European Chamber urges industries to "Look East"

CEBU, Philippines – At these times of global economic crisis, exploring different markets outside traditional markets is one of the measures undertaken by some Philippine companies to further increase their revenues.

European Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ECCP) executive vice president Henry J. Schumacher said that they are currently exploring a “Look East” campaign that urges companies to explore possible opportunities in countries within the East.

“For a long time, the Philippines has been looking at the West. So for a change you should look at the East because at the end is Europe and the Philippines has been neglecting Europe for a long time and the market share of trading is very low. At these different times of the economy Philippine companies have this option,” said Schumacher.

He said that so far, there have already been several European companies who have come to invest in the Philippines.

“But there could be more if you explore the European market since it is the largest business process outsourcing market,” he said.

Schumacher said that so far, only India has been getting a huge chunk of the European market especially in the BPO business because India has been doing well in presenting itself as a growth location to European investors.

He said that the opportunities in Europe are endless and its demands are enormous especially in the services area where there are a lot of operations that can be outsourced.

These areas would include: engineering which Schumacher said has not been really exploited, architecture, graphic and website design, IT and IT-enabled services, global outsourcing like procurement, HR administration, back offices services like accounting and financial services, background checks, and many more.

“The list for services that can be outsourced from Europe is endless and the Philippines has not really deeply explored all these areas yet,” said Schumacher.

He added that in terms of understanding Europe’s ways, “the European culture is not hard to acquire because it can be studied. If you have a business like a call center who caters to the European market then you can do initial training for employees and in terms of cultural training ECCP can also help in that aspect.”

He said that they are currently in talks with the Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPAP) to pioneer a committee called as Team Europe which also involves other institutions like the Commission on Information and Communication Technology (CICT), CITEM and a number of individual companies.

Schumacher said that to jumpstart the country’s aim to explore the opportunities in European, there should be more visibility in the market as well as have a European champion that will speak for the Philippines and the business environment in the country.

He said that there should also be a good branding for the Philippines that will make it easier to market the country to other growth markets like Europe. 

“The brand should professionalize Filipinos. We believe that everybody in the world has in one way or another been touched by a Filipino. The Filipinos’ individuality is important to market the Philippines to Europe we just have to focus on Filipinos and their capabilities,” said Schumacher.

He said that they also look forward to the proposed free trade agreement (FTO) between the European Union and the ASEAN countries because in this way, more doors for cooperation and trade opportunities in both sides could be opened that will be beneficial.