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BY a
1-percentage point margin, the Philippines is closing in
on India in terms of competitiveness in information
technology (IT), according to a study funded by an elite
alliance of multinational IT firms.
Likewise, the
Philippines
scored higher than China (28.0) from the Economist
Intelligence Unit’s Index of Competitiveness, a study
commissioned by the Business Software Alliance (BSA).
Released
in June, the index signifies a country’s ability to
support and benefit from the growth of its IT sector.
“In
countries where software, hardware or IT services are
generated in abundance, the contribution to gross
domestic product is upwards of 5 percent,” the 29-page
report said.
The
report added: “In many countries, the IT sector has also
been a major source of labor-productivity growth. No
wonder, then, that many governments have invested
considerable energy in recent years to encourage the
growth of local IT-producing industries.”
But not
all countries “possess the factors necessary to support
a thriving IT sector,” the report said.
These
factors include the quality of the IT and communications
infrastructure, the supply of local talent, the research
and development (R&D) environment and the legal regime,
not to mention the overall business environment.
Based on
the index, the
Philippines,
with an overall index score of 28.7, meets
business-environment requirements at 68 percent, higher
than India (60 percent), Russia (48 percent) and China
(47 percent).
However,
in terms of human capital and creating an environment
conducive for R&D, India, Russia and China scored higher
than the Philippines.
The
report cited that
China
and India “have glaring weaknesses in the industry
environment—large parts of their population are without
decent infrastructure, and protection of intellectual
property is weak, among other problems.”
Across
the Asia-Pacific region, the Philippines ranked 11th
among 16 countries led by
Japan
and bottomed-out by Vietnam.
“Many
economies in Asia-Pacific have been outstandingly
successful in developing their IT sectors.
Singapore,
for example [at No. 111 globally], performs strongly in
terms of receptiveness to foreign investment and private
property protection,” the report said.
It added
that many emerging economies, like the Philippines and
Vietnam, have a long way to go to develop stable
business environments for IT firms.
The
Philippine office of BSA, whose members include
Microsoft Inc., Apple Co., Hewlett-Packard Corp. and
Dell Inc., said it would soon reveal the scores and how
the
Philippines
could further outpace countries like
India. |
