Sun.Star Economic Forum

Investing in product-based companies is seen to be a better option than going into outsourcing of services, where India and China will outperform the Philippines in the next five to 10 years, a local industry player warned.

Lawrence Hughes, chairman and chief technology officer of InfoWeapons, said “outsourcing is only a temporary phase at best” and the best direction to take is the creation of products.

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With the success rate of call center recruitment efforts averaging only two to five percent, industry players should look into the outsourcing of other services, like legal and accounting, to increase employment.

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. and Smart Communications Inc. chief executive officer and president Napoleon Nazareno said the English language skills of Filipinos is deteriorating, making it harder to staff call centers, so Philippine firms should consider “moving up the outsourcing value chain” and going into software development, computer graphics and animation instead.

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TAKING advantage of its infrastructure and manpower, Cebu should continue to position itself as a hub of tourism and information and communication technology (ICT), as well as pave the way for investors to ensure growth in the next five to 10 years.

Cebu fared well in most of the economic indicators, said National Economic and Development Authority 7 officer-in-charge Sandra Manuel. She presented Cebu’s contribution to the national economy in terms of gross domestic product, tourism, exports, trading and investments, during yesterday’s Sun.Star Economic Forum 2005.

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Despite accounting for just 4.4 percent of the country’s population, the province of Cebu generates 10 percent of national exports and receives 15 percent of all foreign tourists who visit the Philippines.

The province also trumps Subic and Clark when it comes to investments.

This was revealed by Sandra Manuel, officer-in-charge of the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) 7, during yesterday’s Sun.Star Economic Forum 2005 at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino.

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By Wilson Ng

I am currently attending the Sun.Star Economic Forum as I write this and I would particularly want to just share some of the figures that impressed me. At any rate, I am sure the other facts are more than adequately covered by my other colleagues in Sun.Star.

Two sets of statistics stand out quite well—one on tourism, the other on trade.

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Virgilio Espeleta, president of Julie’s Franchise Corp., says franchising creates thousands of enterprises and millions of jobs.

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What is the local player’s viewpoint on investing in Cebu? Lawrence Hughes, chairman and chief technology officer of infoweapons, tries to answer this question.

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Ship building success story, originally uploaded by mildred.

Roberto Aboitiz, CEO, Aboitiz Construction Group, says the success of shipbuilding in Balamban is – “think global, act global to achieve excellent level of productivity”.

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Dr. Ernesto Pernia, University of the Philippines professor on economics, speaks on the investment climate and regional development in Cebu and in the country.

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Image119.jpg, originally uploaded by mildred.

Dr. Ernesto Pernia, UP School of Economics professor, discusses Cebu’s state of physical, social and regulatory infrastructures.