Thesis (Master in Management) -- University of the Philippines Mindanao, 2023

Deca Homes Women’s association, also known as DHWA, a registered Rural Workers Association of the Department of Labor and Employment and a registered Civil Society Association of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, was organized on May 21, 2016. The main objective of the association, or the Deca Women’s Group, is to empower and uplift the status of the marginalized women in the Deca Homes Community in Brgy. Tacunan, Tugbok, Davao City. As of June 2023, DHWA was operating two livelihood projects – a general merchandize store and a bakeshop funded by Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), respectively. They also extend community service and other outreach programs for humanitarian causes within the city of Davao. The association has a bulk of its sales from transactions with its members and immediate stakeholders. For the past four years, DHWA recorded a relatively positive growth rate in their net profit with an average amount of Php 36 thousand. The seemingly small amount was due to negative the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic to the operations and profitability in 2020. However, in the last two years, net profit already averaged Php 265,000 annually. Their sales have also earned a positive growth rate with a four-year average amount of Php 966,000. Indeed, the association has a promising financial performance. Although there are some problem areas which will definitely help improve their financial status. One issue is lack of substantial marketing efforts, particularly in social media marketing, which greatly limits its market reach. In addition, improvements in recordkeeping and bookkeeping will help the management will help the management to easily generate data to be utilized in planning and decision-making purposes. Enhancing their working capital through better credit management will help the association maximize its limited funds for their operational expenditures and other potential ventures. Another potential problem is the lack of succession planning. Association members have too much reliance on the decisions of the President. It was noted that other officers and members cannot decide on their own which may deteriorate the efficiency of business and administrative purposes. This strategic plan will benefit DHWA in improving the internal business operations of its two livelihood projects and to be more responsive to its external environment. The strategic planning framework of David and David (2017) was used to formulate the strategic management plan. External analysis was conducted using the PESTLE analysis and Porter’s Five Forces Model to identity opportunities and threats affecting the association and the industry. Analysis of internal environment was conducted through examining the core functional areas of DHWA to identify its strengths and weaknesses. To come up with strategies, the results from both EFE and IFE matrices were used as inputs and were applied on two more tools: (1) internal-external (I-E) matrix and (2) strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) matrix. The generated strategies were then evaluated using the Quantitative Strategic Planning matrix (QSPM). The result of the QSPM indicates that the strategic choices would be market penetration and process improvement. Market penetration aims to continuously widen the association’s market reach in the upcoming years, while the process improvement involves strengthening human resource development and upgrade of internal processes. These strategies support the identified strategic goals for association. All of the three are geared towards achieving organizational objectives: 1.) To increase its active and participating members by 10% annually. 2.) To increase trainings and educational involvements its members by 20% annually. 3.) To grow combined livelihood net income by 5% annually. 4.) Open three (3) new livelihood programs by 2028. 5.) Reach 10,000 social media followers by 2028. 6.) To achieve customer satisfaction rating of 80% in 2023-2024; 85% in 2025-2026; 90% in 2027-2028. The Balance Scorecard (BSC) was utilized for the control systems and monitoring of proposed program implementation. This has been developed in order to properly evaluate the implementation of programs that will support the proposed strategies to achieve its goals for the next years. The BSC shows the priority of activities, responsible persons to perform the task, timeframe of programs and activities and monitoring process to keep track of the progress of each activity