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Manila's
CyberPress
By Michael Alan Hamlin
December 17, 2002
Several years ago I arranged a news
conference in conjunction with an international business awards
program that my firm organized. The conference, which took place
in the Philippines, was attended by journalists from national publications
in Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore, as well as Philippine-based
correspondents and local journalists. During the conference, a Filipino
journalist who was then with Asiaweek, Tony Lopez, asked some very
hard-hitting questions of one of the awards winners who happened
to hold an important government post.
After the conference, the Malaysians
came up to me stunned. They had never been in a news conference
in which local journalists had peppered a high-ranking government
official with tough, even embarrassing questions. "We need
to be more like the Filipinos," one of them told me wistfully.
I agree. I've worked with media in the Philippines for close to
20 years, and despite the criticism you hear, my relationship with
media has always been positive, professional, and honest. Perhaps
that's because I work with business and technology journalists,
rather than those who cover political beats. Whatever the reason,
it's been rewarding work that's very exciting.
In 1995 local technology beat reporters
and editors formed an association meant to facilitate their continuing
education and development. To me, it was a very professional thing
to do. The CyberPress has provided a forum for discussing developments
in technology, the impact of technology on media, and professional
standards and ethics. This month, the CyberPress took a big step
forward in its development by organizing a 2003 outlook forum titled,
2003: A New Challenge.
The association invited top executives
from major technology companies like Microsoft, Intel, and SAP to
present their views on the economy, and prospects for 2003 at the
forum. Not surprisingly, most of the executives agreed that 2002
had been a tough year, but that 2003 should be better. Among the
speakers, the remarks of SAP Philippines managing director stood
out (Full Disclosure: SAP Philippines is a client of my firm.),
in my mind, because they addressed in a thoughtful way how 2003
is likely to develop for Asia and the Philippines, and not just
his company. Another important distinction: Ian Black's company
actually did pretty well this year.
When 2002 ends this month, in fact,
Black believes SAP will have doubled revenues over 2001. And he
believes the company will again double revenues in 2003. "We
now expect to close the year at double the software revenues we
generated in 2001. And we expect to double this year's numbers in
2003," Black told participants to the CyberPress forum. So
despite tough times, the Philippines best companies are making investments
that will assure their competitiveness when things improve.
Aside from the prospects for war
in the Middle East and the ongoing war against terrorism, Black
said he believes the challenges of his company and other companies
operating in the Philippines will be much the same as this year.
Among the challenges to economic growth, he said, is the role of
China in Asia and the global economy, and how the Philippines and
Philippine companies will fit into this new economic model. He also
cited three drivers of development that all firms must successfully
leverage.
"The first of those drivers
is liberalization," Black said. He noted that as a result of
China's implementation of World Trade Organization protocols and
the subsequent liberalization of key sectors of its economy there
has been a rush to invest by foreign investors that traditionally
target Southeast Asia. "China has virtually sucked foreign
investment out of Asia, including the Philippines, as investors
look to leverage opportunities in the Pearl River Valley - which
has a population about the same as the Philippines with more than
three times the per capita income - central coastal China, and the
capital region."
Black noted that liberalization in
China is creating new opportunities for the 600,000 engineers that
country graduates each year. Likewise, liberalization in India has
resulted in substantial new investments in value-added technology
research by SAP as well as other technology leaders like Intel and
Texas Instruments. With these two giants - China and India - pushing
hard to dominate Asian technology, Black asked, "Where does
that leave the Philippines in its search for technology hub-dom?
That will be one of the principal challenges of 2003."
The second driver of development
will be globalization, according to Black. He believes globalization
will force all companies to compete at global standards of efficiency,
productivity, and quality. The third driver of development is technology,
which Black said companies will leverage in three ways.
"First, companies will leverage
technology to improve internal business processes. Second, they
will apply those lessons to the supply chain, which technology again
makes possible. Entire supply chains will have to operate as efficiently
as the internal processes of industry leaders. Third, because resources
are more efficiently applied to keeping current customers and expanding
relationships with them than getting new customers, I think we'll
see investment in technology meant to help companies do that.
"For Philippine companies, this
means that they have to have the same technology as their principal
competitors - or a better technology - if they intend to remain
a player. Fortunately for companies here, technology can be acquired
and implemented faster, and cheaper, than ever before," he
concluded.
Black's look at the big picture reflects
his professionalism. That he was given the chance to present his
views reflects the professionalism of Manila's CyberPress.
(Michael Alan Hamlin is the managing
director of consultancy TeamAsia and the author of three books on
Asian economies and companies. His latest book is Marketing Asian
Places, of which he is a co-author (Wiley, 2001). Write him at mahamlin@teamasia.com.).
Copyright © 2002 Michael Alan
Hamlin. All Rights Reserved.
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