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INTRODUCTION
Rationale
Back in the early years, the only immediate shop that you can find around the
town is the small general merchandise store. They offer food and other necessities
which are the primary needs of the townspeople. They are more convenient compared
to big malls which exist only in the cities at that time. However, there some of the locals
prefer to buy goods in the larger malls outside the community because of leisure, better
establishments in towns will have a great disadvantage in shoppers who want a better
deal. But because of convenience, built up personal relationship with the customers,
their loyalty, and the drive to buy locally because of campaigns, local businesses could
still pull-off a large percentage of the consumer population despite their narrowness of
product deals and a slightly unfavorable consumer attitude towards local shops (Ksenia,
The major attraction of the potential competitors to enter the business industry
of a certain place is the profitability of the entities around the area. The more profitable
it is, the more they are being attracted because business is for profit (Wilkinson, 2013).
In India, the value of retail stores is expected to grow by 2.8 times in four years, serving
Carrefour. While the national retail chains. The survey said that, since the mall
operation, 71% of the small shops and hawkers in India reported a decline in sales and
most of them reported a 20% downfall. 18% of the respondents are unaffected. Only
11% is continually attaining increase in sales – these were the stores which serves
product or services that are unavailable in large retail malls. Local grocery stores,
unbranded apparel stores, shoe shops and electronic retailers had suffered (Kalhan,
2007).
country because they can’t match the competition. However, international entities were
already on their primary stage in entering the Philippine business through collaborating
with the top companies in the country, e.g. Forever21 and Uniqlo with SM Retail; Daiso
and Toys ‘R’ Us with Robinsons Retail. It is observable that foreign rivals are squeezing
the Filipino retailers’ profit margin because of our high consumer optimism, believing
that it’s fair to be inclined into foreign brands due to quality even if it’s costly as long
as it is reasonable. Some local brands have been venturing abroad to negate the
In the local setting, bigger shopping malls and grocery outlets are slowly going
down the line in the provinces. They are expanding to every possibly profitable town
that is trying to urbanize to provide customers the products that locals can only buy in
the metro. One example is the municipality of Nabunturan. One survey said that
Nabunturan has the highest competitive index in economic efficiency among the eleven
formation and strong business community. Also, they topped the infrastructure
development indicating that the town is accessible, has sufficient fundamental social
and economic resources and has a serviceable road and transportation capacity. In such
a manner, it is already perceived that shopping mall chains will engage to do business
in the area because of its inviting economic status (Roque, et al., 2012; Silva & Tamayo,
2016).
Past studies mentioned mainly on the threats of new entrants, its contribution to
the economy, and how they did set the competition. Some only focused on the broader
strategies that an entity had to go through. However, we have not come across to any
study that discussed about the financial challenges and survival in the point of view of
Upbringing the malls to the township areas have created a new partition in the
shopping and retail chain namely, Gaisano Grand Mall which is a three-year old
shopping mall and NCCC Supermarket which is already five years in the local business.
Because of them, branching in the provincial area, we need to know their significant
effect (advantages and disadvantages) to the local small-retail business ventures upon
the start of their operations. In addition, using financial and economic data, we also
seek to have knowledge of the financial challenges that the local market had faced as
well as how they did survive the threat and coped with it. Through this qualitative study,
the struggles and financial strategies that were experienced by the pioneering local
merchandisers can be made known, and may even contribute to the new knowledge in
local merchandisers, which are anticipating threats from bigger competitors, to have
further knowledge about financial struggles that they are about to face and the ways of
coping up with the challenges through financial management. The result of this research
is expected to help them let the venture stay in the industry and be able to play along
with the larger players. Also, this can help attain the stability and growth of the firm by
lessening the risks and chances of encountering fatal problems during recession.
management and studied the matters needed to achieve desirable outcomes of the
venture. Also, as residents of provincial area, we have observed that the traditional
merchandisers are able to continue the business after the existence of the dominant
competitors. However, in some areas, there are still few which didn’t survive so it is
assumed that there is a possibility of incorrect decisions has been made by the
management. We intend to identify those decisions that made the entities stayed or fell
from the arena through the data that will be gathered from the interview.
making perceptions of eight owners or managers in in-depth interview and eight owners
or managers in the focus group discussion. The participants are limited only on the
owners or managers of the existing general merchandisers, before the shopping malls
came up, located around the vicinity of Nabunturan, Compostela Valley Province.
Furthermore, this research aims to help the future researchers concerning about the
Research Questions
Relevant information about this study is gathered through the following two (2)
major questions:
2. How did they cope up with the financial challenges faced in the business?
Theoretical Lens
Small business is one of the main source of income of most people. It is the
backbone of the economy. It serves as the bridge between the customer needs and the
producer or manufacturer. It provides people with different choices and services. But
due to the rapid growth of the economy in a certain place, giant business came to
emerge. The coming of these giant competitors creates a great impact in the
According to the proposition of Litz and Stewart (1997), that the entrance of
this giant competitors creates negative effect on the small business performance. Half
of the respondents of their study shows that there is a decrease of profit and sales in
their respective business, after the arrival of these big competitors. It is for the reasons
that these giant competitors brought a substantial benefit to the consumers. It is clearly
evident that superstore offered a lower price and a wider range of products than small
business. For small retailers cannot imposed a lower price because it may lead them to
It has been discussed also that the authors studied six management responses
the changes in product mix, service mix, store layout, store hours, store size, and store
location. But according to the results most of the respondents are not using these actions
due to the perception that this must not be an effective strategy for almost of the owners
and managers believe that what will happen has already been decided and cannot be
changed kind of prospective of competing against the giants (Covin,1990; Taylor and
Archer ,1994).
It has been suggested that local sellers must avoid using low-price strategy
against their giant competitors, but instead they must use some strategies that target
markets that the larger competitors are usually neglected such as customer service and
The proposition has been used by the recent study which discussed that 60% of
business perceive the mall as a negatively affecting their business, 10% percent are
positively affected and 30% percent are not affected. Of those that are negatively
affected by the giant competitors discussed the reason for the impact is that mall and
other shopping stores offer a much cheaper price by 20%, for those who are positively
affected they cited that mall has brought traffic to their business and for the business
that has not been affected by the giant competitors is that their customers are still loyal
Most of the products that greatly contributed to the turnover of the business are
those products that are basic needs of an individual such as soaps and other dry goods.
The study also shows the average number of business that remains in the industry since
the arrival of this giants. And it clearly exhibits that 85% of the entities confirmed that
there is a declined in the business, only 5% confirmed that there is an increase and 2 %
only for those who sad that the business in their vicinity remained the same. Due to this
following reason, for those business who did not survive or slacked most of the reasons
was poor management and lack of confidence to face the competition, for those who
confirm that it has positively increase discuss that because of unemployment and
poverty people opened a business to earn a living and for those who reported that it did
not increase nor decrease the number of business gives no reason (Mathenjwa,2007).
Those business that are closely located on the shopping malls are most
negatively affected than those business that located farther, but there are others business
that are located near the shopping malls experience a positive impact in their business
but only in a limited number. For the reason such effect is that people which resides
near the shopping malls find it more convenient to go than those customers who live
far from the vicinity. Another factor that contributed to the negative effect was because
of the cheap products, novelty factor and variety of products that are available at the
mall. This discussion was supported by another study which states that the competitive
We are certain that this phenomenological study would prove the usefulness and
significance of knowing about the investing, financing and operating decisions that an
entity, which is under pressure, should do in order to continue the business even with
the existence of bigger competitors. Through the acquired data, this is to determine the
This study can add to the knowledge of the presented theories. This can be
applied by the existing small retailers. This can be used as basis on making their key
decisions to keep the business in the long run. This is also for them to know the nature
of the competition that they are in and to formulate strategies to maneuver the entity
and successfully deal with the problem for the improvement of the business. The results
will also serve the potential entrepreneurs to be aware of the corrective, to be more
acquainted with effective business schemes and also to somehow be guided actions
Moreover, the result of this study will let the larger retailers or mall owners
know the struggles that the smaller competitors had after they emerged in the industry.
This may lead them to also device a business approach that will lessen the loads of the
same concern.
Definition of Terms
middleman that customers use to get products from the manufacturers (My Accounting
Course, 2018). A person, shop, or business that sells goods to the starters, there are
department stores, discount stores, specialty stores and even seasonal retailers
Big Players. They influence the market where they operate. They are largely
insensitive to the discipline of profit and loss and their actions are based on discretion
(R. Koppl, 2002). usually have the more known brand, have the advantage in marketing
and advertising, and giving more benefits to consumers by having more items or
and services with the goal of achieving revenue, profit, and market share growth.
Market competitions motivates companies to increase sales volume by utilizing the four
components of marketing mix, the Product, Place, Promotion and Price- the four P’s
(Study.com, 2016).
The scope of this study is limited for duration of more or less three months and
focuses only to those existing merchandisers or retailers before the malls did business
the merchandisers to the competition with larger retailers or malls. The participants of
the study are the owners or managers of the selected merchandisers around the said
area. We have selected eight (8) owners or managers for in-depth interview and eight
(8) owners or managers for the focused group discussion. The data from the different
insights of persons who are in charge of governance of the participating venture were
However, this study also has its weaknesses. One is on how to insert an
appointment to the respondents’ schedules and how to gather them during the focused
group discussion knowing that, as businessmen, they have busy timetables. Also on
getting the desired data, since financial information and the business schemes of an
and focused group discussion. Due to the fact that there were only eighteen informants
for the investigation and due to its weakness, the outcome of this study may not achieve
the anticipated generalizability and also cannot support the claims of obtaining well-
study is given emphasis on this chapter. It is followed by the discussion on the purpose
of the study that is to obtain the different insights and strategies of small retailers’
compile the gathered data for crafting a more efficient course of financial decision to
meet financial objectives. Research questions are also presented as used during the
interview of the respondents, both in-depth interview and focus group discussion.
Shown also in this chapter is the theoretical lens that was related with the research
study. Afterwards is the significance of the study and the people who will benefit from
this research. Important terms that can be found in this study are clearly defined in the
definition of terms, to have a better grasp on understanding the entire study. Lastly, the
limitation and delimitation of the study is also presented including the respondents of
this research.
