Review of Related Literature

The education system in the Philippines embraces formal and non-formal

education. It is closely related to the American mode of education, which has 12 years

basic education. The levels of education namely; elementary, secondary and tertiary

levels comprise the formal education. However, non-formal education includes

education opportunities, even outside school premises, that facilitate achievement of

specific learning objectives for particular clienteles, especially the out of-school youths

or adult illiterates who cannot avail of formal education. Examples of this are TESDA

programs for non-literate and semi-literate adults, which integrate basic literacy with

livelihood skills training.

The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) serves as

the Philippines' Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) authority. As a

government agency, TESDA is tasked to both manage and supervise the Philippines'

Technical Education and Skills Development (TESD). Its goals are to develop the

Filipino workforce with "world-class competence and positive work values" and to

provide quality technical-educational and skills development through its direction,

policies, and programs conducted and delivered by various public and private training

centers.

TESDA training centers and other private Technical Vocational Institutions are

given the responsibility to conduct training for programs registered under (UTPRAS)

which primarily focus on job-specific training to students who are typically bound for one
of the skilled trades rather than providing academic training for students pursuing

careers in a professional discipline.

Each training center as individual business entity that operates separately, the

organizational capability should be ensured to sustain the operation and drives

meaningful business results. The skills and knowledge of a company's workforce allow

the organization to direct those skills to achieve the business's goals. Leadership,

customer connection, process excellence and people engagement are organizational

capabilities that ensure a capable workforce. To maintain the capability, organization

should ensure the workforce has the resources available to improve continuously.

Managing a talented workforce is an organizational capability that provides a

competitive advantage in the marketplace.

In business like managing TESDA training center, leadership is linked to

performance and any leadership has to consider that. It is not solely about profit, those

who are viewed as effective leaders are those who increase their company's bottom

lines. If an individual in a leadership role does not meet profit expectations set by

boards, the higher management or shareholders may terminate the concerned leader.

To be effective, a leader certainly has to manage the resources at her disposal.

Leadership also involves communicating, inspiring and supervising - just to name three

more of the primary skills a leader has to have to be successful. Leaders listen to the

clients needs and unique issues, design, implement, track, and refine each element to

harness the maximum possible result and establish good customer connection.
 To ensure the continued growth and competitiveness of the training center in the

market, good customer relationship between the organization and its trainees shall be

taken into considerations. This is an organizational capability that affects revenues,

reputation and loyalty of trainees for future business. Maintaining existing relationships

with customers as well as developing new ones ensures the company will grow and

thrive in the future. A lean manufacturing environment is a capability that focuses on the

voice of the customer and meeting demand. This improves the relationship with the

customer for the business.

However, the maintaining good customer relationship entails effectiveness and

efficiency. It requires processes to be designed and improved for consistent delivery

with minimum variation and minimum waste. Process excellence consists of having

simple, fast, repeatable and error-proof business processes that would strengthen the

trust of the clientele. All employees are expected to deliver consistent process to

achieve the desired goals.

Employee engagement drives performance. Engaged employees look at the

whole of the company and understand their purpose, where, and how they fit in.

Organizations with an engaged workforce outperform their competition. They have a

higher earning per share (EPS) and recover more quickly after recessions and financial

setbacks. Engagement is a key differentiator when it comes to growth and innovation. A

company that has an effective employee engagement strategy and a highly engaged

workforce is more likely to retain top performers as well as attract new talent.

Successful organizations are value-driven with employee-centric cultures.

programs, which are divided into four distinct training modalities: School-Based

Programs, Center-Based Programs, Community-Based Programs, and Enterprise-

Based Programs.

School-based programs are TVET programs that are directly delivered or

provided by TESDA-administered schools. Currently, there are 57 TESDA-administered

schools, 19 of which are agriculture schools, 7 are fishery schools and 31 are trade

schools. School based programs include post-secondary offerings of varying duration

not exceeding three years. There are training provisions or programs that are being

offered in TESDA Regional and Provincial Centers throughout the country. There are

fifteen (15) Regional Centers and forty-five (45) provincial centers, adding up to a total

of 60 centers that provide center-based programs. Such programs are offered under

selected trade areas in the different regions and provinces of the country. Moreover,

Enterprise-based programs are training programs that are being implemented within

companies or firms. Lastly, TESDA also provides community-based programs, which

are primarily offered to those belonging to marginalized groups. These are intended to

expand educational access to those who are unable to access, or are not accessible, by

formal training provisions and programs. The program is also designed to assist partner

agencies such as LGUs, NGOs, people organizations and other agencies and

organizations with regard to their poverty-alleviation and livelihood programs.

