Over the last five years, the administration of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has seen its share of political instability. The oakwood Mutiny of July 2003 is the most significant of these. Most of the social movements manifesting unrest towards government policy, the oakwood Mutiny was originally perceived to have a long-term drastic effects int he economy. This is proven to be untrue for the local and offshore Information Technology industry in the country. The reliance of Philippine society prevailed in succeeding years.
The event being relegated to being a mere nuisance, analyst found renewed growth for the remainder of 2003, this is according to the XMG Inc. The recent pronouncement of state of emergency which has now been lifted and the ruckus at the Philippine marine headquarters carry “no fundamental negative effects to economic growth”, this is the Information Technology research firm believes.
XMG expects some offshore contracts to be suspended or canceled owing ” to insufficient understanding of the real meaning behind events of a social unrest in Philippine society. The sentiment will get better in less than a year so long as the country does not suffer further political unrest.
The service providers have continued to take on a “business as usual” attitude though they admitted that regular business meetings experienced disruptions due to political protests. It indicates that the state of emergency has a minimal impact on the country’s outsourcing market. The ICT Group listed by Nasdaq-listed, for instance revealed plans to develop its operations while etelecare Global Solutions announced it will recruit over 3,000 new agents in the Philippines.
The current situation in the Philippines heightens the need for companies to have a multiple global sourcing locations and to have multi-country, multi locations disaster recovery plans in place . The board of investments and the commission on Information and Communication Technology in the Business Process Association of the Philippines stated that the Philippine Outsourcing industry is expected to create 103,000 new jobs in 2006. There were 44 percent increase from 2005, this is in spite of the threat coming from other countries like India and China.
The outsourced industries int he Philippines are information technology, call center work, animation and software development. The outsourcing industry is expected to bring in $3.7 billion in revenues this year. All of these sectors are bullish about the prospects of growth, the Philippine animation industry is currently a $40 million business. The global animation outsourcing industry is valued at $72 billion. In 2005, the BOI also noted a significant increase of information technology-related projects that registered. In the outsourced call center with a projected 70 percent growth, the biggest growth is expected.
In the Philippines, the booming outsourcing industry is considered vital in keeping the country’s economy viable. Because of an ever growing demand from the United States, the local outsourcing industry is seen to remain growing. The most favored nation for outsourcing ventures, the Philippines remains on its stand. This is after India because of the Filipinos’ excellent knowledge of the English language as well as their familiarity with western culture owing to the country’s historical affinity.
Outsourcing is a one way in providing a good strategy in the businesses, this is the one that can provide a solution in anything. This is a big help in the industry.
REFERENCE:
http://www.tips.com.my/Article/Unrest-has-little-effect-on-Philippine-outsourcing-market/41105
http://www.articlegarden.com/Article/Unrest-has-little-effect-on-Philippine-outsourcing-market/38402
http://ezinearticles.com/?Unrest-has-Little-Effect-on-Philippine-Outsourcing-Market&id=390952