Chapter 2. This chapter includes the review of literature and other related
studies about the phenomenon under this research. The focuses of the review are the
elaborated in this chapter. This also includes the various related studies in which this
Chapter 3. This explains the design and the methodology applied in this study.
These are the research design, role of the researchers, the research participants, data
collection, data analysis, and trustworthiness that includes the following criteria:
This chapter covers the review of literature related to this study. After discussing
merchandises amidst the entrance of big players, we now present some previous studies
that had been conducted about the impact of the big players to the SMEs on some certain
locations and techniques on how to survive in the long run. Moreover, we will present
in the chapter theories and other related studies regarding on the themes emerged from
financial management is very crucial. One can easily compare their performance. If
profits and sales have increased or decreased, and to be able to address the problem
immediately after discovery. Managers and owners can make necessary adjustments
throughout the year to accomplish objectives set out at the beginning of the year. Thus,
there isn't adequate research done to survey the effect of shopping center improvement
on the spaza shops and little township retailers. Research relating to this subject is still
examination done in South Africa that takes a gander at the reaction of the little retailers,
particularly in the township, to rivalry from huge retailers. The purpose behind this
might be ascribed to the way that advancement of shopping centers in the townships is
a current wonder. Likewise, the township advertise has for some time been overlooked
as a market with potential for development. Ideally, this will change in the current
future and more consideration will be given to the little organizations in the township.
Financial Management
companies make, and the devices and investigation used to settle on the choices. The
discipline, overall, might be separated between long-term and short-term decisions and
guaranteeing that return on capital exceeds cost of capital, without going out on a limb
(Pandey, 2010).
securities are well invested, leverage of a business will be met. It may able also meet
the short-term obligations of the business. The business also has four phases including
recovery, prosperity, decline, and recession or depression. These phases may result to
increase employment and income or result to unemployment and lower incomes which
may lead change in sales, profits, and cash flow that must be anticipated and planned
for. So, the business must be financially managed and well organized, it must be ready
for any possible things that would happen in a business whether it may be good or bad
or increase in employment. Several observational researches have tested the factors that
may affect a firm’s expansion. For example, the most important factor of successful
individuals prefer not to grow because of fear of loss of personal control of the firm,
worry of having to go into debt or reluctance to pass the responsibility of running the
times of financial misery, most powerful and quickly developing firms like to get
resources in bring down cost, that will empower them to survive and increment their
Profitability is a significant measure in deciding stock return and the offer costs
in this way affecting firm’s valuation. Despite of the fact that a broad measure of
uniform pattern of relationship is yet settled. In this way assert past exact outcomes are
blended and experience the ill effects of equivocalness concerning the type of the
connection between money change cycle and company's likelihood. The efficient
decrease firm’s dependence on costly outer financing along these lines expanded
effectiveness of working capital prompting greater gain and market value. (Nobanee et
Corporate finance theory can be talked about under three principle ranges:
capital planning, capital structure and working capital administration. Capital planning
and capital structure choices are identified with financing and overseeing short-term
financing and speculation choices of the firm. The corporate fund writing in the past
may, working capital likewise specifically influences the liquidity of the organization
as it manages the administration of current assets and current liabilities that are basic in
the smooth running of a specialty unit (Raheman and Nasr, 2010; Samiloglu and
Demirgunes, 2013).
In general, different authors affirm that SMEs are the first and the most
from economic downturns, because of their limited financial resources and dependence
on banks’ lending, paying such high interest rates. Adding to the financial aspect, their
may reduce their capacity to overcome the economic crisis. On the other hand, their
greater dependence on (fewer) customers and suppliers and markets may lead to
Papaoikonomou & all, argue that in this context, most SMEs suffered from demand
shock. (Butler and Sullivan 2005, Papaoikonomou & all, 2012; Robbins and Pearce,
conveyance organization, they constitute significantly the greater part of their aggregate
resources and along these lines straightforwardly influence the profitability and
liquidity of the organization. Once in a while, off base working capital administration
methodology may likewise prompt liquidation, despite the fact that their productivity
may always be certain. Unreasonable levels of current resources can without much of
and change of the shareholder’s or investor’s riches. This is because, for a firm to
succeed in business it must stay liquid enough to settle its long-term as well as the short-
survey the business financial statements and have a decent comprehension of them.
Envision a pipe, with all the everyday activities and expenses of a business – sales,
bookkeeping and administration – dropped into the highest point of this channel, with
timely and exact business financial statements turning out the base of it. Every last
inside and outer partner in the business – owner, shareholders, partners, management,
Federal and State tax agencies, credit agencies, potential buyers and/or sellers of the
company – all rely on and have a personal stake in the issuance of auspicious and exact
Financial reports help you project income, expense, cash flow and debt service,
allowing you to take steps to manage each of these critical areas. Divide your expenses
expenses include any costs directly tied to producing your product or service. Overhead
costs are those you accrue to run your business, such as rent, phones, insurance,
marketing and office supplies. Track your manufacturing and overhead expenses each
month as a percentage of sales to spot any large swings that indicate a problem. Even
though credit card interest gets rolled into your balance each month, record it as an
expense in your budget to get a true picture of your profits. Analyze your budget
performance against your projections each month to determine if you need to adjust
management, which involve finance not only the sources, and uses of finance in the
personnel decisions and the total performance of the enterprise. However, such areas
are not currently well embraced by SMEs in Kenya and urgent attention needs to be
paid to. Lack of effective management during SMEs early stages is also a major cause
of business failure for small businesses. Owners tend to manage these businesses
Meredith, 2006).
Marketing Strategy
When sales are down and budgets are cut, it would seem that the most important
thing for a business to do is to focus on survival, not plan for growth. But recovery will
come, and marketers who are not ready to seize that opportunity will lose out to those
who are. Brands must develop plans to regain lost customers now. And effective
have changed and how they might change again (Millward Brown, 2009).
A good marketing strategy helps you define your vision, mission and business goals,
and outlines the steps you need to take to achieve these goals (Business Queensland,
2016).
A marketing strategy sets the overall direction and goals for your marketing,
and is therefore different from a marketing plan, which outlines the specific actions you
will take to implement your marketing strategy. Your marketing strategy could be
developed for the next few years, while your marketing plan usually describes tactics
the past two years are going to be in a much better position than their competitors as
aim of a recovery strategy is to ensure that your company can restore essential services
and return quickly to normal operations if a disaster such as a fire, flood or computer
failure strikes. Failure to recover after a disaster could have extremely damaging
a business continuity or recovery plan will go out of business within a few years of a
Your marketing strategy affects the way you run your entire business, so it
and comprehensive strategic planning tool that describes your business and its products
and services, explains the position and role of your products and services in the market,
profiles your customers and your competition, identifies the marketing tactics you will
use, and allows you to build a marketing plan and measure its effectiveness (Business
Queensland, 2016).
Having a business recovery strategy in place can help you maintain the
continuity of your business from the earliest possible point after a problem or disaster
occurs. Your strategy must focus on identifying and prioritizing the resources that are
most critical to your business. That might be your information technology system, your
business. By identifying potential threats and risks to those resources, you can plan a
Your well-developed marketing strategy will help you realize your business's
goals and build a strong reputation for your products. A good marketing strategy helps
you target your products and services to the people most likely to buy them. It usually
involves you creating one or two powerful ideas to raise awareness and sell your
products. Developing a marketing strategy that includes the components listed below
will help you make the most of your marketing investment, keep your marketing
focused, and measure and improve your sales results (Business Queensland, 2016).
Now that your target audience is able to increase their spend, it’s important to
remind them why you’re their best choice. It’s no longer a decision based on cost, it’s
based on the value you bring. “Remind your client why they chose you in the first
place,” says Josh. Your audience needs to be reminded that your company still offers
Your strategy must set out plans for enabling key employees to resume work
with the facilities they need. This includes senior executives and managers, customer
service staff, production staff and sales representatives. List the facilities your key
employees need and identify alternative resources such as portable cabins with desks,
computers and telecommunications facilities, or mobile phones and laptops that you
can rent for short periods. If you store your company data on site, consider backing it
up with an external service provider so your staff can access essential data in an
see a return to economic growth, evolve your marketing message away from financial
concerns and toward clients’ core business pain points and how your company can
support long-term sustainability. Take the time to talk to your clients to understand
shifting priorities and goals. How has their business changed through the recession?
This will help you to position yourself as a partner for growth and align your key
The benefit is higher market share, but it comes at a cost -- namely, lower margins per
unit. This strategy is particularly attractive to large companies that have high economies
of scale that allow them to operate at either a lower marginal cost than their competitors
or that make it possible to operate at a loss if needed. It's risky because, once prices
drop, it can be hard to raise them unless the company regains enough market share to
Loyalty programs are another way to ensure your customers continue to return.
By providing incentives to shop at your store, you can create customer loyalty. Loyalty
programs are only effective when customers know how to earn points, what the rewards
are, and how close they are to reaching a reward. Implementing a successful loyalty
program can create many benefits, including a bump in sales (Montenegro, 2017).
Another strategy is to change the promotion strategy, which can include raising
the advertising budget or using the power of branding for the firm. Depending on how
well company leaders identify the specific issues that need to be addressed to fix a
promotional problem, the strategy can be very successful or simply a costly exercise.
Retailer JC Penney notably struggled with rebranding in the 2010 to 2012 period, while
competitor Target found success in the early 2000s by marketing itself as a "higher end"
When a customer comes into a store and they cannot find what they’re looking
for, it creates a poor shopping experience and potentially loses you sales. While retail
stores cannot carry endless inventory, optimizing your assortment will decrease the
optimization begins with analyzing current and historical inventory trends. This can be
identify demand patterns. Having a healthy assortment can increase retail sales as it can
create a positive shopping experience for your customers and may encourage them to
by benchmarking against your competition. This allows you to identify any assortment
gaps across product categories. You can also learn the top selling brands for each
product category across competitors. You are sure to increase retail sales by adding the
key brands you were missing. Don’t wait until your sales decline to analyze your
business strategy. The key is to try to step ahead of the competition utilizing
competitive intelligence. Increase retail sales by having an edge over assortment, value,
accomplished this by introducing the iPhone 6 when it was able to take back some of
the market share it had lost to Google's Android operating system. This can be
Identify your tactical marketing mix using the 7 Ps of marketing. If you can
choose the right combination of marketing across product, price, promotion, place,
people, process and physical evidence, your marketing strategy is more likely to be a
virtually every touch point, there exists an opportunity to solidify or grow the
relationship. Given the way most financial institutions are structured, there’s almost
maximize the value derived from effective customer communications (Porter, 2010).
