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Department of Agribusiness Management and Entrepreneurship

College of Economics and Management
University of the Philippines Los Baños
Graduate School
Los Baños, Laguna

INDAG-AN PRIMARY MULTI-PURPOSE

COOPERATIVE (IPMC) CASE

SUBMITTED BY:
VAILOCES, MA. EMMA LUANNE
MM Cooperative Management
2016-66556

SUBMITTED TO:
ASST. PROF. LIEZEL S. CRUZ
COST 204 – COOPERATIVE ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT

11 MARCH 2020
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I. POINT OF VIEW

This case analysis will consider the point of view of Marjorie Segurigan, the Chairman of
the Board of Indag-an Primary Multi-Purpose Cooperative (IPMC). Ms. Segurigan oversees
the overall business operations, and presides general assemblies and board meetings to present
her plan thus giving her the right to decide on how to map out IPMC’s development plan.

II. CASE CONTEXT

Marjorie Segurigan, Chairman of the Board of Indag-an Primary Multi-Purpose

Cooperative (IPMC) has a major task to accomplish. She was assigned to map out IPMC’s
development plan to ensure the growth and development of the coop’s hablon business. With
the increasing competition from other hablon entrepreneurs, Ms. Segurigan realized that it was
high time that the Board took a more proactive role in strategizing IPMC’s future.
As a cooperative, IPMC has a need for more creativity and innovation in product and design
to be at par or advantageous among their competitors. Having walked through IPMC’s wide
competitive landscape, Ms. Segurigan knew that IPMC’s chances for sustainability would
require choosing an appropriate business strategy complemented by a strategic action plan.
IPMC also needed to articulate its strategic mandate – its vision, mission and goal statements.

III. PROBLEM STATEMENT

What business strategies should Indag-an Primary Multi-Purpose Cooperative (IPMC)

implement in order to attain sustainability?

IV. FRAMEWORK OF ANALYSIS

This case analysis will use both SWOT Analysis and PESTEL Analysis to clearly indicate
what are the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats of IPMC.

SWOT ANALYSIS
Internal Factors Strengths Weaknesses
The Board, along with the Chairman
Hablon products could be costly, because
M arjorie Segurigan, are proactive in
the cloth was handmade and production
terms of strategizing the coop’s growth
costs were high.
and development.
The cooperative had already stopped
production of mosquito nets and blankets
Barangay Indag-an has been a
due to the unavailability of cotton fiber –
community of handloom weavers thus
the basic material for these products -- in
weaver-members are not hard to find.
M iagao and the rest of the province of
Iloilo.
Tangible Resources Constant growth of the coop (from 70
IPM C’s hablon products could not be
members and a capital of P10,000 to 77
exactly differentiated from those of its
with 25 weaver-members and
competitors.
capitalization rose to P500,000.00).
IPM C’s hablon could only be put on
IPM C had a wide range of hablon exhibit and not for sale because the Asian
products. market preferred hablon made of natural
fiber particularly, cotton.
IPM C’s products were made of synthetic
IPM C is well-supported both by the
thread because cotton was no longer
government and private sector.
grown in the Visayan region.
The M unicipality of M iagao, Iloilo is IPM C is still using the traditional way of
Intangible Resources know to be the home of the Hablon producing hablon
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PESTEL Analysis

PESTEL ANALYSIS
External Factors Opportunities Threats
o National government agencies such as the Department of Trade
(DTI) and the Department of Agriculture bought local looms and
provided loans to the weaver-entrepreneurs.

o Funding from the Canadian International Development

Assistance (CIDA), the Local Government Unit (LGU) of M iagao
provided training on weaving with trainers from among local
weavers.
o The Local Government Unit of M iagao is proactive in terms of
Political reviving the hablon industry in their area. None
o M iagao M unicipal M ayor Gerardo Flores made the hablon
industry his priority and enlisted the help of M r. Nono Palmos, a
M iagao resident and international fashion designer, in reviving
M iagao’s hablon industry.
o Senator Loren Legarda helped facilitate a financial grant from the
British Embassy for M iagao’s hablon weaving development
project. The grant in the amount of P1.4 million (USD28,105) was
channeled to the Salakayan Foundation -- an LGU organized
foundation -- and was used for putting up the IPM C Hablon
Center in Barangay Indag-an.
o Institutional buyers included the municipal government of
M iagao, national government agencies such as the Department of
o Some of the orders for hablan textile c/o the
Tourism, and educational institutions in M iagao, which included
LGU’s and national government agencies were
the Kaularan Integrated School Foundation, Indag-an Elementary
also distributed to coop’s competitors.
School, and ISAT University. Schools ordered hablon for the
uniforms of students and faculty members.
o Individual buyers came from the nearby University of the
Philippines Visayas; walk-ins were mostly local as well as foreign o Since the hablon regained its popularity, many
tourists, balikbayans or Filipinos who were living and/or working new hablon entrepreneurs have recently emerged.
Economic abroad and were home for a vacation and usually made purchases These new entrants were taking advantage of the
of hablon products to give as pasalubongs (gifts) to loved ones and growing market for hablon products.
friends abroad.

