EDITORIAL - Innovation and responsibility

Not too many companies can lay claim to a history dating back 175 years. In the Philippines, there is Ayala. The factors behind its enduring strength and success bear emulation as businesses struggle to survive in a difficult year.

In 1834 Domingo Roxas forged a partnership with Antonio de Ayala to set up Casa Roxas. The company farmed sugar, coffee, cotton and indigo. It also manufactured liquor, metal castings and gunpowder, and had concessions in mining and trading. The company was later renamed Casa Ayala and gained board representation in 1851 in Southeast Asia’s first private commercial bank, the Banco Español Filipino de Isabela Segunda. From this bank evolved today’s Bank of the Philippine Islands.

In 1876, Casa Ayala expanded to become Ayala y Compañia, introducing the first streetcar system to Manila, the tranvia, in the 1880s. Ayala y Cia also set up the first Filipino life insurance firm, the Insular Life Assurance Co., in 1910. And in 1929, Ayala y Cia acquired ownership of Hacienda San Pedro de Makati. We all know what the Ayalas have done to this estate. In 1960 Ayala Land was set up as the real estate development arm of the conglomerate. Since then Ayala has expanded to telecommunications with Globe Mackay Cable & Radio Corp., electronics manufacturing, the Manila Water Co. and, most recently, business process outsourcing with LiveIT Solutions.

In all these ventures Ayala carved out its name through world-class management, the best business and labor practices, innovation, and corporate and social responsibility. The Ayala name has become synonymous with quality, fair competition, and the deployment of financial resources in a way that contributes to nation-building. The Ayala Foundation has convened the Ayala Social Initiatives, which focuses the conglomerate’s development efforts on three critical areas: education, the environment and entrepreneurship.

Ayala marks its 175th year today with deserved pride. A company lasts 175 years, with bright prospects for another century of success, by putting a premium on excellence.