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DEVELOPING NEW BUSINESS IDEAS246

the lid of the pot on the fire or slowly unwrap a hamburger sandwich, we
first introduce ourselves to a meal by taking a big whiff of its aroma. This
awakens our senses and our appetites. To the Asian, sniffing is part of
our culture, so it’s definitely not bad manners.’ This cultural aptness was
captured in the advertising strap-line of ‘Langhap-sarap’, which
translates into ‘You can smell how delicious it tastes’.

Focused on the eponymous bee, Jollibee’s advertising was deeply
rooted in the traditional Filipino values of family and love for children.
The bee achieved the iconic status within the Philippines of Ronald
McDonald in other global markets. Jollibee also pioneered the
consistent use by staff of a traditional Filipino greeting, ‘Magandang
Umaga Po’, to signify the company’s pride in ‘our heritage as a 100 per
cent Filipino-owned corporation’.

‘We also believe in social investing,’ claimed Caktiong, and in ‘being
supportive of our host communities and actively contributing to nation-
building.’ Numerous high-profile social initiatives engaged the
commitment of the wider stakeholder communities on which Jollibee
depended. These initiatives included poverty housing projects,
educational programmes for children and the employment of a
significant number of hearing-impaired workers.

When McDonald’s entered the Philippines’ market in 1981, the received
wisdom was that Jollibee would be crushed. Far from it. Caktiong
positioned the move by McDonald’s as an opportunity for his
management team to learn at first hand from the operations of a global
multinational. Jollibee adjusted its own operations accordingly. Caktiong
also adopted a so-called 2:1 strategy, opening two Jollibee stores for
every one opened by the new market entrant.

Market research undertaken in 1995 revealed that Jollibee achieved
almost 100 per cent brand recognition, prompting Miguel Jose
Navarrete, the company’s chief financial officer, to remark that Jollibee’s
reach in the Philippines was equalled only by the government and by the
Catholic Church.

The company’s financial success created a virtuous circle. Its central
position in Filipino culture was epitomised by the ‘Jollibee indicator’.
Based on the company’s sales, this was accepted as an unofficial
measure of the health of the wider Filipino economy.