Built on rock solid business model and innovative strategies, GSI has survived several corporate crises. The first crisis sparked off from a non payment of about P4M by a partner was resolved on a day-to-day basis. That was easy, we moved on and contained the business ills.


The second one was rather too punishing caused from a very poor cash flow from government projects. That was almost a point of no return. But, GSI must not fail.

Night after night I was watching war movies to learn how platoon leaders and generals were able to turn around a defeat to a victory. One of the Vietnam War movies, "We Were Soldiers" caught my attention as it showed great leadership and precise decision making process. Based from Wikipedia -

"We Were Soldiers is a 2002 war film that dramatized the Battle of Ia Drang which took place in November 1965, the first major engagement of American troops in the Vietnam War. It was directed by Randall Wallace and stars Mel Gibson. It is based on the book ‘We Were Soldiers Once ... And Young’” by Lieutenant General (Ret) Hal Moore and reporter Joseph Galloway, who were at the battle."




DVD after DVD, I have consumed most of the most war films. What about other crisis situations than war? Then I remembered a failed lunar landing - the Apollo 13. A 1995 movie of the same title was shown but I never had a chance to watch it. I prefer to play tennis, read and play the guitar than to watch a movie.


So, I got hold of the DVD, and watched it four times, almost memorizing the sequences of events leading to a "successful failure". With insights on averting disastrous failure, I wrote the strategic framework "Apollo 13 - Turning Around GSI" in May 4, 2002.





The crisis led to a lot of confusion and dissertion that made so many information buried in mud.

As in "Houston, we've had a problem", our team accepted the fact that we are in the middle of a ferocious storm - waiting to be wiped out by the shear force of Category 5 wind. We defined the problem - financial.

Setting up the roadmap and action schedules to hit the ground, a mind set of "Failure is Not an Option" permeated the company.




We looked back and analyzed why we must NOT fail. We quantified the values GSI has generated and the goodwill it has contributed to the society .

It was interesting to note that GSI trived in crisis and chaotic business environment because it was formed in the middle of the Asian Economic Flu of 1997.

Therefore, GSI has been resilient at very start.




Next step we hurdled was to make an inventory of "What Good Things Have We Got". And we found many. Those were
good enough to set things moving and confront the crisis.


Days turned to weeks, weeks to months, months to years - grinding slowly at the start in mitigating the crisis until speed was achieved to comfortable do business with confidence.




Looking back, it was GSI's clear vision of the future as well its adherence towards honesty, integrity and hardwork that saved us from the black hole of failed business. Our clients, suppliers and partners did not turned their back on us.

As of today, GSI is still owned by us. No external fund was infused by banks, investors or financial insitutions.

Without COO/EVP Gemma Pelagio, CFO Annie Fabre, COB Hermes Dorado, Ambassador Encomienda, Engr Tato, and SBCorp "Failure is Not An Option" would have been rewinded to "Houston, We've Got a Problem".

To my fellow entrepreneurs and the SME space, I am looking forward to share with all you the details of this blog to assist you mitigate and adapt to business concerns and crisis.

Labels: Ambassador Encomienda, Annie Fabre, Apollo 13, Averting Business Crisis, Engr Tato, entrepreneur, Failure is not a option, Gemma Pelagio, Hermes Dorado, SBCorp

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