| UK: 
| AU: 
| SGP: 
According to the management consulting firm A.T. Kearney, Philippines dropped two rungs on the list of countries most attractive for offshore-business activities. The country used to be at seventh place in the firm’s 2009 ranking, now held by Thailand, which also dropped three rungs.
“While a sluggish recovery continues to create the kind of pressure for economies that drive business outsourcing, an increasingly complex global economic environment has led to major changes in the ranking of the most attractive offshore destinations,” the Chicago, Illinois-based A.T. Kearney said in a statement. India, China and Malaysia remained in the top three spots—positions they’ve occupied since the inaugural Global Services Location Index in 2003. A.T. Kearney cited a combination of human resources and low cost as reasons for this consistent ranking.
Despite of this, the country’s business process outsourcing (BPO) industry continues to be strong and is still making an effort to improve along with the deepening impact of the global economic downturn. Its competitive strengths remain to be the key success factor namely its low cost but highly qualified English-proficient labor pool, its close affinity to Western culture, and the improved telecommunications infrastructure ideal for outsourcing operations. But there are also some comparative disadvantages that need to be dealt, such issues are overall investment environment, scarcity of quality labor pool and job-skills mismatch.
Together, the government and the BPAP had undertaken substantial efforts in promoting the Philippines as a prime BPO destination. Apart from the generous fiscal and non-fiscal incentives that promised well for BPO operations in the country, several activities and programs were undertaken in harnessing the Philippine’s business process outsourcing industry as a key driver of employment and economic growth.