When financial institutions fail to get it right, the cost is high. Consider an error-
ridden letter. It sets off a chain reaction that reverberates throughout the organization.
It has the power to frustrate and alienate customers; consume significant resources;
breach compliance issues and create unfunded liabilities; result in inefficient customer
existing customers, and fail to adequately respond to customer needs. The opportunity
efficiently and effectively respond to customer needs and improve the overall customer
As you begin your quest for administrative cost savings, keep two key points in
mind:
First, forget about finding a single idea that would radically change the cost
structure of your organization or department, thereby solving your problem in one go.
(If such an idea existed, it would most likely entail so much risk that the organization
would never be willing to implement it.) Instead, you should plan to reach your goal
usually be proportional to the degree of cutting you do. Therefore, you should tailor the
reductions you pursue to your savings goal. Incremental ideas with minimal impact on
other departments can allow you to trim up to 10% of costs. Redesign or reorganization
ideas often eliminate the lowest-value activities, with moderate impact on other
departments, and can help cut expenses by up to 20%. Cross-department and program-
elimination ideas are usually necessary when you’re aiming for 30% or more, but they
Unless cost cutting is new to the company, you’ve already done away with most
parties, event tickets, and tuition reimbursement. If that’s the case, don’t try to eliminate
more—you probably can’t. Instead, see if you can consolidate what’s left. Combine
activities like training days and celebrations into single events. Combine events across
determined that Parents’ Weekend and Homecoming were both far too valuable to
eliminate—but found that it could save close to 40% of the combined cost by holding
significant portion of the work content from the department. It’s never a good idea to
attempt to do the same work with 20% fewer people. (Coyne, 2010)
One thing all people who give great service have in common is that they have a
genuine customer-friendly attitude. You view your customers as the most important
part of your job and sincerely appreciate that they choose to do business with you. That
sincerity is the basis for great customer service that will keep your customers coming
it means that you value your existing customers above all else and want to
involve them in helping you grow your business. You are not constantly looking over
their shoulders for the bigger, better, more popular customer walking in the door.
Rather, you are staying focused on them and putting as much energy into maintaining
a good relationship as you are into finding new customers. And in fact, you want to
job. They don’t have to take a long time, and they often happen in an instant. The bad
news is that making a customer an enemy for life can take just as little time. When you
call a company on the phone and the telephone rings ten times before someone picks it
up, what kind of connection has that company made with you? More than likely, a
negative relationship has been created before any business is transacted. These
connections, as simple and quick as they are, are moments of truth for the customer.
(Dummies, 2011)
Your early customers are the most important relationships of your business’ life.
Why trust them to a software program that wants to drip vague, soap-boxy messages to
them at predetermined intervals? Get on the phone, skype, e-mail, Twitter, Facebook,
LinkedIn or livechat and hear what they are thinking. If you can, walk out to the front
of the store and talk to them yourself! For new (and new-at-heart) businesses your
market research, sales efforts, customer service and brand development are all coming
from that same relationship. Spend as much time as you can nurturing it. (O’Hara, 2012)
Diversification
business. As the time pass by after the arrival of those giant competitors most of the
business around the capital were affected. And some of them are incapacitate to
compensate all the losses they had, so instead of investing more capital to continue the
business they diversified their business into a newer kind. A new line of business which
cannot be seen to those establishment like food related businesses, change of tires and
wheel service and many more. There are also businesses on which they are not only
focusing into one services but they can provide an extra kind of services to the
customers like aside from selling supplies they can also made a customize plaques,
medals and tarpaulins under the specification of the customer (Gomes and Livdan,
2012).
demand shocks. The use of plant-level knowledge and taking productivity and optimum
firm size under consideration, they notice that the resource allocation of more wide-
ranging companies is in line with values increasing. Gomes and Livdan develop a
companies diversify for 2 reasons. Firstly, once an exact time span, investment in an
exceedingly firm’s current business is not any longer profitable, in order that
diversification becomes a rational strategy for companies that have too little profited in
their core business. Secondly, distributed companies will use economies of scope,
Gomes and Livdan argue that the endogenous choice mechanism - that
businesses - accounts for the discount on the worth of distributed companies. Bernardo
implication of their real options framework, they predict that companies follow an exact
life cycle, from being specialized in discovering broader investment opportunities, and
eventually ending up either focused or diversified, once having learned regarding their
resources throughout this method. Provided that young companies have a lot of to find
out regarding their resources, their volatility of resource uncertainty is higher, that
results in a better value during this real options approach (Chowdhry, 2012; Gomes and
Livdan, 2012).
Yan et al. give empirical proof of the worth of internal capital markets in an
exceedingly depressed capital market setting. Their study, however the investment of
analysis over the amount 1985 to 1997, Yan et al. notice that company investment
solely declines for centering companies as a result of hyperbolic finance prices at the
political economy level, whereas it remains constant for diversified companies. Hence,
companies, even after they don't have any price advantage in raising external capital.
Yan et al. notice that the inner capital allocation of distributed companies
conditions. Moreover, the surplus values of distributed companies are less negatively
affected than those of centered companies, once external capital becomes additional
expensive. Hence, Yan et al. argue that internal capital markets appear to make vital
connected study, Hovakimian seeks to determine whether or not the potency of internal
capital allocation in distributed companies depends on their ability to boost external
capital over the amount 1980 to 2008. In line with Yan et al. (2010), he finds that the
are distressed. The proof suggests that in recessions, distributed companies modify their
Negative revenue variance occurs when revenues from a business project are
lower than expected. This may occur because the expected budget was different from
the actual budget and the return on investment was not as high as thought. It may also
occur when the income reports from one year are lower than the reports from the
previous year. Negative variance is a serious issue and a good reason for businesses to
spend time finding out what factors caused the drop in revenue. (Lacoma, 2018)
The two main reasons for a decline in operating profit are fairly easy to pinpoint
different reasons these occur can take more digging before you can stem the tide of
profit erosion. Understanding common factors that reduce business profits will help you
take steps to address them and spot problems quickly before they get out of hand.
(Ashe-Edmunds, 2018)
Sometimes a business can plan out every move and the market can still abruptly shift,
leading to a loss in sales or, often, a transposition in sales as consumers begin to prefer
one feature or product over another. This is largely outside of the control of the
company and can always create negative returns on a project that was thought to be
performance. Poor communication between the teams can lead to misaligned product
disproportionate amount of advertising spend on items at too low of a price point, the
merchandising team may not be prepared for the surge in demand, which can lead to
It’s possible to lose money on sales and still make a profit, depending on your
sources of income. Operating profit refers to the money you make on your core
business, such as making and selling a widget. If you sell $100,000 worth of widgets,
but your manufacturing and overhead costs are $110,000, you have an operating loss
of $10,000. If you make $25,000 from royalties, investments or asset sales, you can still
However, it’s possible to increase your sales revenues and suffer a profit decrease. This
can occur if your sales increase comes from higher sales of low-margin items while you
suffer a decrease of sales of high-margin products. Even during good times, it’s
important to track your sales by margins, territory, distribution channel and sales rep to
changes its product lineup, location or other factors that will affect sales. There is
typically a transition period that occurs, when product sales fall for a short amount of
time from previously levels as the market reacts to the change. If the business plans
correctly, revenues will again rise with the new model. (Lacoma, 2018)
Another common reason for a decrease in profits is rising costs. Even if your
cost to make a widget doesn’t increase, you might have increasing overhead costs,
especially as you increase the pay of long-term employees each year. If your
manufacturing and overhead costs remain the same and your sales are good, you can
still see profit erosion if your debt-service costs increase. For example, missing a
payment on a credit card can raise your interest rate and payments significantly. (Ashe-
Edmunds, 2018)
When times are hard, people try to save money to spend on essentials. If your
product doesn't fall into that category, sales slow and revenue drops. When the economy
is bad, banks choose to retain potential loan money in case conditions worsen. If you
sell an expensive car, house or boat, the availability and ease of consumer credit, greatly
affects the number of sales. If the consumer doesn't have the cash, and he can't get a
The moment you notice your sales dropping, you need to act fast to get to the
bottom of the problem. Sales can decline for various reasons, and finding the cause may
be the trickiest part. Luckily, Wiser has put together a list for you with the six reasons
why your sales are dropping and what to do to increase retail sales. (Montenegro, 2017)
It is important for teams to have aligned goals and to make decisions with the
same information. To result in better informed decisions and help integrate workflows
effectively to help increase retail sales, it is important to have a single source of truth.
(Montenegro, 2017)
When a customer comes into a store and they cannot find what they’re looking
for, it creates a poor shopping experience and potentially loses you sales. While retail
stores cannot carry endless inventory, optimizing your assortment will decrease the
We don’t have easy solutions and direct effective strategies to anticipate crisis
effects. In the wake of the economic crisis, many firms were faced with severe threats
that called for immediate action to ensure firm survival. When choosing the measures
to cope with this crisis situation, responsible decision makers were confronted with the
challenge to manage the trade-off between the benefits and costs of short-term crisis
reactions. On the one hand, short term action like massive cost-cutting, cash generation,
shorter reporting cycles, increased employee monitoring and tight budget control
seemed necessary to cope with a decline in orders and revenues and to ensure an
the other hand, such short-term measures might damage the long-term growth potential
and go at the expense of the long-term health of the firm as key stakeholder relations
may be irreversibly harmed (Asel et al., 2010; Bourletidis, Triantafyllopoulos, 2014;
Market Price
Price has a big influence on sales. In essence, a high price can maximize short-
term profit, while a low price can maximize long-term profit, as it generally attracts
more customers and helps the business gain market share. Price can also be a
determinant of a brand’s positioning and quality. If a product line launches with a high
any other element, a pricing strategy directly impacts the amount of profit you make.
