charge excessively high prices for unique resources.
In the case of educational institutions like DCNHS, the main supplier is the Department of Education who primarily promulgates the policies and principles that govern all public educational institutions, specifically, elementary and high schools. DepEd is responsible in crafting standards and guidelines that are expected to be observed and complied.
While it may not directly mean cost on the part Davao City National High School, it is on the contrary, evident that it has affected how DCNHS serve its clienteles. Needless to say, some policies of the Department of Education (DepEd) seemed to be irrelevant and unsuitable to DCNHS. Perhaps, it could primarily be attributed that the basis of the study in the formulation of the policy may not be broad enough to cover certain factors, which they deem unnecessary are proved to be significant in certain areas and location in the country.
Let us say for instance, the NO COLLECTION POLICY that is implemented during the enrolment period hampers the efficient flow of operation of the school, as well as its expected quality of services. The NO COLLECTION POLICY only created misperception and misunderstanding among the parents of the school when in fact, another directive would be issued allowing the school and the recognized Parents Teachers Association (PTA) to start collection by July of the specific School Year (SY).
Most parents would opt not to pay PTA Fees, including those mandated by the DepEd, mainly due to the misinterpretation of the directive.
Collection of PTA dues in Davao City National High School is important as Security Guards, Utility Workers, and other important personnel are paid by the PTA. Security Guards are hired to provide better security to more than Seven Thousand (7,000) students of the school. Riots involving outsiders are seen to appear if the unnecessary entry of outsiders would not be controlled or eradicated.
Records show that a number of disturbances and unpleasant incidents involve outsiders who are either members of a gang or just simple group of outsiders who have the intention of causing disturbance.
It is therefore seen that supplier group is powerful if it is dominated by a few and is concentrated than the industry is sells to. Likewise, it is powerful if its products or services or at least differentiated, of if it has built up switching costs. And if it is not obliged to contend with other products for sale to the industry; and finally, if it poses a credible threat of integrating forward into the industry’s business as it provides a check against the industry’s ability to improve the terms on which it purchases.
To my opinion, the government has so many lapses it has to consider. I guess, centralization of certain government agencies, for the education sector for instances may not be too good.
There are so many factors that have to be taken into considerations in order to improve learning. DepEd Central Office must consider that learning outcomes are best improved if it is left to the school to decide the best strategies. The fact that human beings are unique, it likewise implies that teaching strategies and services must likewise be unique so that it could best answer specifically to the students’ concerned.
I do not say that the policies of the central office are wrong, I would just suggest that it should be flexible enough and must be willing to adapt to the changing course of the environment.
When DepEd strengthens the involvement of then PTCAs, issues regarding conflict of interest and intervention of the PTCA to the governance of the school were among the primary issues that school administrators and school managers brought to higher office.
Originally, when DepEd empowers the PTCAs, it was meant to provide check and balance. But, sad to say, that such empowerment has gone beyond their specific lines. While PTCA actions are legal and within the bounds of the directive, it has somehow, created chaos, when the acts and undertakings of the school managers are likewise legal and are within the scope of their duties.
When disorder seemed to worsen in certain schools, DepEd issued another directive, putting limits to the power of PTCA, making it only PTA, whose membership was limited only to Parents and Teachers, thereby ditching the direct involvement of the Community.
Term of Office was likewise limited to one year, eliminating dynasty in its set of officers. With 7,000 enrollees for DCNHS, an estimated 3-5 million pesos of collections annually would easily a tempting factor for officers to stay longer in office.
THE POWER OF THE BUYER
The bargaining power of customers is also described as the market of outputs: the ability of customers to put the firm under pressure, which also affects the customer's sensitivity to price changes.
While DCNHS is public secondary school, the bargaining powers of customers are somewhat different as compared to profit oriented organizations. The way buyers’ pressure DCNHS to submit to their requests and petitions are somewhat totally different in nature.
Students and parents are too aggressive in resolving certain issues, especially those involving monetary considerations. Essentiality in delivering services to students largely depend on the collections of the PTA because the school MOOE are literally enough for water and electricity consumption. Other basic services, including the maintenance of CR and the cleanliness of the campus are funded under the collection of the PTA which hired personnel for such purpose.
Buyers/clienteles of DCNHS are either monetary sensitive or much more keen on quality education. Buyers who are monetary sensitive would likely question every centavo of the collection and would somehow provoke distraction during general assembly, as well as write formal complaint to the next higher office, DepEd Davao City Division in this case. Even provided with the documents and reports during the assembly, other parents simply refuse to understand the essence of the expenditures prompting the school administration to instigate measures that will lessen the impact of the complaint. Inviting the complainant to pay only what he could best afford.