o Other individual customers were those who bought items

displayed at trade fairs. Other individual buyers included local
o Rising prices of raw materials
designers such as members of the Designers’ Guild of Iloilo, who
integrated hablon into their designs.

o An emerging market for hand woven textile.

o The M unicipality of M iagao has been a community of weavers
o Asian market preferred hablon made of natural
Social and the tradition of handloom weaving was handed down from one
fiber particularly, cotton.
generation to another.
o Predominance of machine-made textiles which
led to decrease of number of weavers.
o Substitution of synthetic threads with the absence of cotton
Technological fiber.
o Supply of local piña (pineapple) fiber obtained
from the province of Aklan, might run out
because it was being exported to other countries.

o Polyester could not be used as substitute for

o Exploring alternatives to cotton such bougainvillea, mango, and cotton.
Environmental banana, and using only the native tawas (alum) in processing these o Synthetic fibers were processed using
plants into fiber. chemicals that could be hazardous to health.
o Climate change
o Promotion and development of cooperatives was a policy of the
Legal state thus IPM C can get national government support for its None
hablon enterprise.
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V. ANALYSIS

Resource-based Perspective

This perspective will be used in order to formulate recommendations for IPMC.

According to Barney (1991), Resource-based Theory is a strategic management theory
designed to explain why some firms perform better than others even when they occupy a very
similar business environment. It seeks to explain why some firms perform better than others
by looking to the firms’ resources. The core idea behind the resource-based view is that
competitive advantage comes from a firm’s effective use of tangible and intangible resources
or assets. Tangible assets include plant, equipment and even human resources, whereas
intangible assets include things like trade secrets and corporate reputation.

VRIO (Value, Rareness, Imitability, Organization)

Resources that are valuable, rare, and difficult to imitate or substitute are considered
to be sources of sustained competitive advantage (Barney, 1991). When such resources are
bundled or combined, they can be mutually reinforcing, further differentiating the firm’s
capabilities.
The dimensions of VRIO are:
 Value - How expensive is the resource and how easy is it to obtain on the
market (purchase, lease, rent..)?
 Rareness - How rare or limited is the resource?
 Imitability - How difficult is it to imitate the resource?
 Organization, respectively arrangement - Is the resource supported by any
existing arrangements and can the organization use it properly?
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VRIO Framework

Tool used to analyze firm’s internal resources and capabilities to find out if they can
be a source of sustained competitive advantage.

Indag-an Primary Multi-Purpose Cooperative (IPMC) and The Resource-based

Perspective
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IPMC Hablon Products and their prices are reasonable given its
Value production cost.
Hard to obtain in the market given its small niche.

Rare given the raw materials that they are using

Rareness Labor; made by weaver-members
Must be open to innovations such as new designs, etc.
Difficult when it comes to the whole Philippine textile industry
Imitability
However, it is also easy to imitate alongside their direct
competitors given that they have received the same training
Strong reputation and fully-supported by the LGUs and other
Organization
private sectors in the Municipality.

Indag-an Primary Multi-Purpose Cooperative (IPMC) Competitive Advantages

 Chairman of the Board Marjorie Segurigan is proactive in thinking of

exploring alternatives to cotton such as Bougainvillea, Mango, and Banana,
and using only the native tawas (alum) in processing these plants into fiber.
(keep on innovating)
 Strong reputation and fully-supported by the LGUs and other private sectors in
the Municipality.
 Must be open to innovations.

VI. CONCLUSION OR RECOMMENDATION

Based on the data given by the IPMC by looking into resource-based perspective, a
good business strategy for them is to improve their branding and explore other
alternatives to cotton. Given that they have a strong reputation and they are fully-
supported by the LGUs, IPMC will not going to have a hard time in terms of financial
support. However, their main concern might be the sprawling competition in the
municipality due to new entrants and every hablon business were given the same training.
IPMC should focus more on how to make their product attain competitive advantage as
opposed to competitors by boosting personal branding and opening to innovations.