Thesis (Master in Management) -- University of the Philippines Mindanao, May 2017

4M nursery which started in 1984 as a backyard nursery has succeeded in growing its business without any structures in any of its functional areas, such as human resources, finance, operations, and marketing, in place. However, the management wanted to explore and offer new types of clones to their customers to improve their competitive advantage in the rubber industry. 4M has undergone capacity assessment to identify the areas that need improvement in order to achieve its expansion goals. The modified Fred David strategic planning model served as the conceptual framework to be able to formulate the appropriate strategies for the organization. In assessing the internal and external factors, as SWOT analysis and matrix were used to identify issues that need focus. Then a QSPM was done in order to identify the priority strategies to be implemented. All data and information were acquired through interview, farm visits, and pulling out records from the accountant and the administrative manager. Porter's 5 Forces was also used to assess the competitiveness of 4M Nursery in the industry using the same data and information obtained through the methods mentioned above. Determined to be the top producer of high quality and affordable rubber seedlings in Mindanao, four strategies were formulated, one of which is utilizing the maximum capacity of the nursery area in order to provide more planting materials and meet the demands. Since 4M has a total of three hectares of nursery area, in which only one hectare is being utilized as of date, it is capable of providing sufficient supply of planting materials to their customers by producing more without having to incur additional cost of acquiring additional land area to accommodate the increase in production. 4M also identified the need to develop a three-year production plan as a realistic transition to maximize capacity which is measured both by the number of hectares utilized and number of seedlings produced from 2017 to 2019. This Strategic Management Plan (SMP) was designed to engage 4M Nursery in meeting the demands of their customers as it also pursues its goals to expand the business. With these perspectives, four strategic objectives were also formulated as follows: maximize the 3-hectare nursery area; produce 80% of clones which are more marketable (clones with early tappability); produce planting materials even during seed off years thru stem cut; planting materials produced will be ready for outplanting or ready for sale in a shorter period thru stem cut. Targets were also identified for each of the strategic objectives to make them operational in evaluating the performance of the nursery. To ultimately achieve these objectives the following strategies will be implemented: produce more seedlings to maximize the three-hectare nursery area which can hold up to 600,000 clones; participate in all government procurement activities as long as there is sufficient inventory; implement inventory counting on a regular basis, and distribute business cards with an image of the nursery/plantation. The overall control system is generally focused on increasing production which will eventually increase sales and profits as well as securing the area to protect inventory.