DepEd has made it clear that contributions and dues must be voluntary. But, PTA organizations, in its bid to help provide quality services has encouraged its members to pay their dues, banking on the rationale that it is for the benefit and welfare of their respective children.
On the other hand, buyers who are sensitive to quality outputs do not usually question the trail of expenditures but rather determined on the string of achievements that the school has amassed for the existing school year.
Parents whose students are enrolled in the NODE-ESEP and Special Programs of the schools will likely point out issues why the school fail to achieve certain distinctions in competitions.
Involvement of parents is such situations are somewhat hard to control because they tend to intervene the teaching strategies employed by the school. Most of these parents are too hard deal with because they usually come with a closed mind and would often insist their idea to be better than the ones utilized.
THE THREAT OF SUBSTITUTES
The issue of the threat of substitutes is always a factor which limits the profit potential of a market.
In times of economic difficulties, the threat accelerates sharply but it also represents an opportunity to help lure new customers into your market as customers’ priorities, needs and wants change.
The main issue is that the existence of substitute products and services place a ceiling on the price a market and companies with the market can sustain. Going back to the takeaway food example, the closer the price the cost of the takeaway gets to the price of a restaurant meal, the less threat it is as a substitute solution. The key issues on the threat of substitutes are the willingness of customers to switch across different products (which is often a factor of how easy it is to compare and contrast the different offerings); and the relative price/value offered by the different substitutes.
For sure, there is no substitute for education. However, there are a number of schools, both private and public institutions to which you may choose to avail of its services. Nevertheless, the government has provided a number of programs by which a certain individual may opt to take advantage of.
The Alternative Learning System (ALS) is a substitute for the High School Curriculum where an individual may opt to avail of the vocational courses that may guarantee them outright job or will propel them to undertake self-finance businesses.
The Sunday High School Program is another substitute to the regular high school curriculum. The Sunday High School Program is basically designed for working students who are interested in completing his secondary but could hardly find time to go to school on regular school days.
DCNHS has an OPEN SUNDARY HIGH SCHOOL PROGRAM which is funded and supported by the Local School Board (LSB) of the City Government of Davao City. While its clienteles are purely those considered to be working and aged not less than 15, it is not considered to be a threat to the regular enrolment of the school.
However, neighboring schools like the Rizal Memorial Colleges and Brokenshire College who offer Sunday Schools, are surely considered a threat.
The alternative on the other hand, to avail the services of private schools and other public high schools, especially when prices of crude oils pulled up the basic fare rate have lessened our enrolment. Students and parents wisely compare tuition fees and fare expenses and opted to adapt whichever they think would give them more benefits.
Education in private school, although bundled with high tuition fees may enable students and parents to save more money as compared to enrolling in Davao City National High School which entail them to provide daily fare subsistence.
When crude prices started to affect every Filipino Family in the country, quality education was never a primary concern. Filipino families would rather enrolled on the nearest educational institutions regardless of its schools’ reputation with regards to its services as an edifice of learning.
On the far end, highly educated parents would somehow choose to allocate money for the quality education of their children.
Effective differentiation will create buyer preference within a product category because it helps one product stand out as a bulls eye match between what it offers and what the customer wants.
A product that has very strong differentiation will turn competitors’ products into possible substitutes rather than direct alternatives. The threat doesn’t go away entirely but it is reduced. Customers want value for money and because this is a ratio, it can get better if:
§ The value or benefits you receive as a customer increase.
§ The price you pay reduces.
§ Value for money gets worse when the value reduces or the price increases.
§ The relative customer value between different substitutes can change because of changes in one alternative rather than the other which is why it’s important to watch what’s happening in the substitute markets.
RIVALRY AMONG EXISTING COMPETITORS
Rivalry refers to the degree to which firms respond to competitive moves of the other firms in the industry. Rivalry among existing firms may manifest itself in a number of ways- price competition, new products, increased levels of customer service, warranties and guarantees, advertising, better networks of wholesale distributors, and so on.
The degree of rivalry in and industry is a function of a number of interacting structural features:
§ Rivalry tends to intensify as the number of competitors increases and as they firms become more equal in size and capability.
§ Market rivalry is usually stronger when demand for the product is growing slowly.
§ Competition is more intense when rival firms are tempted to use price cuts or other marketing tactics to boost unit volume.
§ Rivalry is stronger when the costs incurred by customers to switch their purchases from one brand to another are low.
§ Market rivalry increases in proportion to the size of the payoff from a successful strategic move.
§ Market rivalry tends to be more vigorous when it costs more to get out of a business than to stay in and compete.
