Running a business is relatively easier when it is small, maybe just the husband-wife tandem of Pinoy Entrepreneurs classified as small or medium enterprise (SME). The challenges multiply with the growth of the business. More advanced accounting and record-keeping tools are needed, for instance. The increase in the number of employees, but itself, creates challenges that Pinoy entrepreneurs must face. The challenge is not only with respect to salaries and other benefits, but also to the liability of entrepreneurs face for acts of their employees.

Businesses may, in certain situations, have no choice but to increase prices. While Pinoy Entrepreneurs may work to keep prices low, some may be trying to artificially jack up prices. When such happens, one of the tools often cited to control prices is the Price Act (Republic Act 7581). Price manipulation is declared illegal under this law. There are three acts considered as price manipulation, punishable by imprisonment:

Pinoy Entrepreneurs could harness the benefits of a cooperative in setting up a viable cooperation among various interested individuals. A cooperative is a duly registered association of persons with a common bond of interest, who have voluntarily joined together to achieve a lawful common social or economic end, making equitable to contribution to the capital required and accepting a fair share of the risks and benefits of the undertaking in accordance with universally accepted cooperative principle.

You may be wondering why this post is included in this blog about business and Pinoy Entrepreneurs. Why would it matter if the Philippines’ champion, Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao, defeat the Dangerous David Diaz their WBC lightweight championship fight dubbed “Lethal Combination”? It means a lot. For Manny, it means millions of pesos in big-money earnings. (You do the math: at least US$3 million purse, not including his share in the HBO pay-per-view. Incidentally, you'll have a hard time looking for  youtube videos of the fight because of copyright claim of HBO.). For the rest of us Filipinos, it shows that the Filipino could compete with the best in the world and win. Even with the intense competition in a porous world, the Pinoy could still make it big. Perhaps we could learn from the Pacman.

In the course of running the Business Directory component of the Pinoy Entrepreneurs blog (Pinoy-Business.com), we've made certain observations on the manner that Pinoy Entrepreneurs list their respective businesses. This post is categorized under "Site Help", which would normally mean that this applies only to this blog, but the nature of the discussion below applies to any business directories, listings or online yellow pages that the Pinoy Entrepreneurs might join to further expose their business.

Maybe you've been asked by a friend to act as a co-maker in a loan obligation. You're then asked to sign a promissory note or a debt instrument which designates you as a co-maker. We usually see no problem with signing as a co-maker, especially if it's someone we know and we trust that he/she will pay the debt. I've seen, however, co-makers being held liable because the principal debtor was not able to pay. Perhaps you would want to know the extent of your liability as a co-maker before signing.

There was a previous question, in the post on How to Register a Corporation with the SEC, on the minimum capitalization of corporations. We thought this matter is a bit obvious, as this is provided under the Corporation Code. However, when there are a number of hits to this site on queries regarding the minimum capitalization of corporations, maybe there is a need to have a separate post on this matter (just like the queries on the required number of corporate directors).

As expressed by Vilfredo Pareto, 80 percent of wealth is owned by 20 percent of the population. The Pareto Rule, or the 80-20 Rule had been applied in different areas. It could mean that roughly 20% of what we do produces 80% of our wealth. It could also mean that roughly 20% of the products account for 80% of the sales. There are, of course, variations and deviations to the rule, but that’s not our concern here.