To extend financial assistance to marginalized but deserving students in post-

secondary non-degree courses; TESDA provide scholarship programs namely Training

which also aim to contribute to the development of a competent skilled workforce and

assist private institutions in their development efforts by assuring a steady supply of

enrollees to their course offerings.

Training for Work Scholarship (TWSP) Launched in May 2006 by the Office of

the President, the Training For Work Scholarship (TWSP) aims to give out solutions to

the where the lack in skills in sectors that relate with one another such as metals and

engineering, along with construction, tourism many more. Beginning in 2008 as a part of

the regular budget, this program also looks to give out more opportunities for employees

through incentives and proper training programs that link both jobs internationally and

domestically.

On the other hand, Special Training for Employment Program (STEP) plans to

focus on the specific skills needed by the communities in order to promote employment.

This tackles self-employment and service-oriented activities to be more specific. In this

program, the objective is to provide skills and training opportunities to not only enhance

the enrolees in the barangay area but to also make the enrolees more adept and keen

of their skills needed to be ready for the job. Those who are a part of this program

receive free training, competency assessments, tool kits and training allowance worth

sixty pesos per day during the training period.

Along with the assurance of steady supply of trainees brought by the scholarship

voucher and grants by TESDA, training centers shall also ensure that various factors

are given proper implementation. Business opportunities are determined by the various
factors namely; marketing strategy, management and organization, operations and

financial performance. Marketing strategy is an important factor that serves as an

overall game plan that contains the company’s value proposition, key brand messaging,

data on target trainees demographics, and other high-level elements for reaching

prospective clients and turning them into trainees of the training center. Management

and organization is of equal value in leading a company and effectively using or

controlling its assets and resources. It also goes well beyond a corporate structure; it

requires administrators, personnel and staff to have methods in place to resolve issues

and develop solutions that help the training center move closer to its desired goals and

vision. Moreover the operation must also be given proper attention since it covers

everything that happens within a company to keep it running and earn money. Owners

of training centers should understand the systems, equipment, people, and processes

need to make the organization function. Lastly, financial performance as the most

crucial factor that measure how well a training center used all the available assets in

generating revenues. It must take big part of considerations given the fact that it

measures the results of a training center operations in monetary terms. By collecting

these data, management can then make an informed decision on which path should be

pursued in order to create the most profitable revenue stream for the training center.

With the increasing recognition of TVET’s role in the development of the national

economy, the major challenges confronting TVET are in the area of increasing access

to and quality of TVET. There is the need to expand the pool of experts particularly in

critical or priority trades.

quality.

The other major challenge is expanding the capacity of private TVET institutions

through scholarships. It makes the TVET system highly accessible to poor but

deserving Filipinos who require and need economic empowerment through the

acquisition of competitive competencies that meet job requirements. In response to this

challenge, the existing scholarship programs of TESDA are being expanded by

pursuing partnership especially through financial sharing scheme with national and local

officials.

The rapid pace of globalization pressures nations to be competitive in order to

survive. This ushers the freer permeability of human resources among countries.

While it poses as a huge challenge to the survival of Filipino workforce in the global

market, it yields various opportunities. This challenge pushes for the continuing

development and replenishment of manpower in order to ensure that there are workers

of the right quality and right quantity for jobs that are made available at any given

instance. Further, it urges for a stronger labor market intelligence and technology

development. Lastly, it encourages transformation of the Filipino workforce to be

knowledge-based and adaptable to shifting skills or even occupations.

In pursuits of relevant, accessible, equal and cost efficient TVET, TESDA will

gear up to raise the capacity of TVET by being more innovative in managing its

resources and tapping more partners that could augment the limited resources, and

satisfy the demands of the industries in terms of skills and competency requirements by
sharpening labor market intelligence and subsequently use the updated labor market

information in developing and re-engineering training programs.

