Thesis (Master in Management) -- University of the Philippines Mindanao, June 2021

The maritime chain of transportation is driven by demand for transportation of cargo between locations with surplus supply to locations with surplus demand. If there is no demand, there is no movement of goods and products. Thus, no transportation will be required. In general, the maritime chain of transportation consists of a sea voyage and two land-based transportations. The transportation begins at the production site where the commodities or goods are usually stored before shipping. From this location, they are transported to the port by a truck, train, conveyor or pipeline. At the port, they are usually stored again before being loaded on a ship. The ship carries it to the port nearest its destination. The consignee and the consignor are looking for an integrated service that would cater to the entire process of transporting these containers from the pick-up of the cargo which is usually the factory, and delivering the cargo directly to the warehouse of the consignee. Shipping companies are often evaluated based on logistics and supply chain performance, use of resources, cost reduction, and customer service. The demand for transport motivates the shipping services providers such as ports, shipping companies, and trucking companies to be integrated and be more supply chain oriented. The owner of the RCF noticed the volume of shipments had been increasing in Davao region. The increase of shipment in the Davao area was hardly catered by the existing local cargo forwarders. This is one opportunity the RCF saw: the significant increase in volume of cargoes is expected to continually rise in the coming years. Another indication of a good opportunity is the lack of Davao-based cargo forwarders. These reasons give rise to small transportation provides such as Rando Cargo Forwarding. Rando Cargo Forwarding (RCF) is a family-owned business company which is a part of the cargo forwarding industry. The company offers domestic cargo forwarding services with a door-to-door delivery from Manila to Visayas and Mindanao area. The company relies on third-party service providers for the trucking line and the port coordinator in all their operations. As a new player in the industry, setting the appropriate price is an important consideration for the company to attract clients. Big players offer low prices in the market because they have their own trucking lines aside from being a long-time player in the industry. New players often cannot compete with the price hence, they compensate by offering better customer services, manifested by efficiency in deliveries and other customer experience. Based on the Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix (QSPM) the appropriate strategy for RCF is to penetrate the market and improve the operation. The current status of RCF cargo business is very competitive and continuously growing in terms of the number of containers per month. They already established the timely delivery, responsiveness, and reliability that built the company's reputation in the shipping industry. Currently, RCF serves 60 containers in a month preparing to reach the goal of 100 cargo this year. Implementing programs of this strategy focus on the Grow and Build strategy described as intensive and aggressive, this strategy focus on the market penetration strategy seeks to increase market share for present products or services in present products or services into few geographic areas and the product/service development is a strategy that seeks increased sales by improving or modifying present products or services. Measuring and evaluating the performances of RCF requires keeping track of the developments of the implementation of strategy. It involves the utilization of the Key Results Area (KRA) tool with a performance indicator that allows RCF to check and evaluate the results if according to plan. RCF's commitment to timely delivery has resulted in strategy growth and profit. The business and thriving even in the midst of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. As the company plans to expand, the management needs strategies on how to improve the current services they are offering in the market.