Our Board’s Vision

For over 60 years now, SM has dealt with many different challenges and changes as it has grown. We have done so by living up to the values established by our Founder, Henry Sy Sr., including taking leadership, working hard and acting responsibly towards all those we touch. Through the decades we have always put our customers first and constantly asked ourselves how we can make a difference. These same values have helped us navigate the difficult environment created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout 2020 we tried to stay close to our different stakeholders and to respond to their urgent and changing needs wherever we could. Safety, convenience and using our extensive resources to address wide societal needs were SM’s priorities.

While the group was able to deliver broad community support it was also able to adapt to new, often unprecedented, business needs last year. We will still continue to evolve and improve our businesses in 2021 and beyond. 

“It is imperative that we establish strong systems that embed the resilience of our whole ecosystem of businesses and stakeholders.”

Three areas in particular are our priorities:

First, the pandemic has acted as an accelerator to innovation. Plans that we have previously been nurturing to create greater digital capabilities and an omnichannel presence across our businesses have been accelerated. We will continue to evolve these quickly to meet new customer expectations. 

Second, we will continue to support the thousands of partners in our supply chain, especially the many SMEs we work with, to help them adapt their businesses to serve the changed environment as well. Their success is our success. 

Third, it is imperative that we establish strong systems that embed the resilience of our whole ecosystem of businesses and stakeholders. We need to ensure collective survival in the face of crises such as the pandemic and also the major ongoing risks we still face from climate change. This is necessary to safeguard our long-term growth and to ensure we can continue to promote responsible development nationwide. 

“We will continue to strengthen our businesses, and we will do so by continuing to address the needs of millions of Filipinos, improving their quality of life, helping driving national development and creating shared value for all.”

We complement this with our ongoing financial prudence. In 2020 we benefitted from many years of disciplined financial management and resulting balance sheet strength. Continuing this approach ensures that all our businesses will weather the current environment and, we believe, emerge stronger, more resilient and even more relevant afterwards. 

Going forward, our long-term priorities remain the same: we will continue to strengthen our businesses, and we will do so by continuing to address the needs of millions of Filipinos, improving their quality of life, helping driving national development and creating shared value for all.

This year we have learned where to adapt to deliver our objectives in the new environment of COVID-19. Together we will continue to rise above it. We are truly grateful for your support in these difficult times.