The search for competitive advantage is an ongoing quest for companies in the

industries. As new technologies continue to develop at a lightning fast rate, and

efficiencies are gained in all areas of production, one relatively new endeavor is

becoming increasingly important: companies around the world are looking for ways to

become more "sustainable."

In recent years, sustainability has become a popular topic as business leaders face

hardships with the poor economy. In fact, sustainability strategies have been growing in

popularity over the past several decades. Young and Tilley (2006) describe in a recent

article that the 1980’s and 1990’s were decades of eco-awareness following the

pollution aware decades of the 1960’s and 1970’s. Now, as companies face increasing

problems in trying to achieve profitability, managers are looking for ways to decrease

costs while still maintaining quality products and services. Managers are looking for

ways to survive. However, mere survival skills will not give a company much hope for

the future. This is where the concept of sustainability becomes important.

It is important that sustainability concepts are able to produce visible results for

the companies that implement them. Without visible results, it is likely that companies

will choose not to pursue these strategies. However, researchers have been able to

identify ways to ensure success through sustainability. It has been found that a

competitive advantage can be accomplished through a “balance between economic

progress, social responsibility, and environmental protection” (Epstein, 2008). With this
formula for competitive advantage, more companies will be willing to implement

sustainability concepts.

With the growing popularity of sustainability, it is not surprising that the trend is

also growing in popularity among entrepreneurs. According to Gibbs (2009) in his recent

article, sustainability entrepreneurs are a new breed of entrepreneur that work to

combine the social, economic, and environmental aspects of sustainability. These

business owners are leading the trend towards successful sustainability. Using the three

valuable components of the formula for competitive advantage that were defined by

Gibbs (2009), these entrepreneurs are starting their companies from the ground up in a

way that produces an immediate advantage in their respective industries.

Sustainability entrepreneurs have an alternative approach to doing business that also

assists them in building their advantage. In common practice, the primary strategy of

businesses is to do whatever it takes to earn a profit. While profit is key to the success

of any business, it is not the primary concern of the sustainability entrepreneur. Instead,

these business owners focus on environmental health and social concerns (Gibbs,

2009). These owners are more likely than the traditional entrepreneurs to focus on

reducing their companies’ carbon footprint and keeping their employees happy.

It is common knowledge that employee happiness is essential to the long-term viability

of a company. However, it is difficult to imagine a company finding long-term success

using a strategy that places social concerns above all else. A recent article by Gundlach

and Zivnuska (2010) addresses the topic of sustainability entrepreneurs from the

standpoint of the differences in business education required for sustainability

curriculum must be changed to suit the drive and passion of these social entrepreneurs

who often will not accept the traditional concepts (Gundlach and Zivnuska, 2010).

Sustainability entrepreneurs, by definition, show a concern for society, the

economy, and the environment. However, another group of entrepreneurs is known for

their ability to combine an environmental focus with their for-profit business. These

entrepreneurs have been named ecopreneurs (Gibbs, 2009). Ecopreneurs, by

definition, are entrepreneurs who combine their business activities with an

environmental awareness in order to “shift the basis of economic development towards

a more environmentally friendly basis” (Gibbs, 2009). These ecopreneurs are at the

forefront of leading the way towards “going green.”Sustainability is a good choice for

companies, the environment, and society. These strategies have numerous benefits for

everyone. However, sustainability strategies may not be feasible for a number of

companies. Small and medium sized companies face a number of challenges at start-

up and throughout the life of the company. These challenges include barriers to entry,

high operating costs, and small customer base. All of the challenges affect a company’s

ability to spend money. With tight budgets, it can be difficult to convince managers to

pursue an often costly move towards an environmental focus or social concern strategy.

Starting a Training Center can be challenging. When a group of administrators decides

to open a training center they need to make sure that their decision is based on sound

data and that they have a reasonable understanding of the costs and strategies needed

to successfully open their training center. In today’s complicated market, the need to
work smarter and be ready for opening day is critical. There is never a second chance

to make a first impression. With proper planning, financial sustainability can be assured.