The Writings On The Wall

Learnings taught inside the classrooms come in full circle with Industry Immersions Programs which allow the students to observe, validate and experience contemporary theories in real-life applications. This has been the primal objective of the recently concluded Company Visit of Masters in Business Administration (MBA) students of Ateneo de Naga University’s Graduate School Program. Students from the Marketing Management, Development of Enterprise, Management Information Systems, Strategic Management and Management of Change subjects pulled their actions and resources together to come up with the biggest number of united delegations for an integrated industry exposure experience.


The Marketing Management class of Dr. Debbie Adriano acted as the lead proponent of this one-of-a-kind industry exposure activity. Robin Williams Jessup, the class designated leader stayed on top of the coordination activities all throughout and his efforts were replicated with the dedication and eagerness of the rest of the class members and non-formal members to make the activity come to life. Dr. Malu Barcillano and Professor Juan Raul Ll. Relloso’s on-hand and meticulous involvement in the planning process guided everyone from the ideal concepts down to the depth of questions the class would be throwing to speakers from various companies. To show ADNUs commitment to the holistic developments of its MBA students, the Office of the Graduate School under Dr. Alfredo Fabay (Dean) provided additional significant financial resource to ease the burden out from the students and push through with the valuable out-of-class learning experience.


With the communications to the different companies sent, confirmed and approved, the class embarked on an eight (8) hours journey from the famous Four Pillars of Ateneo to the legendary hot springs of Mt. Makiling in Laguna. Four spacious vans were rented to take the group to the different pre-determined companies and at quarter past eight of that starry Thursday evening they passed the gates of ADNU enroute to their destination. The group will rendezvous at a modern resort in Pansol, Laguna before proceeding to their designated company stations at Zenith Corporation (The Commissary of Jollibee), Nestle Philippines Infant Nutrition Center, Gardenia Bakeries Philippines and Coca Cola Bottlers Philippines Incorporated all located in the Province of Laguna.


More than the spiels each speaker will deliver during the scheduled company visit, as an observant and peculiar MBA student that I am (we are), there are other silent factors I am more interested in to find out. The unspoken culture, the unblemished core values, the hushed individual goal-orientations and the writings on the walls of each company and their employees speaks more than what their leaders may be saying. For this trip to be superbly exciting and worthwhile, I have added another objective on top of the class’ objectives, which is to decode the writings on the wall and benchmark the target company’s practices and status with that of my organization for progressive comparison.

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