Choose a pricing strategy that helps you meet your sales objectives, enhances your
brand perception and provides the best profit point for market demand. A discount
pricing strategy is useful for driving traffic and sales short term, however used as a
long-term strategy, discount pricing has some negative effects on market position and
One of the biggest mistakes a retailer can do is ignore their competition. If your
sales are declining, diving deeper into competitors’ data can help uncover useful
insights. The underlying issue of your declining sales can be due to a new marketing
campaign, a better price, or a new promotion. In fact, most reasons mentioned above
measuring a product’s price elasticity is important, as it will help you determine how
sensitive demand is to any price changes. By testing pricing strategies, you can
maximize sales and margins at the highest price consumers are willing to pay.
(Montenegro, 2017)
To figure out the reason for your dip in sales, you can analyze competitive data
such as pricing trends and discounting behavior. If you’re a low-cost retailer, you want
to ensure your price is always lower, with price intelligence you can monitor your
competitor’s pricing strategies in real time. This can ensure you’re maximizing your
With this strategy, it is important to decrease costs and stay competitive. Large retailers
are able to demand price discounts from suppliers and make a discount pricing strategy
effective as they buy in bulk. It is usually impossible to compete with these retailers
discounts that reward loyal customers are effective. Discounts used too often begin a
downward pricing spiral that may eventually damage your ability to sell the product at
full price. For example, if a retailer has periodic large discounts then it may condition
your market to wait for these sales, lowering profit margins. (Melanie, 2017)
employees build customer loyalty. Loss leaders are effective for retailers who need to
increase traffic in the store. Promotional discounts, used sparingly, offer temporary
discount period, more units are sold, allowing the company to decrease inventory stock
strategy. Consumers can often associate low price with low quality, even more true
when the brand name is not familiar. Implementing a discount pricing strategy increases
the chance that your product will be perceived as lower in quality. While you may gain
customers, that make decisions on price alone, other customers may choose competitor
products because of perceived quality. Low prices may drive sales for a limited time,
but do not build customer loyalty. When a lower priced alternative comes along, you
may lose your market share. Competitors can simply match your prices, or beat them.
When prices have been driven down to absolute low prices, it is difficult to raise prices
again, especially if your product is perceived as being lower in quality. (Melanie, 2017)
receiving a deliberate discount from a seller, as opposed simply to obtaining a low price.
For instance, a consumer may be more likely to buy a jacket priced at $100
accompanied by a sign which reads ì50% of its previous price than he/she would be if
the price were merely stated as $100. Alternatively, a retailer might claim its price was
$100 even though the manufacturer’s recommended price was $200. Despite its
prevalence, this pricing practice which we term discount pricing has apparently
received little economic analysis. In the literature on sales (for instance, Lazear 1986),
consumers care only about the price level, and whether a low price is framed as a
discount o§ a higher price plays no role. In this paper, we explore the economics of
discount pricing, focusing on the potential information content of a discount and its
strategic implications. Our analysis is developed in two models that suggest different
reasons why rational consumers care about discounts, as well as in a third model with
If, for whatever reason, consumers care about getting a discount, a seller may
have an incentive to exploit this by making false claims about its previous or regular
price. The outcome when these deceptive marketing tactics are used depends on the
consumers. If consumers are aware that sellers are able to misrepresent their reference
price without penalty, they will simply regard such sale signs and pay them no attention.
The result is that a potentially useful channel of information is absent. However, if
instead consumers are more gullible and believe a Örmís false claims (when such claims
are plausible), the outcome is worse, as these consumers may be induced to pay more
for the product than they would otherwise. (Armstrong & Chen, 2012)
Related Studies
may have diverse results. Firm performance is a central wonder in business researches.
and activities. Success, when all is said in done, relates to the accomplishment of
objectives and goals in whatever division of human life. In business life, achievement
is a key term in the field of administration, despite the fact that it isn't generally
business achievement has been translated from numerous points of view. There are no
Regardless of these distinctions, individuals for the most part appear to have a
comparative thought of the marvel, i.e. of what sort of business is effective (Cantuba,
phenomenon. An extensive variety of studies has been led in the USA, the first nation
in which such centers were built up. Since the 1980s, moderately new research has been
conducted on European urban areas. After the foundation of a few malls in rising and
The perspectives and points of view of these commitments are assorted. Some
exploration sees the shopping malls as another segment in the physical structure of the
city and links them and the city's improvement. Other research sees them as another
effect on customary retailing in the urban communities and locales. Further studies
focus on it as spots that make another sort of social space, not the same as the social
spaces of the traditional markets. Some features the connection between these centers
and changes in the utilization conduct of the populace. Past examinations researches
(Bloch et al., 2013; Farhangmehr et al. 2011; Hahn, 2012; Krüger and Walther, 2011;
This paper will as often as possible utilize the terms traditional markets and
retail exchange, on the one hand, and huge shopping malls/centers, on the other.
offering just food and other stores selling merchandise like apparel, electronic machines
and so forth, which are distributed in traditional market territories, for example, al-Seeb
and al-Khoud. To answer the principle question of this investigation, "To what degree
have recently settled shopping centers affected retail exchange customary markets?",
the researchers and his group of male and female students from the Geography
Department at the Sultan Qaboos University used two major methodologies. The
quantitative approach depended on a survey that was replied by 96 guests in Suq al-
Seeb (73) and Suq al-Khoud (23) and by 269 guests of shopping centers (81 in Lulu,
applied to guests of business sectors and shopping centers amid their visits to those
spots. Also, I utilized the qualitative approach, in which 30 in-depth interviews were
directed, which gave the respondents a good chance to talk freely and to reveal to us
their conclusions on numerous issues identified with the investigation subject. The
more profound interview gave us information that was impractical to get from the
expansion in the populace and high urbanization, change of the economic situation of
of building zones until 2005 and low work costs. Many of the studies conducted on the
majorly affect customary retail shops in the downtown areas. A large number of these
stores have shut in light of the fact that they were not able to contend with huge
shopping centers. The truth of retailing in Oman is extraordinary. Despite the fact that
the present investigation demonstrated that shopping centers have affected retail
proceed to have their significance and pull in clients acquiring nearby and customary
products, for example, attire and customary nearby sustenance. Furthermore, for
Omanis the customary markets are spots to purchase and offer, as well as spots of social
that as it may, the inquiry is: How long will the customary markets in Muscat keep on
Oman. The fixation of retail exchange territories and shopping centers with their new
qualities and engaging quality in Muscat, the accessibility of private vehicles and the
change of the road network and the great availability of these new shopping goals are
for the most part factors prompting another guide and to new appropriation of retail
give decent second occupations or part time employments for adolescent mates and
senior citizens. Further they have said their work about effects and downtowns.
According to them shopping centers hurt downtowns. Local retail chains that can't
contend with the shopping center regarding costs and assortment will definitely close.
Family owned stores will endure losses and few will survive the progress (Cantuba, et
As per Anuradha Kalhan who have made a study in Mumbai "just 14 percent of test
of little customers and peddlers has likewise so far possessed the capacity to react to the
aggressive threat of the shopping centers". Dionne Bunsha has featured in his paper, In
Mumbai, where there is struggle over every last bit of room, sellers are losing the fight. In
the previous couple of years, a few road merchants have been compelled to vacate. The
book shops along Flora Fountain, as much a piece of the scene as the landmark itself, have
In Dagupan City, while a few occupants have been lured by shopping center
chains, numerous still shop at homegrown stores where they "feel at home and
a shopping center in Dapupan and transactions are progressing, says Mayor Benjamin
Lim, whose family claims and works Magic. Magict has branches in a few towns in
Pangasinan, Nueva Ecija and the Ilocos territories. Lim says Magic's deals dropped by
15 to 20 percent, much like numerous other Dagupan stores, when Robinsons opened
its store in March. "Be that as it may, our experience is that the recently settled shopping
centers influence nearby retailers just for a year or two, at that point deals will come
In the present investigation the spotlight has been given totally on this portion
and the effect of the shopping centers on the little customers are destructive. In the event
that preventive measures were not taken then the opposition may decline the
circumstance of little customers. From the above discoveries, it is prescribed that basic
supply segment ought to be institutionalized for ideal outcomes. The retail organize
locational focuses, because of other retail item factors. Basic supply is low contribution
products, clients barely sit idle in buying these merchandises. Be that as it may, the
clients have turned out to be more mindful with respect to basic need still they are value
The retailers need to upgrade the retail organize methodologies based on redid
territorial approach. The systematic mass of the examination makes it adequately apparent
elite showrooms and marked organizations and products (like Wal Mart) are not attainable
in the Indian situation and they need to reframe their methodologies (Cantuba, et al., 2013).
the improvement of the Jabulani Mall has had a by and large positive effect. This is
fortified by the way that 96% of the purchaser overview respondents appraised their
requirement for the shopping center to be extended. In any case, these positive
discoveries are tempered by the way that the shopping center led to a decrease in the
for nearby dealers. It stays to be seen whether the other five contextual analyses will
uncover comparable discoveries and whether contrasts will rise between the vast
metropolitan focuses and the all the more rustically found focuses (Cantuba, et al., 2013).
Chapter 3
METHOD
The discussions in this chapter are the different methods used in conducting this
of information on the analysis and evaluation are shown in this particular chapter. Also,
explained here are the process of the used research design and the role of the researchers
all throughout the study, followed by the procedures and criteria in the selection of the
research participants. The procedure of how the data is collected and analyzed, and the
method that was used to measure the trustworthiness of the study is presented here.
Finally, stressed in this chapter is the giving of assurance to the participants of their of
confidentiality.
Methodology
This paper aimed to know what challenges are faced by general merchandise
against the big player in the business, and how do they cope up in terms of their financial
capability and how they remain in the business industry despite of their big competitors.
