Service exporters urged to improve global branding

MANILA, Philippines - The country’s service exporters are urged to upgrade, innovate as well as improve its branding to become more competitive and penetrate new markets.

According to the Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc International Trade Centre (ITC) senior services adviser Jane Drake-Brockman, agencies Philippine service exporters to step up to become more competitive.

“Services exporters do international business differently,” Brockman was quoted as saying.

To be able to compete, she said, service exporters need to upgrade their production processes as well as have new product lines that are of higher value-added to moving up the value chain.

“Upgrading is not easy, yet it is happening everywhere and is driven fundamentally by national level competitiveness policy changes (border and within-border), and investments in physical and human capital,” she noted.

Brockman said the Philippine services sector must also increasingly improve productivity through innovation.

“Services exporters tend to be project-based,” she said.

“Each export project tends to require a slightly different services offering. This means services firms can rarely find new export markets without innovating. They need to promote their capacity to create new services offerings for new international clients,” she added.

To promote the country’s service exports, she said there is also a need to improve its branding.

Having an available pool of services skills will likewise ensure the country is positioned to take advantage of regional and global business opportunities.

Service exports cover the information technology - business process management and tourism sectors.

Last year, the country’s service exports were valued at $21.5 billion.

The ITC, a joint agency of the World Trade Organization and United Nations, seeks to contribute to poverty alleviation by engaging the private sector to facilitate export development.