§ Rivalry becomes more volatile and unpredictable the more diverse competitors are in terms of their strategies, their personalities, their corporate priorities, their resources, and their countries of origin.
§ Rivalry increases when strong companies outside the industry acquire weak firms in the industry and lunch aggressive, well-funded moves to transform their newly-acquired firms into major market contenders.
Two principles of competitive rivalry are particularly important: (1) a powerful competitive strategy used by one company intensifies competitive pressures on the other companies, and (2) the manner in which rivals employ various competitive weapons to try to outmaneuver one another shapes "the rules of competition" in the industry and determines the requirements for competitive success.
In the case of Davao City National High School and other public high schools, rivalry is somewhat evident only with Daniel R. Aguinaldo National High School (DRANHS) as it offers almost the same program.
The rivalry however, is basically limited to students enrolled in the NODE-ESEP with the Science and Math Competitions as their competing grounds. Although seated kilometers apart, students and teachers of the program compete with their counterparts for honors and distinctions as to which school really affords the best quality educations; thereby inviting more enrollees every school year.
It is the nature of competition that firms will strive for advantage over their rivals. As such, rivalry is typically the strongest of the five competitive forces in any given industry. It can be defined as the competition that goes on between firms as they try to increase their market share.
It would be valuable for universities to develop strategies that address the threat of entry, substitutes, rivalry, and buyer power—the four main drivers of deteriorating industry structure. Three constraints on entrants and substitutes for higher education can be utilized to mitigate their negative effects. The first constraint is that the higher education experience involves more than just its classroom or paper writing components. To the extent that the formal educational experience involves group activity, mentoring, and other activities that are difficult to standardize or replicate, the threat of new technologies is reduced.
The second and related constraint is the socialization process that characterizes the undergraduate experience. Again, the more universities can do to reinforce the traditional liberal arts notion of educating the whole person, the lower will be the threat of entry and substitutes.
The third constraint on the success of new entrants and substitutes is the credibility of their certification process. Because education is an intangible product, there must be some external legitimacy accorded every successful institution. Certification of the quality of degrees awarded is one of the major barriers to entry to higher education. Strategies that require high standards for certification and that reinforce the value of brand names should be adopted to deter entry. Rivalry can be restrained by cooperating on a number of fronts, including, for example, financial aid and faculty compensation. These sorts of strategies, however, are threatened by regulatory changes.
FORMULATION OF STRATEGIES
Analysis above suggests strategic moves that current institutions can take to improve performance. The primary observation is that educational instituitons must recognize and accept that it will be more difficult to compete in the higher education business in the future. While acceptance will not by itself solve any problems, plans that realistically reflect the future have a better chance of succeeding than those that merely project the past. Further, it would be valuable for schools to develop their own strategies that address the threat of entry, substitutes, rivalry, and buyer.
The evolution of the higher education industry can be predicted to some extent by studying other industries that have experienced similar structural change. Today, the future of higher education resembles that faced by industries that have been suddenly opened to deregulation (telecommunications, energy), new technologies (pharmaceuticals, computers), and foreign competition (steel, autos).
The most common transformation that industries facing extensive change undergo is to become more specialized and less vertically integrated. Whenever competition increases because of reduced entry barriers or the improved appeal of substitutes, or when a more economical way can be found to provide a similar service, industries tend to fragment. That is, firms tend to pull back, spinning off many of their functions, and focusing on their strengths. For schools, any similar pattern of evolution toward a more disaggregated and specialized set of providers will challenge the tradition of the integrated provision of higher education.
Davao City National High School has adapted all possible measures and strategies available, not retain substantial number of enrollment, but to show and establish a point of standards that every parent and student desire.
The strategies that the school adopted was basically aimed not on directly encourage the increase of enrolment, but of improving its services because school officials believe that it is the primary reason why a number of students and parents seek enrolment with the school.
The school does not directly fight for larger share of the market, but of producing the best graduates.
CONCLUSION
In response to their changing environment, colleges and universities should identify the full set of functions, or products and services they offer—from restaurants to undergraduate degrees to athletics and continuing education. The traditional strategic prescription would be to participate only in markets where an institution’s strengths continue to offer a competitive advantage. This would lead to concession of entire market segments (such as the traditional physical library) to new entrants exploiting new technologies, and a retreat to core educational products that cannot readily be imitated or substituted. On the other hand, it could be argued that institutions should embrace the new technologies, delivery systems, and customer needs that the changing environment is generating by entering new markets such as distance learning.
The choice is a dramatic one, and there are no easy answers. However, educational governance structures must allow leaders the freedom to act and institute change in time to preserve the vital role of today’s colleges and universities in higher education.