This chapter shows the research design, role of the researcher, research
participants, and the process of data collection, data analysis, and trustworthiness that
All individuals that were concern with this study was also included as well as the
This study aims to know the insights, convictions and values of managers and
owners of general merchandise about the financial management challenges and coping
strategy to remain in the business. Phenomenology is the best approach we can use it is
because it tackles about the live experience of the business owners about their financial
stability and coping strategy in their own business. We would like to know what and
how do the owners share the same experience in that certain phenomena. (Creswell,
effectively their assets and resources through the use of qualitative approach, we would
like to formally hear their thought and opinions, and as researchers we must see the real
situation and emotion felt in than merely explaining the situation with no formal
interaction with the participants. It is better for the researcher to see what is really
happening than just giving participants a piece of paper with questions then let them
answered it without researchers looking at the real feelings the participants have in
We want to understand the participant deeply with the situation they have now,
their motivations, their inspirations that when heard can inspire everyone who are in
the same situation. And qualitative approach is the best method we can use, for
interactions with the participants cannot greatly be measured statistically. Theories can
give us pictures, totality, associations and relations but they could not explain the
feeling of that certain individual, and how he/she reacts with the situation (Creswell,
2007).
Personal interaction with the participant helps the researcher identify and
explain the meaning of experience felt by that certain individual. Researchers would
clearly ask the full details of that certain phenomenon; then followed by some
individual in answering the questions, without them being biased. The researchers
understand that certain opinion, without them dictated by their own assumption and
having a theory as post positivism, we would like to have a formal interaction so that
we are able to construct the main point of having the study. For us researchers open-
ended questions are better way, we listened carefully to what the participants will say
without having any personal thoughts. Then we will make an interpretation based on
Qualitative research seeks to explore the world. We would like to dig deeper
the data in its natural settings, where participants experience the problem. Having a
personal conversation with the participants, we can able to see the behavior and the real
scenario of the said situation and this is the major quality of a qualitative study. (Denzin
time to determine how they personally faced the financial management challenges and
what are their coping strategies in order to survive. On the other hand, (Denzin and
to the world.” This means that the researchers study things in natural setting, seek to
create sense of or explain phenomenon in terms of the meaning managers and owners
bring to them. We, researchers, must not see only on one side of the story but also the
more sensible side of it. We used phenomenology because its center is the live
bracketing is a process in which we researcher does not allow any personal opinions,
phenomenon. We need to analyze not just what the participants told but to what it really
on the study. We seek to fully capture the participants view and experience they will
General merchandise owners and managers are the respondents of this study.
Using an in-depth interview with the aid of interview materials (voice recorder, pen and
paper) documentation and live observation, we could attain the data we needed. After
data gathering. We used analogy as our approach. This would mean making
bistro owners so that common theme about the subject might be extracted. Then through
the data we gather we could derive what constitutes to the essence of the phenomenon
multiple source of information through interviews, documentaries and all other sources.
After gathering such data, we keenly analyze them and organize them into categories.
After applying data reduction, we presented data in narration and verified by checking
its validity findings through triangulation (to get credible data), transferability, and
because it gives us the validity of it. This provides us a well-founded information for
some participants is confident enough to share their thoughts and opinions to others
classifications and present themes (patterns) that relate to the data. It illustrates the data
in great detail and deals with diverse subjects via interpretations (Boyatzis, 1998).
Thematic Analysis is considered the most appropriate for any study that seeks to
allows the researcher to associate an analysis of the frequency of a theme with one of
the whole content. This will confer accuracy and intricacy and enhance the research’s
aspects and data. Thematic Analysis gives an opportunity to understand the potential of
any issue more widely (Marks and Yardley 2004). Namey et al. (2008) said, “Thematic
Moves beyond counting explicit words or phrases and focuses on identifying and
describing both implicit and explicit ideas. Codes developed for ideas or themes are
then applied or linked to raw data as summary markers for later analysis, which may
include comparing the relative frequencies of themes or topics within a data set, looking
concepts and compare them with the replicated data. By using, thematic analysis there
is the possibility to link the various concepts and opinions of the learners and compare
these with the data that has been gathered in different situation at different times during
the project. All possibilities for interpretation are possible. Qualitative research needs
to be able to draw interpretations and be consistent with the data that is collected. With
this in mind, Thematic Analysis is capable to detect and identify, e.g. factors or
variables that influence any issue generated by the participants. Therefore, the
explanations for their behaviors, actions and thoughts. This fits in well with the features
that are involved in the process of Thematic Analysis (Hatch 2002; Creswell 2003).
in-depth and 8 for the focal group discussion. We believe that the component of the
said contributor is enough for us to gather the data needed in conducting this study.
In this study, we took the role of the moderator and a chronicler in the
'moderator’ and this special name reflects the fact that the researcher's role differs from
that in one-to-one interviews. He added that although they still need to ask questions,
during the session they need to function more as facilitators of the discussion than as
interviewers in the traditional sense. Because the dynamic of the focus group is one of
the unique features of this method, the researcher’s role inevitably involves some group
leadership functions, including making sure that nobody dominates the floor and that
even the shyer participants have a chance to express their views (Dornyei,2007). In this
study, we act as the human instrument of data collection (Denzin and Lincoln, 2003).
It states that we, researchers, are the one who collect the data through one on one
interview and focal group discussion. Researchers must put themselves in the shoes of
their participants to be able to understand them (Greenbank, 2003). As researchers, we
must respect the opinions of the participants and ignore personal views and reactions.
Researchers ask question in a pleasant way, then listen carefully, then ask more
Research Participants
The participants that are involved in this study were interviewed for a wider
view and analysis. These were the different small retail owners and managers in
challenges and coping strategies of their business. A purposeful sampling was used to
The inclusion of the criteria are managers, supervisors and owners of general
merchandise and their coping and financial strategy to remain in their respective
experiences about effectively managing their finances and their ways of coping up the
Discussion (FGD) with eight (8) participants from different bistro entrepreneurs. It was
a bit hard to gather them because of their conflict schedules but we are delighted to see
participant. We approach the different business owners located in the locality and asked
about their coping and financial strategy to remain in the business, their answer serves
we asked them pleasantly if they can share their experience and opinion as needed in
the study. By this time, we are now exploring, imagining and seeing through their eyes
the feelings they have when they were experiencing the obstacles they have those time.
Finally, we give an orientation about the study; we discussed to them what our
study all about is and what the purpose of it. We interviewed them one on one by some
length of time and assured them the confidentiality. Triangulation method was used as
research techniques that measure the credibility, validity, conciseness and completeness
of a study). This technique is helpful for the researcher to cross-checking of the data
Data Analysis
After transcribing the focus group and in-depth interviews, which relate to the
topic, we separated them into core ideas that show concrete thought. The responses of
the participants were group into the same themes that reflects various aspects of the
phenomenon. The data that was collected by interviewing the respondents was
from the stipulated conversations. The questions that are asked to them was
presence of big players and how did they cope up with the financial challenges
When we conducted the qualitative research, we put into account the responses
of our informants. We also meticulously consider all the details of the data. We checked
and rechecked all the transcriptions and the importance of the data that relate to each
Miller (2000) suggested the choice of legitimacy of the procedures. The discussions
about trustworthiness are governed by the research lens and its paradigm assumptions
that can help the procedures in the study. We contend that in this study, the plausibility
was determined by the response of the informants. Silverman (2007) posed the
questions on “Does it matter?” and “How the credibility is being sustained and
recognized?”
represent a “credible” conceptual interpretation of the data drawn from the participants’
original data. (Lincoln & Guba 1985). To address credibility, we used three techniques.
and knowing the facts which are phenomenon in which our participants are included.
which extracted ideas about how they accountably managed their financial resources.
Third, we deliberately asked the informants their way of financial management and how
do it help their business to stand amidst of the challenges they face after the arrival of
the giant competitors. Our intention here was to create layers of data from each
participant.
Transferability is the degree to which the findings of this inquiry can apply or
transfer beyond the bounds of the project according to Lincoln and Guba, (1985). To
address transferability in this study, we have included in the Appendix about several of
the data analysis documents used to give answer to the research question in order to
gain access to the possible inquiry. This will give other researchers the facility to
how well the inquiry’s findings are supported by the data collected according to Lincoln
and Guba (1985) To address the issues of dependability and confirmability in this
study, we banked on an audit trail of the participants responses wherein their identity
were treated with confidentially. After the video and audion tape was transcribed, the
text were given back to the respondents for authentication and were asked to sign a
verification form. After the completion of our data analysis, the results in Chapter Four,
and the discussions in Chapter Five, our auditor had assessed carefully our audit trail
with original transcripts from the interview, data analysis documents. The auditor had
assessed the dependability and confirmability of the study by signing the verification
letter.
Ethical Consideration
serious issue for the managers and owners, especially having a giant competitor in the
the reason why some small business cannot survive in the competition. We made this
study to discuss the opinions and techniques of the entity about the issue. The very
purpose of this study was to know the financial challenges faced by retailers in the
arrival of the big competitors and in the manner what are the strategies in able for them
The main concerns of our study were individuals who are owns or managers of
a small business. Therefore, we have to ensure their safety, give full protection so that
they will not lose their trust to us. In conduction this study, we followed the ethical
standard, as pointed by (Boyatzis, 1998; Mack, et al, 2005), which are the respect for
Respect for persons needs an obligation of the researcher not to exploit the
maintain friendship, trust, and confidence among the participants and the researcher.
