INTRODUCTION TO ENTREPRENEURSHIP
WHEN SMALL IS BIG
(a book review)

(Published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Sunday Biz Section, March 29, 2008)

In the Philippines, small is big; small business is big business. Records at the Department of Trade and Industry reveal that small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), including micro-enterprises, account for 99 percent of all business establishments and 60 percent of the exporting firms in the Philippines. SMEs currently employ about 55 percent of the Philippine labor force and contribute 30 percent to total domestic sales volume.

It would seem the entrepreneurs, along with the overseas Filipino workers, are the heroes of today. Because the salvation of the Philippine economy lies a great deal on these two forces of society, both the public and the private sectors institute programs to develop their capabilities and enhance their productivity. Many universities now offer entrepreneurship as a degree program. A number of training institutions, such as the University of the Philippines Institute for Small Scale Industries (UPISSI), hold non-formal training programs on a continuous basis to stimulate new business creation.

For their education, those with entrepreneurial dreams or inclinations either earn formal degrees or attend non-formal courses. Others apprentice themselves. The more daring ones just try out on their own without any preparation, with unpredictable results.

    Others read books to supplement whatever knowledge or skills are being imparted in formal and non-formal programs or to get a comprehensive view of this intriguing field, or both.
It is to all these types of aspiring entrepreneurs – those wishing to learn to start and manage their business through formal education, in seminars, or through their own self-learning -- that the book Introduction to Entrepreneurship has a consistent appeal.
First published in 1989 by the Small Enterprises Research and Development Foundation (SERDEF) in cooperation with the Philippine Association of Colleges and Schools of Business, Introduction to Entrepreneurship is considered the first comprehensive text and reference book on the subject in the context of the Philippine business setting.
The book has sold over 10,000 copies of which 90% found a market among college students of business and entrepreneurship, who took it as a required subject or as an elective in their degree programs. In 1997, SERDEF and UPISSI revised it to incorporate more recent developments in the discipline, catering mostly to the needs of entrepreneurship education which had become a major field of study in many business schools.

            While remaining faithful to its original framework, the 2007 edition now includes chapters that address the specific needs of beginning entrepreneurs on the difference between a feasibility study and a business plan (chapter 10), how to prepare the business plan workbook (chapter 11) and on how to register a business (chapter 12). Appropriately opening with chapters on contextualizing entrepreneurship in cognitive concepts such as human development (chapter 1) , Philippine culture (chapter 2) and the Philippine Environment (chapter 4), the content flows smoothly from one chapter to the next to focus on operational ideas and strategies such as Opportunity Identification and Selection (chapter 5); Marketing Goods and Services (chapter 6); Producing Goods and Services (chapter 7); Organizing the Enterprise (chapter 8) ; and Managing the Financial Aspects of the Enterprise (chapter 9). However, before one decides to go into entrepreneurship, it may help to read “Appraising and Developing Yourself for an Entrepreneurial Career” (chapter 3). The book ends where the new business begins, that is, registering it. The disengagement between the reader and the writer at the end of the book happens not tragically nor in an ill-timed manner, for the writers have prepared the reader in terms of adequate practical information necessary for the reader to take it up from here and to move beyond the pages of the book into actual application.

            Written in simple, clear and effective English language, Introduction to Entrepreneurship takes the reader to a tour of significant arenas in business-making in small and medium enterprises, not only to develop appreciation for what entrepreneurship is all about and what it takes to engage in this venture, but also to stimulate interest and possibly passion to take it up, and if that succeeds, to equip the reader with the tools to pursue it as a career or as a vocation.

            As most non-fiction goes, Introduction to Entrepreneurship could have been a heavy read with its treasure trove of concepts, boring to some readers if not presented interestingly, thus threatening to lose its reader along the way. However, this publication succeeds to keep the reader afloat, glued to the pages, engaged in thought-processing with the writers, even in a sea of mind-boggling discourse, by humanizing the ideas with caselets, illustrations, human-interest stories, diagrams and charts, that bring the thoughts alive, concrete and comprehensible.

            As a textbook or reference material, this book will delight the faculty and students with the “Learning Objectives” at the beginning of every chapter and the “Questions for Discussion” at the end, both of which heighten focus to the learning experience in the classroom.

            If only the printer used a larger font, the readership could have been expanded to include senior citizens or those with poor eyesight.
Notwithstanding this minor flaw, as the UPISSI Director and SERDEF Executive Director Ruperto P. Alonzo said, Introduction to Entrepreneurship is an “even more useful, relevant, and timely guide to students as well as other readers who want to seriously consider entrepreneurship as a career option.” Credit goes to UPISSI’s stable of editors and writers to include Myrna Co, Arlene Eleanor Liberal, Celia Pascual, Marco Rasos, Christine Pardiñas, Antonio Maghirang, Crispina Almonte, Luisa Solarte, Salvador Sibayan, Gloria Recio and Merceditas Esguerra. .

Note: (1) For inquiries about copies of Introduction to Entrepreneurship, contact Myrna. Co or Ving Cinco at Tel. 928-7076 to 79 or info.issi@up.edu.ph. (2) The author, Edna de los Santos, PhD, is a faculty member of the FEU FERN College and a lecturer in entrepreneurship and effective business communication programs of the UPISSI.