BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

The advent of the Internet, globalization and trade liberalization is transforming the Philippine economy. Service businesses such as call center, business process outsourcing, information technology, banking and mobile & wireless telecommunications are prospering while traditional manufacturing which had relied on tariff protection before such as the garments and footwear industries are barely surviving. Great opportunities await entrepreneurs with innovative products and services.

Many multinationals are utilizing the vast pool of engineers and technicians to manufacture a wide range of products for the domestic and export markets. Texas Instruments, Intel, Philips and other major electronics companies have large operations here and are responsible for making semiconductors the country's largest exports. AOL, Accenture, Dell and large BPO companies, on the other hand, employ a large number of low-cost, computer-literate, English-speaking staff to staff call centers, develop software, perform data processing, and do back-office operations for their parent companies.

Many local industries are now upgrading to world-class standards to stay competitive in an increasingly globalized environment. Most are using foreign technology in their expansion and improvement projects.