Before hand, we asked permission from the owners and managers where data collection
belongs, who are the research participants of our study before conducting the research
(Creswell, 2012). This was done to pay respect for the individuals concerned in the
study.
research (Creswell, 2012). This is to let all participants became aware on the purpose
and objectives of the research study that they are going to involve. Written consent was
provided for them to get theirapproval. After getting their nod, they have actively
participated the in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. Of course, they were
participants rather maximizing the profits that are due to them. Anonymity of the
interviewee was kept in order not to put each participant into risks. At all times,
participants were protected, so every files of information were not left unattended or
Confidentiality towards the results and findings including the safeguard of the
participants, coding system were used. Meaning, the participants’ identities were
hidden (Maree and Van Der Westhuizen, 2007). As recommended by Maree and Van
Der Westhuizen (2007), all materials including videotapes, encoded transcripts, notes,
and others should be destroyed after the data were being analyzed.
were afraid what to say but because of our reassurance to them in regards to the
confidentiality of their responses, they later gave me the chance and showed comfort in
answering the interview questions. We were extra careful with our questions and due
Justice requires a reasonable allocation of the risks and benefits as results of the
they generally part of the success of the research. They must be given due credits in all
their endeavors (Bloom and Crabtree, 2006). They were not able to spend any amount
during the interview. Sensible tokens were given to them as a sign of recognition to
their efforts on the study. We are hoping that through this study, they will be able to
know more about some information about ways and techniques on how will their entity
survives in count of times and maintain a good name into what positive contributions
RESULTS
the study which were gathered through in-depth interviews and a focus group
discussion are presented. With the following research questions, data production from
1. What are the financial challenges faced by small scale-retailers with the
2. How did they cope with the financial challenges faced by the business?
This chapter is composed of four parts. First is all about the composition of our data
that has been assembled through our interview. Second part is all about the themes of
our study, how it is being classified with the help of our data analyst. Third part deals
about the answers we gathered in the in-depth interviews and focused group discussion
under each research problem. And lastly, part four includes the outline of responses
Participants
Key Informants. There were eight (8) key informants in the study, five (5) gents
and three (3) ladies who are managers or the owners of their business. The participants
Table 1.
participants who were also the managers or owners of their business. Four (4) of them
are men and the other four (4) are women. The discussion was held to achieve more
learning and to develop social construction among the participants on this study. This
is also to extract the common denominator among them experiencing the phenomenon
which would help us determine the essential themes for this research. To make their
identity obscure, the participants were also given pseudonyms which were presented in
Table 1.
The key informants and the participants in the FGD answered the same set of
were able to get in touch with them and invited them for an interview for our studies
which then were accepted. We did get satisfying and informational answers we needed
from the interaction we made with the participants. We were able to know what their
Categorization of Data
After the in- depth interviews and the focused group discussion, data from the
video recordings were directly transcribed and for those answers in vernacular were
carefully translated into English and is also analyzed. Three steps were being taken
during the data analysis that consists of data reduction, data display, drawing conclusion
and verification. These were done in order to identify core and essential themes about
To delete unnecessary data from the transcription, data reduction was employed
to convert those data into essential and logical material, in order to simply understand
by many (Moustakas, 1994; Creswell, 2012). In data reduction, answers from the
interview were translated, grouped and organized without using any software. Thematic
analysis was the approach used in pairing and separating data a way of sorting and
categorizing. Through data reduction, the lengthy and large volumes of qualitative data
gathered came out consolidated and manageable, easier to control and understood. We
also asked for assistance from a professional who was expert on analyzing the data. In
data display, the findings were presented in a table shown in Table 2, 3, and 4.
Lincoln (2000), in answering accuracy during the data collection which includes
ferreted out the data first by providing the participants a copy of transcripts of the
interview and FGD proceeding. After they signified their approval by signing the
triangulation allows confidence for the conclusion of the study. Data gathered from
varied resources.
records on how qualitative study conducted. This is to review what has been done and
transferability, sufficient information on the context was carried out on the bit not
A study is trustworthy of the reader, of the research report judges it to be so, making
Participants’ Information
Research Question No. 1: What are the financial challenges faced by small scale-
In the in-depth interview and focus group discussion, questions were asked to
the participants for the discussion for the first research problem in order to draw
comprehensive ideas. To do so, the following questions were asked: (a) Does the arrival
of the ‘Big Players’ give positive or negative impact to your business? How? (b) How
did the monthly turnover/sales increased or decreased since the opening of the
shopping malls? (c) What are the financial problems, if any, that you’ve encountered
during the arrival of the big establishments in your place? Is there an increase in the
rate of the trade discount you offered? (d) For how long did you experienced recession
after their arrival? (e) Did you came to the point where you have to close your business
because of the effect? What then are the factors that made the business reached its
struggling point?
And through the data we gathered from the experiences of our participants we
came up into four themes as presented in Table 2 such as Decreased on Sales and Profit,
Table 2
Essential Themes and Core Ideas based from the Challenges of Merchandise
declined, overall.
We were worried about where to find
decreased.
B. Incapacitation to Compensate
before.
One of the major problems faced by our participants is the decrease on sales and
profit. Sales, on the majority of the businesses, decreased since the arrival of these giant
competitors. Businesses sold less than their normal earnings and it directly affects their
profit. They tend to have it lower compared to their profit without these giant
competitors.
customer preferences.
(FGD_1-Q1)
(Negative, a bit, because our sales decrease due
AJI 3 (false name) told about the effect of the nature of the competition to their
business.
(IDI_1-Q1)
declined, overall.)
RON (not his real name) talked about the struggle on covering up the expenses
namo.” (FGD_1-Q5)
This is the return of the business relative to what it had invested. Deals with the
amount you invest to the entity and the profit you get in return. This relates to payback
period which means how long did you compensated what you have invested. If a
business doesn’t have the capability to compensate, there is a high probability that the
entity will be on its bottom point. The return on investment would be low and would
AJI 3 (false name) said that their sales is not enough to compensate the liabilities
VERONICA (pseudonym) shared that they were not able to return to their
ug pilian.” (FGD_1-Q4)
options.)
RON (pseudonym) talked about the trouble on finding the funds for payments.
“Pag-abot sa Mall X ug Mall Y mga 2015 ata
SPIDERMAN (not his real name) said about how the decrease on sales made
(FGD_1-Q4)
for the loan did not came from the business, it’s
Market Price
Market Price is the price of which an asset or commodities can be sold. Because
of these giant competitors, business people would lower their prices or give discounts
to gain sales from the customer. Thus, their sales would tend to be lower to what we
they have before because their products are cheaper to what it should be.
HARRY (false name) stated that due to the discounts they gave, profit is
negatively affected.
RON (pseudonym) shared about the real struggle as the result of discounting.
Q3)
ATHENA (pseudonym) shared about how low their mark-ups are just to gain
(IDI_2-Q4)
(Our price here are set very low just to attract customers. We
Research Question No. 2: How did they cope with the financial challenges faced by
the business?
After the challenges were known, the following questions were asked during
the in-depth interview and focus group discussion to discover how they managed to
stay in the competition despite the challenges they had faced. (a) What are the strategies
they applied in order to survive the competition brought by the malls? (b) What are the
steps of small business owners/managers ought to make to maintain the stability of the
business? (c) How did you manage your financial resources upon arrival of your big
competitors? (d) What are your ways to attract your customers and to increase your
profit? (e) In your observation, has the number of businesses increased, declined or
From the data that we collected using the above questions we came up into four
essential themes as shown in Table 3. These are Marketing Strategy, Friendly Approach
Table 3
Essential Themes and Core Ideas based from the Coping Up Stage of the
A. Marketing Strategy
in malls.
with malls.
B. Friendly Approach to
the buyers.
C. Cut Down Expenses
it.
income.
D. Financing
Chinese.
E. Diversification
construction materials.
Marketing Strategy
find the best way or approaches that can lead to the customer to be their solid customers.
Businesses must be able to find ways and techniques for them to sustain their business.
SPONGEBOB (pseudonym) have taken the course of action needed for the
Q2)
PERCY (false name) told us about the items that they prioritized in low pricing.
The same with NEWT (not his real name) where they offered products that are
people’s needs.)
ADELINE (alias) said that they’ve taken the safety measures to stay in the
ipangbundle.” (FGD_2-Q1)
In the business world your customer is the most important person you need to
care. Without them you cannot earned a profit, so, we must able to serve them with
proper care and approach them in a friendly manner, maintaining a good relationship
HERMIONE (false name) have shared about giving their customers the feeling
(FGD_2-Q4)
ADELINE (not her real name) also shared the same thoughts.
AJI 3 (not her real name) have explained on applying the sales talk on the
business.
kabuok.” (IDI_2-Q1)
the customers.
(IDI_2-Q1)
Cut-down Expenses
An expense is needed in the business but too much expense is not a good
indicator of proper management. For the participants cutting down expenses is one way
expenses.
SPONGEBOB (false name) cut down their expenses and made adjustments to
income.” (IDI_2-Q3)
income.)
He further added about acquiring properties to lessen the rental cost.
expense.” (IDI_1-Q4)
less expense.)
RON (not his real name) declared that laying-off employees was one of their
gina-offer.” (IDI_2-Q1)
Financing
Financing means fund that is added to your investments. Financial institutions
such as banks, credit unions and financing company lend money to help other people
especially business people in able for them to have money to sustain their respective
business with a promise that they will pay them in the future. Some participants lend
AJI 3 (false name) admitted that they have been adding their initial capital after
MARGARETH (pseudonym) also did the same by borrowing from the bank.
ATHENA (false name) said that they opt to loan and spend it for acquisition of
Q3)
cope.)
SPONGEBOB (pseudonym) shared about how the owner of the business made
Diversification
new market or industry in which it doesn't currently operate, and in the same time
creating a new product for that new market. This was the other strategy on whom some
participant was using in able to survive in the business industry. Aside from their main
focus they have their line of services or products which are different from the latter.
MARGARETH (false name) declared that they were able to enter into contracts
with their customers and helped them to be independent from their walk in customers.
DepEd.)
MAKI (pseudonym) shared on how the nature of their business helped them
managed to stay.
(malls).)
SPIDERMAN (not his real name) revealed that one of their major solution is
Q1)
materials.)
nila.” (FGD_2-Q1)
In this chapter we will able to discuss the results of the study as well as their
conclusion and the impact for future research anchored on the themes developed during
data analysis. The focused of this study is challenges of merchandise retailers against
big players.
those retailers against their big competitor. Moreover this study not only focuses on the
strategies and coping mechanisms of the respective individuals involved on this study.
This study also investigate how do retailers survive despite of the bigger challenges
they faced.
perception of the events created that was perceived in the actual world. Using these
kind of methodology, it allow us to know the “real essence” of our study which cannot
Phenomenology helps researchers to explore the concepts from new and fresh
perspectives of each of the participants. (Creswell, 1998; Sanders, 1982; Cohen, Kahn
individual experiences by those people involved in this study, this methodology is really
rather than natural science-like knowledge. (Sanders, 1982; Von Eckartsberg, 1986;
Moustakas, 1994).
