A Technopreneurship Study on Cow's Milk-Based Cream Cheese

Date

4-2011

Degree

Bachelor of Science in Agribusiness Management

College

College of Economics and Management (CEM)

Adviser/Committee Chair

Laida J. Abarquez

Committee Member

Nanette C. Abelilla-Aquino, Normito R. Zapata Jr., Reynaldo L. Tan

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Abstract

The general objective of this study is to document a technopreneurial start-up experience and reflect on the insights gained from such experience. The specific objectives were: 1) to present a business plan for a technology-based enterprise ; 2) to describe the processes in setting up and starting a technology-based business; 3) to present the start-up problems and issues encountered in starting a techno-venture; 4) to assess the initial performance of the start-up; 5) to reflect on the knowledge, skills, values, work ethics, and insights gained/developed from the start-up experience; and 5) to come up with courses of actions for the implementation of the business plan, the enterprise, and the AFNR Program, and to identify investment and development entry points for potential stakeholders in technology-based enterprises.

Action research and descriptive research designs were utilized to address the objective of the study. The technopreneurship student under the UPLB Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources (AFNR) project, applied her technical and entrepreneurial learning she gained from the summer course that she attended to her cow’s milk based cream cheese venture. She implemented her business plan and documented the processes involved in setting up and conducting the initial operations of the business.

The AFNR technopreneur personally choose Los Banos to be her market. She envisions that Los Banos has potential market for the business since people from the town were dairy consumers. She planned to produce in six months period from October to March. Through her connection with Dairy Training and Research Institute (DTRI) she was able to start producing in the late October and continuously up to date. She had already had four production runs.

The sources of raw materials of the cream cheese such as raw milk and cream comes from Real Fresh Dairy Farms. The other manufacturing overhead was provided by DTRI. Other sources of materials such as packaging tubs and labels were source out from the town market. Toll processing is applied to the business in every production runs.

During the production runs, the entrepreneur experienced issues and problems which led to poor quality of cream cheese. The technical issues includes: 1) slow decrease of pH level; 2) Homogenization process which have to take place twice; 3) Inconsistent and over creaminess due to in proportion of stabilizer; 4) poor quality result.

Financial losses were also experienced by the entrepreneur especially during the November and January production. Due to the busy schedule of the entrepreneur she is not able to dispose her inventories. Furthermore, because of competition, she is not able to market well her product. The commercialized and well established brands within her line were forerunners and offer the best quality cream cheeses.

Through her technopreneurial experience, the student gained technical knowledge and some values and work ethics like entrepreneurial competence, patience, persuasion, professionalism and flexibility. She recommended that AFNR project should continue its vision to disseminate widely in the country the technologies available to fully utilize the technology and entrepreneurial competence of Filipinos.

Language

English

LC Subject

Milk industry, Dairy products, Business entreprises, Entrepreneurship

Location

UPLB College of Economics and Management (CEM)

Call Number

LG 993 2011 M17 M65

Notes

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Document Type

Thesis

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