In a pass-through business, what the customer thinks you charge has nothing to do with what you earn.
Startup · Topic
Philippines Company Stories — Page 3
In-depth business case studies of Philippine companies, conglomerates, founders and industries.
- 55 guides
- 11 subtopics
- Updated Aug 26, 2026
All guides · page 3
Why Philippine Internet Costs So Much: Geography, Permits and Power
Build rates rose when permitting was reformed — which no amount of competitive pressure had achieved.
ABS-CBN: What Happens When a Licence Is Not Renewed
A licence is not an asset. It is a permission, and permissions can be withdrawn.
Converge: The Advantage of Having Nothing to Protect
Passing more homes than you can connect is how fibre operators destroy capital.
Globe: The Telecom Whose Best Business Was a Wallet
A subscriber base built for phone calls turned out to be the ideal foundation for banking the unbanked.
PLDT: A Century of Building the Network That Replaces the Last One
Every era’s cash cow funds the infrastructure that makes it obsolete. That is the whole business.
Coconut: The Crop That Supports Millions and Enriches Nobody
The form in which a crop leaves the farm decides who gets rich from it.
Century Pacific: Two Businesses, One Cannery
In commodity processing, procurement is the strategy. Advertising is a rounding error.
Monde Nissin: A Great Noodle Business and an Expensive Bet
Excellence in one business does not validate a bet in another. It just funds it.
Universal Robina: The Product Starts With the Coin
Everything about the product flexes. The price, fixed by the coin in a pocket, does not.
Jollibee: How a Local Chain Beat the Global Giant at Home
Taste is local. Operations are universal. Winning required being better at one and equal at the other.
The Sari-Sari Economy: A Million Shops Nobody Planned
The binding constraint is working capital, not access — which is why the platforms are really lenders.
