Data Collection and Analysis of Citizen Feedback to Strengthen Small Family Businesses in Legazpi City

Published by Cloudcity Admin on

Executive Summary

The city government of Legazpi and partner stakeholders acknowledges the critical role of family businesses and MSMEs[1] in the local economy, especially at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. To better understand the sentiments and needs of family businesses and MSMEs in the city, Legazpi joined the Digital Democracy program in collecting and analyzing citizen feedback data to inform policy and decision making.

A series of online consultations with Legazpi city and stakeholders were conducted to formulate a total of 55 survey statements related to the survey objectives. Respondents voted either ‘agree’, ‘disagree’, or ‘pass’ for each statement, with open-ended feedback at the end to submit additional qualitative responses.

An online citizen assembly was held on August 2, 2021, to explain the program objectives and kick off the feedback collection process. Using Pol.Is as data collection tool, the survey ran for a total of 11 days, from August 2, 2021, to August 13, 2021, with a total of 327 respondents and 16,454 votes. After tabulation and analysis, the results were presented in the closing citizen assembly on August 18, 2021.

Using Principal Components Analysis (PCA) via Pol.Is report page, 302 out of 327 voters were classified under two opinion groups[2]. The two opinion groups were fairly similar in terms of demographic, but are different in terms of support needed from the local government. Group A voters (n=195) are already fairly competent in the basics of running a business and uses the internet and digital tools in their business operations. However, Group A stated that they still require support on technology development and digital transformation. Group B (n=107) on the other hand, does not use digital tools in their business and requires more basic support such as business succession planning and financial management.

Both opinion groups have a generally positive outlook in running a family business despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

In supplement to the votes cast, qualitative statements received are classified into four major categories:

  1. Specific help requested from the city government (Ambulant vendors, financing needed, etc.)
  2. Statements in support of family businesses
  3. Other ideas and suggestions (e.g. use of social media, improve agriculture, etc.)
  4. Comments on the survey itself

While the majority of qualitative responses are positive, seven out of 210 qualitative statements contained swear words from irate respondents, possibly due to the length of the survey.

Finally, combined quantitative + qualitative analysis highlighted concerns to be the following:

  1. Sufficiency of utilities (water, electricity, Telcos) in Legazpi city
  2. Availability of financing, especially for micro- businesses
  3. Capacity building on basic business-related topics such as planning for succession, management of finances, marketing, use of Information communications technology (ICT) tools[3]
  4. Support for digital transformation[4]
  5. Lack of information, knowledge, and funds, to register micro-businesses and comply with rules and regulations
  6. Presence of a go-to office that specifically provides financial/registration/development assistance to businesses
  7. Mayon volcano and natural hazards worry business owners

[1] Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises

[2] These are groups of voters who voted similarly on certain statements.

[3] More prominent in Opinion Group B.

[4] More prominent in Opinion Group A.

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An ongoing study related to citizen feedback is being conducted by the CloudCT team and partners. This page will be updated with the DOI once the paper is published. For more details, questions, suggestions, please contact learning@layertechlab.com.

Cloudcity Admin
Author: Cloudcity Admin