Manen (1990) added that phenomenological study aims to define the meaning
Researchers must focus on describing what all the participants have in common as they
share the same phenomenon. The basic purpose of this methodology is to reduce
individual experiences with a phenomenon. The researchers collect data and develops
a composite description of the essence of the experiences of individuals and this consist
of “what” they experienced and “how” they experience it. Moustakas (1994)
valuable to the participants of the study. The participants of the study must be carefully
chosen to be individuals who have all experience the phenomenon in question, so that
In the interview researchers become the learners and the participants become
the expert. Thus in conducting the study the participants play the most important role,
so that their specific experiences can be distinguished. The respondents of this study
were the merchandise retailers of Nabunturan who have been in the business for a very
long time. The participants through an in-depth interview and focus group discussion
share the same experiences, strategies and coping mechanism. Also we highlighted the
challenges and strategies of those business people in able to get a reliable information
for the results of this study. In order for those participating individuals not to be
hesitated and feel awkward we gave them the assurance that we are conducting the
study with proper ethics in conduct of the investigation and we are maintaining
confidentiality.
In conducting the study we feel that there are participants who are
uncomfortable in sharing their experiences and in the same time they feel awkward if
they are directly been questioned but because we gave them the copy of our questions
beforehand, the interview went smoothly Each of them gave the answer we’ve been
asking for. They participate well despite of the awkwardness they feel. Their
participation gave us these following themes which are the results of the information
Decreased on Sales and Profit. Most of the business were operated for more
than how many years, for those years they operated, their sales and profit were
extremely good. Despite of the other competitors who are arising they are able to
maintain their good profit, but when those giant business came around and took
advantage of investing their business in that locality, businesses around the capital feel
the burden of decreasing sales and profit. Despite of their long years in the business this
tragedy still affect them. Most of them answered that their sales and profit have been
positively decreasing since the arrivals of this big business. They sold less than what
they earn before this incident happen. As we asked them they quickly answered that
the major effect of this events to them was their business is now having a decreased on
sales and profit. Negative revenue variances occurs when revenues from a business
project are lower than expected. This may occur because the expected budget was
different from the actual budget and the return on investment was not high enough as it
was. It may occur also when the income reports from one year are lower than the
different reasons these occur can take more digging before you can stem the tide of
profit erosion. Understanding common factors that reduce business profits will help you
take steps to address them and spot problems quickly before they get out of hand,
(Ashe-Edmunds, 2018), therefore, the market must always be considered a vital factor
in revenue variance. Sometimes a business can plan out every move and the market can
still abruptly shift, leading to a loss in sales or, often, a transposition in sales as
consumers begin to prefer one feature or product over another. This is largely outside
of the control of the company and can always create negative returns on a project that
decreasing sales and profit, there are certain business who cannot afford to cover up all
those expenses. There liabilities is much greater than their assets, sometimes they only
depend to what their store could carry. They have tons of loans which sometimes they
don’t know where to find resources to pay them all. For that they reason they sometimes
used their personal money to cover those liabilities they owe. It is difficult for them
because their sales has been aggressively decreasing due to arrivals of these giants.
They cannot bring back all those losses they have. If before they are known to be the
most expensive retailer now they are just a mere business who only look for an income
to sustain their business. And those income cannot compensate anymore to what they
have invested on that business. Rhodes and Shelter (2009) discusses that we don’t have
an easy solutions and direct effective strategies to anticipate crisis effects. In the wake
of the economic crisis, many firms were faced with severe threats that called for an
immediate action to ensure firm survival. When choosing the measures to cope with the
crisis situation, responsible decision makers were confronted with challenge to manage
well the trade-off between the benefits and costs of short term crisis. On the one hand,
short term action like massive cost-cutting, cash generation, shorter reporting cycles,
increased employee monitoring and tight budget control seemed necessary to cope with
measures might damage the long-term growth potential and go at the expense of the
long-term health of the firm as key stakeholder relations may be irreversibly harmed.
declining sales market price were greatly affected. Business people tend to lower their
price for them to attract their customer and have their sales. They usually don’t care
how much is their mark-up, they only care was to have a sales so sometimes they lower
their profit and in the same time they gave bigger discounts than they usually could.
We’ve been witnessed how big were the discounts they gave to their customers. We’ve
been seen also how cheap their prices were. Business individuals took the risk of
offering a lower prices despite of the possibility that they may receive a smaller income.
It has been said by Montenegro (2017) that the price has a major influence on
sales. In essence, a high price can maximize short term profit, while low price can
maximize long term profit, as it generally attracts more customer and helps the business
gain market share price. There are businesses who use discount pricing to sell low
priced products in high volumes. With this strategy, it is important to decreased costs
and stay competitive. Large retailers are able to demand discounts as they buy in bulk,
but not alone discounting can compete with other business (Melanie, 2017).
Consider product positioning before choosing a discount pricing
strategy. Consumers can often associate low price with low quality, even more true
when the brand name is not familiar. Implementing a discount pricing strategy increases
the chance that your product will be perceived as lower in quality. While you may gain
customers, that make decisions on price alone, other customers may choose competitor
products because of perceived quality. Low prices may drive sales for a limited time,
but do not build customer loyalty. When a lower priced alternative comes along, you
may lose your market share. Competitors can simply match your prices, or beat them.
When prices have been driven down to absolute low prices, it is difficult to raise prices
again, especially if your product is perceived as being lower in quality. (Melanie, 2017)
In the information we gather through the in-depth interviews and focused group
discussion, we came up to the following themes about how the participants cope with
sometimes can be a great advantage. Lower prices means more customer, as consumer
finds way to lessen their everyday cost they tend to prefer to buy their needs in those
business who offer lower prices. Where they can also ask for a discount, not like those
malls which they cannot ask for a discount, another strategy they were using was to
know the basic needs of the individuals, those businesses around the capital were
operated by the owners also. They have the direct contact to the customers which lead
them to know directly what the needs of their customer are. Especially if there are
special events in that locality, they were the first person to know what the necessities
are. They also ride on what is in, they are updated to what is new trends of today, if the
malls has their customer loyalty card, those businesses also has their own way of
patronage card. According to Business Queensland (2016), marketing strategy will help
a certain business to realize its goals and can build strong foundation in the business. A
good strategy helps you attract customers, it can involves creating two or more ideas
which can raise awareness and sells your products. Montenegro (2017) also discusses
that when a customer went to your store and cannot find the things they need it can
create a negative impact to your customers which might lead to losses of your sales.
Overall a business must use their tactical marketing mix using the 7P’s of marketing if
a certain business can able to choose the right combination of marketing across product,
price, promotion, place, people, process, physical evidence, then your marketing
business, owners and managers have these strong connection to the customer, they have
their own suki. They maintain their relationship very well. They took good care of
them. For them customers are as valuable as a precious stones. Their sales agent has
their good way to approach their customer, the way they entertain them was as if they
were long term friends. They talk like they know them for how many years. Yes this is
indeed a good strategy. For in the business world, customers is the most precious people
you’ve met. You need to good care of them like a good father in the family. Malls may
have their customer’s loyalty but they don’t have this kind of connection between their
agents and customer like those business people who treated their customer as their long-
time friends. Communicating and establishing relationships are really the essence of a
business. They don’t have to take a long time and often happen in an instant. Do not let
your customer be your enemy. More than likely, a negative relationships has been
created before any business are transacted. These connections, as simple and quick as
they are, are moments of truth for the customer. (Dummies, 2010).
Your early customers are the most important relationships of your business’ life.
Why trust them to a software program that wants to drip vague, soap-boxy messages to
them at predetermined intervals? Get on the phone, skype, e-mail, Twitter, Facebook,
LinkedIn or livechat and hear what they are thinking. If you can, walk out to the front
of the store and talk to them yourself! For new (and new-at-heart) businesses your
market research, sales efforts, customer service and brand development are all coming
from that same relationship. Spend as much time as you can nurturing it. (O’Hara, 2012)
Cut Down Expenses. In able for the business to survive, they must have their
business, cut down their unnecessary expenses. We lessened their expenses and did
some adjustments so that their expenses will exceed to their sales which might can lead
them to any losses. There are businesses also who have cut down their number of
of business process management that focused on cutting the expenses while improving
the customer services. (Porter, 2010). It means that you can cut unnecessary expenses
which cannot affect the business those which are not important on running down the
business. When a financial institutions get fail to get it right, then the cost is high.
Consider an error-ridden letter. It sets off a chain reaction that reverberates throughout
the organization. It has the power to frustrate and alienate customers; consume
significant resources; breach compliance issues and can create unfunded liabilities;
As you begin your quest for administrative cost savings, keep two key points in
mind:
First, forget about finding a single idea that would radically change the cost
structure of your organization or department, thereby solving your problem in one go.
(If such an idea existed, it would most likely entail so much risk that the organization
would never be willing to implement it.) Instead, you should plan to reach your goal
reductions will usually be proportional to the degree of cutting you do. Therefore, you
should tailor the reductions you pursue to your savings goal. Incremental ideas with
minimal impact on other departments can allow you to trim up to 10% of costs.
moderate impact on other departments, and can help cut expenses by up to 20%. Cross-
department and program-elimination ideas are usually necessary when you’re aiming
for 30% or more, but they have the greatest potential to be organizationally disruptive.
(Coyne, 2010)
Unless cost cutting is new to the company, you’ve already done away with most
parties, event tickets, and tuition reimbursement. If that’s the case, don’t try to eliminate
more—you probably can’t. Instead, see if you can consolidate what’s left. Combine
activities like training days and celebrations into single events. Combine events across
determined that Parents’ Weekend and Homecoming were both far too valuable to
eliminate—but found that it could save close to 40% of the combined cost by holding
losses. They need to add capital in the business. Not only because they are incapable,
but because there are business who have been demolished because the location on
where they stand for how many years is the same location on where those giant business
where to be built and because of that they need extra capital to refinance their business.
