Live Blogging at SWS Surveys: 2007 in Review

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I'm live blogging here at the Soriano Hall of the Asian Institute of Management for a lecture organized by the AIM Policy Center. The lecture, entitled SWS Surveys: 2007 in Review, is the 73rd lecture of the Globalization Lecture Series.

The main speaker of the event is Dr. Mahar Mangahas of the Social Weather Stations (SWS), one of the biggest and most respected poll organizations in the Philippines. It's interesting to note that The AIM and SWS have been presenting the annual summaries of the SWS surveys for the last seven years.

Dr. Mangahas highlighted the key national surveys of public opinion SWS ran in 2007, and there are interesting findings:
  • Hunger in the Philippines reached a record high in 2007
  • 2007 was an election year in the Philippines and it showed-- people were very much interested it the national Senatorial elections and local Barangay elections.
  • Filipinos were generally indifferent to global events
  • Filipinos followed closely the rising of oil prices. I find this natural since oil price hikes would mean price increases in commodities.
  • Dissatisfaction with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo persisted in 2007, with the people rating her negatively.
  • 3 out of 5 see Pres. Arroyo serving the rich, while 1 out of 5 see her serving the poor.
  • People were greatly not satisfied with the government in fighting inflation and eradicating graft and corruption.
  • Only 49% of Filipinos think that globalization is good for the country, the lowest in Asia!
From the MBA point of view, the findings are key as the external environment and government are great factors in industry analysis, Five Forces analysis and market research. Interesting stuff.

Update:

Thanks to Ms. Monique Avila of the AIM Policy Center, I got these pictures from the event:

Dr. Mahar Mangahas during his lecture on the 2007 SWS survey results:

The audience listens on:

Post-lecture ceremonies (L-R): Corazon Teczon-Jimenez (Associate Director, AIM Policy Center), Rep. Liway Chato, Dr. Mahar Mangahas, Edwin Chavez, Margo Mercado (Program Manager for Communications, Konrad Adenauer Foundation), and Jess de la Cruz (Program Manager, AIM Policy Center)

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