BPO industry unaffected by South China Sea ruling
While China business does contribute a very small amount to the Philippine IT and business process outsourcing (BPO) export earnings, the recent ruling relating to the disputed South China Sea will not hurt the industry in the case of a nationalist backlash, according to Genny Marcial, director for external affairs at IT-BPO Association of the Philippines. Marcial said China contributed only USD6m to the industry in 2013, which was only about 0.004% of the total. With the Philippine IT-BPO industry focused more on the US market, the industry’s exposure to China is very negligible, she said. One analyst said, however, it will be more the businesses of Filipino-Chinese in China that may be affected by the nationalist backlash.