110 | theceomagazine.comRESULTS.”
“I strive^ for
As General Manager of one of the Philippines’ major
consumer goods companies, Ramon Daez explains
his strategies for success.WORDS SHARON MASIGE • IMAGES JASPER SALCEDAI
n 2015, Fly Ace Corporation broke
free from the traditional notion of
keeping family members in the upper
echelons of management by hiring
Ramon Daez – the first commercial
general manager from outside the
family. This was part of the company’s strategy
to professionalise its structure, policies and
practices as well as to make way for continuing
business growth.
Prior to joining Fly Ace, Ramon
worked at household care company
SC Johnson and pharmaceuticals business
Warner–Lambert, which was later acquired
by US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. After
working with these two companies, Ramon
wanted to return to a place close to his
heart. “I decided that if I was to work for
a third company, I would do so with a
Filipino company, as I believed it was my
turn to give back and help a locally owned
business become even stronger,” he says.
Once he took on the role, Ramon
pinpointed three key areas he would focus
on to keep Fly Ace moving in the right
direction: the people within the organisation;
business growth and process improvement;
and customers and consumers.
In terms of the people, Ramon wanted
to strengthen the performance metrics of allworkers and ensure all KPIs were consistent.
“Organisational and personnel strengths were
also looked at to make sure the company
could continue to attract good talent, retain
those already in and train those in need of
further skills,” Ramon says. “Competitive
compensation and benefits were studied and
appropriate enhancements were put in place
like job levelling for both management and
non-management personnel, standardised
merit practices, and more rigid development
plans for identified talents.”
With regard to spurring business
growth and process improvement, Ramon
sought clear and aligned priorities across all
functions in the business, as well as strong
returns on investment and streamlined
processes through automation.
“Transitioning select processes to an
automated platform – such as expense
management, distributor information
management, and HR systems – enables
the team to focus on analysis and actions,
rather than report generation,” Ramon says.
“It means processes become tighter and
better controlled, allowing the organisation to
address critical issues and opportunities faster.”
For customers and consumers, Ramon’s
plan is to continue driving growth. “The
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