CASE STUDY

CONTINGENCY MANAGEMENT
STRATEGY DURING THE COVID-19
PANDEMIC FOR SMALL BUSINESS
CORPORATION

BY:

KRISTEL JANE C. GUDOY

MBA

ISABELA STATE UNIVERSITY

ECHAGUE CAMPUS
I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY REPORT

Small Business Corporation is a government financial institution responsible for

implementing comprehensive policies and program to assist MSMEs in all areas,
including but not limited to finance and information service, training and marketing.
SBC, during the recent breakout of the Covid-19 pandemic, opens up a 10 billion loan
lending facility to be given to the affected MSMEs.

SBC receive 25,000 application on its 3rd month of implementation of the Covid 19
Assistance to Restart Enterprises (CARES) Program- and gradually increasing. As a
government owned company, SBC must be proactive in delivering the right services
to the Filipino people. How SBC will deliver a quality service despite of the country’s
current condition remains a challenge to the company.

This study is to determine the effectiveness of the CONTINGENCY MANAGEMENT

STRATEGIES used by the company in the implementation of its P3 CARES Program. It
was found out that the company is having difficulty in accommodating all applications
and in creating an organized process flow within its organization in delivering its
services. Nevertheless, SBC continue to contend in dealing with its current situation
through internal strategy implementation.
II. FINDINGS

Contingency Theory states that there are too many external and internal constraints that will
alter what really is the best way to lead is in a given situation. With the recent pandemic,
management tend to find ways in surviving under different circumstances.

Small Business Corporation has different lending groups, each group is headed by a manager
and a coordinator is designated which serves as coordinator per province.

THE PROCESS AND DESIGNATED WORK

During the implementation of the program, the company started its initiative to create a
system to streamline the processing of loan applications. However, since manual applications
are submitted to the field offices, it created too much workload for the coordinator. The
coordinator is directed to encode all the manual applications in the new system. Moreover,
coordinator is also responsible for the facilitation of signing of release documents, a simple
mistake in the document verifier would mean more job for the field staff.

COMMUNICATION

There are different department assigned during the implementation, these include the
encoder, document verifiers, business verifiers and approval, final approval, and releasing. On
the part of the field staff under the provinces, it always creates confusion as to the update of
applications since there are no definite answers from those people in charge.

TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION

The company has its own IT Group who are responsible in the creation of systems and
databases used by the employees. There are lot of applications the field staff are using such
as the fieldnotes for logging in and out, nextcloud for sending of loan documents, portal for
uploading of loan documents, and the brs system for encoding of applications. Nevertheless,
the problem lies on the integration of those technologies, factors such as internet
connectivity, the devices issued by the company, laptops are lagging, and cellphones are
outdated.

PROGRAM ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION

After three months, field staff must do site-visit on the P3 beneficiaries.
III. DISCUSSION

Due to the in-demand claim of the program, and the responsibility given to Small
Business Corporation in implementing the government initiative to help the MSMEs,
the company must be resilient in the provision of its services.

Field staff are often demotivated due to the amount of workload given to them. The
management must finalize the operationalization of the online application system
where applicants will be the one to encode their details and upload their requirement.
Given the current situation today where there should be limited contact with others,
an online application system will be a great help to the applicants. As the system
becomes accessible to everyone, more MSMEs will be able to avail the program. To
lessen the workload, they can also develop an online application where client can sign
the loan release documents and receive the proceeds without actually coming to the
physical offices.

On the other hand, designated focal persons must be communicated to every unit in
the processing to maintain the good flow of the provision of services. Target and
deadlines must be strictly followed through the intervention of the management. A
masterlist on applications update must be provided to the field staff as well as the
applicants through online. With this, it can lessen time for the field staff to follow up
as well as to answer queries.

Concerning the devices used of employees, since the IT Group continue to develop
applications in response to the new normal, management must ensure that field staff
has enough resources to adapt to its technology initiative. The management may
include new or upgrade of devices issued in its allotment.

These different contingency strategies must also properly implemented to ensure that
the company is delivering and meeting its targets.
IV. CONCLUSION

Indeed, Small Business Corporation is thriving to deliver its services even in the midst of this
pandemic. Situations like this may occur but the success still lies on how every people inside
the organization cope up with it. Though SBC faces a lot of work, it must ensure that the
company is internally ready. Target and deadlines proposed must be viable and a proper
designation of work is needed. Definite guidelines on loan processing integrated with the right
system can be an edge for the company. Furthermore, proper communication is necessary to
ensure a smooth flow of deliverables within each department.

V. IMPLEMENTATION/RECOMMENDATION

Small Business Corporation as a company must first create a definite set of guidelines
concerning the processing of loan applications, all departments must be involve to ensure
that there are no pending issues during the processing. Since the IT Department is the one
creating all the systems used inside the company, it must not just ensure that systems are
properly integrated but also the employees’ must be knowledgeable as well, likewise the
procurement of new devices must be included in the budget where the Finance department
is responsible. Managers under different groups must also ensure that the division of work to
every fieldstaff, that targets and deadlines set are reasonable to maintain the ease of
delivering services since they are the clients’ direct contact. Through creating a cooperative
environment inside the workplace, Small Business Corporation will be able to handle the
CARES Program well.

VI. REFERENCES
[Link]