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Behind
the Bad News
By Michael Alan Hamlin
April 15, 2003
Despite the abundance of negative
news associated with the Philippines - the administration's approval
ranking slipped to new lows last week, two recent deadly bombings
in Davao killed scores, and foreign investment is still falling,
for example - it's not hard to find positive news, too, as long
as you're willing to look in non-traditional places. When you do,
it's even more apparent than usual that the Philippines is really
two, pretty much "dis-integrated" countries. Or two halves
of an awkward whole.
Now, all countries have some level
of "dis-integration." By dis-integration, I mean disconnectedness,
and sweeping contrasts that defy explanation. Even cities can be
disintegrated. For example, it's hard to reconcile the wealth and
power concentrated in the wealthy northern suburbs of Dallas will
the squalor and chaos of that sprawling urban center's southern
districts. For that matter, try reconciling New York City and upstate
New York. Different cultures, different lifestyles, and different
voting patterns are blazingly apparent.
So it's not surprising that there
is a significant level of dis-integration in the Philippines, except
when you consider that few people ever expect any good news to come
out of the country. When there is good news, we find, weirdly, that
we're pleasantly surprised that there is a level of dis-integration;
in other words, we're surprised that something good is happening
where something good happening is not expected. That reaction is
opposed to an observer noting with dismay dis-integration in a developed
economy like the U.S., because things like poverty shouldn't happen
in such a wealthy place.
Which just goes to show that anomalies
are pretty normal things: strange things are supposed to happen,
and it's bizarre when they don't.
But to get back to the strange, good
news about the Philippines, the Business Development Committee of
the Information Technology and E-Commerce Council (ITECC) of the
Philippines reported recently that investment in e-Services continues
to grow very strongly despite all the bad news generally associated
with the country. e-Services, you may recall, are things like call
center services, medical transcription, and back office business
process outsourcing; for example, accounting, claims processing,
document management and the like.
For example, it turns out that last
year the number of call centers in the Philippines doubled, and
the expansion shows no sign of letting up, despite some serious
resource constraints, mostly the dwindling number of employable
call center representatives. At present, as best ITECC and the Department
of Trade & Industry can tell, there are 37 call centers located
in Manila, Cebu, and Davao.
Together, these 37 call centers have
15,000 seats, "with very high occupancy rates," according
to industry sources. Because call centers work in shifts, in fact,
those 15,000 seats provide 22,000 jobs. That's a moving number,
however, because many of these call centers are hiring an average
of 50 more people a month. As a result, the biggest restraint on
growth is qualified people. To address the issue of a dwindling
resource pool, a string of new schools offering training services
specifically for aspiring call center representatives have sprung
up. And the administration had done at least one good thing by returning
English to its role as the principal medium of instruction in schools.
The Philippines has become a popular
destination for call center investment for obvious reasons. First,
well-educated, intelligent young Filipinos aren't adverse to a career
in the industry. Unlike in the U.S. working as a call center representative
is not a halfway house between more significant jobs. Most call
center representatives are college educated, and all have at least
a high school education. They are motivated in part by high starting
salaries compared to most other entry-level positions here.
Second, of course, is that Filipino
call center representatives generally understand American culture,
and quickly develop American accents during their training. After
all, the average puzzled customer that calls in for help connecting
the cables to his new computer isn't a university researcher or
professor. It's usually some guy in some mid-size to small town
who doesn't understand why cables and receptacles are color coded.
And if he doesn't understand that, he sure doesn't want to have
to deal with an accent he's going to have to interpret.
Third, and this is really significant,
is that the Philippines, as a result of some excellent marketing
work by the Board of Investment and call center associations here,
has done - surprise - an excellent job marketing the country as
a center for the industry. That's not the kind of things you read
in The New York Times, but if you are responsible for customer service
that's what you'll read in industry publications. Which is where
the message should be anyway.
So there is some comfort in dis-integration.
At least in the Philippines' case.
(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), and he is currently
at work on High Visibility: The Making and Marketing of Asian Professionals
into Celebrities. Write him at mahamlin@teamasia.com.).
Copyright © 2003 Michael Alan
Hamlin. All Rights Reserved.
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