By Lala Rimando
Abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak

Thirty four years ago, Intel set up shop in the Philippines. It was the first American electronic manufacturing company to invest in the country. Its entry was a symbolic vote that paved the way for other foreign companies like Texas Instruments to locate their operations in the Philippines.

Today, the possibility of Intel's exit symbolizes what has gone wrong with the country.

Power rates that are second highest in Asia, lack of infrastructure, high corporate taxes, and rampant theft have been consistent in the annual list of woes of various business groups in the country. These include the association of electronics manufacturers, whose export business account for two-thirds of the country's total exports.

And the output from the test and assembly facility of Intel accounts for 22 percent of total exports of the country.

There is no definite exit date yet for Intel as the company will announce in June if they will move elsewhere--or choose an alternate site in the country. At this point, the company is assessing its operations and how to make it more efficient.

The last option, executives say, is to relocate to Intel's other sites, like in Vietnam, China and Malaysia.

What is helping the company in uncertain times like this is an unusual corporate culture.

"We have a culture of openness," explained Arlita Narag, Intel's corporate affairs head. What that means is not just the usual internal tools to circulate corporate news, like bulletin boards and newsletters, but an authentic effort to keep everyone updated.

"It involves keeping everyone posted on the company's major and minor activities and plans so all are aware that there are steps being taken to reach a decision. That way, when a decision is made, the employees are not entirely caught by surprise," Narag said.

It is during these times that the culture of openness gets tested. It is serious business when the decision to be reached involves handing out pink slips to some or all of the 3,000 employees.

In Intel and in other progressive multinationals, they opened the communication lines between and among management and staff. It's a way of life that Intel's former CEO, Andy Grove, has introduced, and current CEO Craig Barrett has continued and is known in Silicon Valley for. A business magazine in the US once described Barrett as "playfully confrontational" because that's the culture he keeps at the world's largest chipmaker. It's a strategy to still thrive in an increasingly competitive environment.

And this has translated into various tools. The company has an internal blog where they can exchange insights about "Withdrawals and my addiction to speed" (on laptop performance) or "Thin is In" (on computer sizes) or even something as mundane as cafeteria food choices. There are also podcasts and various group and company-wide wikis to help employees connect with and train each other.

Of course there are the usual townhall meetings. One was held in the Cavite plant on the evening of April 2, when the audience was informed about plans to address the structural problems of one of the current buildings where the CPU, the brains of the computer, and chipsets are tested and made.

Works on the CPU business are also being assessed because it might need to be "ramped down," a manufacturing lingo for increasing efficiency through various means, like training only one personnel to operate a machine which used to be handled by two. Operational efficiency has been a mantra of manufacturing businesses to cut costs.

This strategy of openness has been adopted by only a few brave companies.

For example, executives from Ford's facility in the Philippines, regularly update their employees on the company's global and local financial performance and how it affects them personally through their salary increases and bonuses.

Of course the "open book" approach also has an advantage: it helps translate to employees why they have to reach their production and sales quotas.

At Intel, this corporate culture is coming in handy as employees await the final decision.