So most of the business had their loan to add up to their capital. Capital planning and
capital structure are identified with financing and speculation choices of the firm. The
corporate fund writing in the past has concentrated broadly on the investigation of long
valuation of choices. (Raheman and Nasar, 2007). As the three general authors
(Robbins and Pearce 1993), Michael and Robins, 1998, Latham 2009) discussed that
the most important victims of a prolonged crisis, such as economic downturns, because
of limited resources and dependence on banks’ lending, paying such high interest rates
are the SME’s. Adding to the financial aspect, their relative shortcomings in terms of
overcome the economic crisis. On the other hand, their greater dependence on (fewer)
customers and suppliers and markets may lead to increased difficulties in maintaining
their activity in the face of the crisis. Papaoikonomou & all, (2012) argue that in this
context, most SMEs suffered from demand shock (Butler and Sullivan 2005,
Papaoikonomou & all, 2012; Robbins and Pearce, 2010; Latham 2009; Michael and
Robbins 2011).
most of the business around the capital were affected. And some of them are
incapacitate to compensate all the losses they had, so instead of investing more capital
to continue the business they diversified their business into a newer kind. A new line
of business which cannot be seen to those establishment like food related businesses,
change of tires and wheel service and many more. There are also businesses on which
they are not only focusing into one services but they can provide an extra kind of
services to the customers like aside from selling supplies they can also made a
customize plaques, medals and tarpaulins under the specification of the customer.
demand shocks. The use of plant-level knowledge and taking productivity and optimum
firm size under consideration, they notice that the resource allocation of more wide-
ranging companies is in line with values increasing. Gomes and Livdan (2012) develop
companies diversify for 2 reasons. Firstly, once an exact time span, investment in an
exceedingly firm’s current business is not any longer profitable, in order that
diversification becomes a rational strategy for companies that have too little profited in
their core business. Secondly, distributed companies will use economies of scope,
Gomes and Livdan (2012) argue that the endogenous choice mechanism - that
businesses - accounts for the discount on the worth of distributed companies. Bernardo
life cycle, from being specialized in discovering broader investment opportunities, and
eventually ending up either focused or diversified, once having learned regarding their
resources throughout this method. Provided that young companies have a lot of to find
out regarding their resources, their volatility of resource uncertainty is higher, that
Yan et al. (2010) give empirical proof of the worth of internal capital markets
in an exceedingly depressed capital market setting. Their study, however the investment
sectional analysis over the amount 1985 to 1997, Yan et al. (2010) notice that company
prices at the political economy level, whereas it remains constant for diversified
single-segment companies, even after they don't have any price advantage in raising
throughout recessions.
Yan et al. (2010) notice that the inner capital allocation of distributed
conditions. Moreover, the surplus values of distributed companies are less negatively
affected than those of centered companies, once external capital becomes additional
expensive. Hence, Yan et al. (2010) argue that internal capital markets appear to make
connected study, Hovakimian (2011) seeks to determine whether or not the potency of
external capital over the amount 1980 to 2008. In line with Yan et al. (2010), he finds
that the investment efficiency of distributed companies improves once external capital
markets are distressed. The proof suggests that in recessions, distributed companies
modify their capital allocation in favor of their high-q segments, whereas cutting
are considerably higher for financially forced companies. Binding monetary constraints
ones.
Competition is one of the biggest challenge in the business world, from small
competitors to a larger one, each of them can either help your business succeed or not
or it may a way to generate a new thing. For us as a future accountant it can be a way
for us to show what we are capable for. We can learn so many ways on how this
individual succeed despite of the tight situation they are facing for a long period of time,
for learning from our experience and from other people can be our edge someday, for
experience is the best education every individual could have. Having this kind of study
is one of the greatest experience we could ever had, we learned a lot from every
participants on which if ever someday we would continue our path leading to us as a
successful accountant could be a use in any possible means in every situation we may
face.
In seeking for the challenges faced by every business who has been operating
for a very long time upon the arrival of this giant competitors, three problem were
Compensate Invested Capital, and Market price, this was the result of the big
competition brought by the giant competitors upon their arrivals, but despite of this
kind of situation the participants showed that they something they could offer to solve
marketing strategy to sell their products or services. Each and every business has its
own unique way of selling their respective product or services in order to gain sales. As
an accounting student we have learned that aside from the four fields in practice where
we can able to use our skills and abilities as an accountant, our profession has been
evolve to a greater scope through periods of time. We have this specific field where can
use all the lessons we’ve learned from our experience, this is the field of consultancy.
businessmen who may have suffered any problems in their business. And all the
information we gather from this study, all the strategies used by our participants may
able to help us and other people in the future. For there are a lot of areas in our country
who have still don’t have any malls or any giant competitors that emerge in their
respective vicinity. Through the means of consultancy we can use this information to
guide every business especially small businesses who may suffer the same threat, on
how they can able to survive the competition. We can be a tool to any client to not just
survive but to stay in the business and faced all the matters they faced however how big
In the fields of accountancy, every accountant must have the ability to handle
their respective client, they must able to know what must be the proper way to approach
them, especially if you are in the fields of consultancy where there are client who are
hard headed and stubborn, you must able to know how to approach them, so that in the
same manner you can able to determine what must be the specific problem the client
may face, and sometimes also a client may consult you but they don’t really know what
their problem is so you need to find a way to know the possible problem and solutions
by means of talking them in the most suitable way, same as what we did by our
participant they know what are the needs of every individual by means of talking them,
for there are also this kind of customer on which they forget what must be the item they
need to buy ,and their they have this saleslady suggesting to them every item they have
with the hopes that the product the customer want is in their store.
Cost Management Accounting, in this field we’ve been taught the importance
of cost and on how to properly allocate them in order to gain profit. It has been natural
for every business to eliminate unnecessary expenses to reduce cost. There are a lot of
ways to eliminate this kind cost which every business may incur. If you are in the
management accounting field your focus is the internal needs of the business this means
order to prevent any loss, fraud or error. Without proper control in the internal
every transaction, and they must apply the necessary ethics as accountant to prevent
any malicious acts. They must analyze if the business has the need to have so many
employees, are this individuals helpful to the company? Are those fancy things that has
been given to the managers and suppliers necessary? Are these expenses not really
excessive? And so on. This are the very few questions that must be internalize by any
every transaction of the business and to make a financial report that can be used as a
tool in making an economic decision. Through the financial report, the entity must
decide whether they must refinance the business or not. If there are any intentional or
unintentional errors in making the financial report it can greatly affect the business,
doing such so is illegal and violation to the rules in the code of ethics of being an
accountant. For there are a lot of businesses that they used an accountant in doing
malicious acts to manipulate the report. They intentionally mislead the users of the
reports for a reasons especially if that certain reason is to avoid paying higher taxes.
However in the end it is only the decision of the accountant if he must follow such
This study shows what are the challenges faced by merchandise retailers amidst
big players, its importance and benefits. In line with this it must be acknowledge the
importance of those challenges and strategies who are facing bigger competitors which
business, taxes which are impose are the life blood of our economy, without these taxes
our economy cannot survived because it doesn’t have any funds which can support the
need of our country. So it must be very important that the government must ensure that
the owners will provided enough knowledge on how they can able to survive in this
kind of situation , especially to those areas where infrastructure are about to grow.
Government can provide seminars that offer business individual with the proper
On the Community. Community is where the market can be found. The market is where
the consumers and the suppliers met. In this place entrepreneur can able to find
information they can use for the future. The realization and importance of how to face
bigger competitors and how to cope with it may give the community the chance to
provide the immediate help for those entrepreneur in regards of this kind of situation.
In as much as this study where concern in the business individuals in the locality of
First, since the findings of this study are not generalizable between the sixteen
amidst big competitors with another group of participants in order to strengthen the
Second, future researchers may conducted in some other places in the Region
XI and other regions to add more information and insights from other merchandise
other individuals to find out if their views have not change in about challenges of
retailers faced the challenges and survive amidst the bigger competitors in their own
respective way.
The results of this study were collected from the voices of the owners, managers
and supervisors of their respective businesses who have the knowledge on the operation
of the business. Further related or similar study may be conducted in order to confirm
Conclusion
Winston Churchill once said, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the
courage to continue that counts.” This is what we saw in the eyes of those who
struggled, pained and bruised yet still chose to get up and conquer. This study was
conducted not just to know but also to learn how the entrance of the big players affect
the existing retail stores and what they did to keep their business alive.
Everyone has their downfalls and uplifting moments. Most of the time, we are
battling with the uncertainties of life. Sometimes, we overcome it, sometimes, we don’t.
But despite the break downs, we still strive to achieve our main goals. This could be
observed in our participants. As we conducted the interview, we were able to dig deeper
on their situations, one that even their customers can barely see. And we’re very
thankful for we have given the chance to earn their trust and though some of them
maybe felt awkwardness but still they willingly participated the activity.
From the data we gathered, we came up with a conclusion that most of the
existing retail stores were negatively affected by the arrival of the big players in
Nabunturan, ComVal Province, which we find normal when we talk about business
competition. We were also able to determine the challenges they were involved in at
the time of their (big players) entrance. As the problems arise, different entities had
their distinctive solutions, and with that, they, somehow were able to cope with those
economic trials.
In addition to those theories we provided coming from the different studies from
across the world, this research of ours had proven that not all retail stores were affected.
There were some retailers we interviewed who stated that they were not moved because
of some reasons. One was they sell products that even though similar to what malls
offer, but then they are more complete, lots of stocks, and most importantly less
expensive than on what could be bought there (malls). Also, because they are
economically stable already even before the big players arrived. Another was they have
their loyal customers who still patronizes their products even though it is much
convenient when they would buy in the mall, and the likes.
We were able to know their standpoint regarding the arrival of such competitors,
their way of survival and the stories behind the success of overcoming such. These
business entities that no matter how small, with great determination and eagerness to
succeed, they would be able to pass through those inevitable changes that might happen.
They must also possess skills and techniques on how they would handle the said
situations.
different entities, there should also be an equal attention given to the financial aspect
for it is the bloodline of the business. That whenever there would be unexpected
changes in the economy, a business man should look after the financial state to cover
some unexpected expenses and other concerns which uses money. The
accomplishments of a firm are dependent on how they make up their marketing plan
The contribution of this study lies on the challenges faced by retailers upon the
arrival of the ‘big players’ in their market. It also open doors for future researches
regarding the effects on business competition and how they are solved and other further
researches that gives light to a wide path of business competitions of SMEs across the
world.