A Primer on Creative Industries and Digital Content Products and Services

A Primer on Creative Industries and Digital Content Goods and Services

in the Philippines

by

Cesar S. Tolentino

December 29, 2010

A Primer on Creative Industries and on Digital Content Goods and Services in the Philippines

Powerhaus Outsourcing Solutions and Consultancy, Inc. Page 2

ANALYST BRIEFING To request an Analyst Briefing of this report, or on the Digital Content Industries in general, kindly e-mail [email protected] or contact: Catherine Joy Valdez +63.922.897.8542 DISCLAIMER Any recommendations, suggestions or opinions contained in this publication reflect the results of extensive research and analysis conducted by Powerhaus Outsourcing Solutions and Consultancy, Inc. (POSC). POSC assumes that the published materials that were used in this research were accurate and reliable. No person should act solely on the basis of the contents of this publication without first obtaining specific, independent professional advice. POSC will not be liable for any loss, damage, cost or expense incurred or arising by reason of any person using or relying solely on the information in this publication. This report contains forward looking insights on the Philippine digital content industries based on published information for projections of future industry performance. TERMS OF USE Copying of any portion of this document, in part or in whole, is strictly prohibited without the written consent of POSC.

Copyright © December 29, 2010



TABLE OF CONTENTS

Creative Industries, Definitions ............................................................................................................... 4

The Scope of Creative Industries ............................................................................................................ 6

Global Demand for, and Trade in, Creative Goods and Services ............................................................ 7

Economic Value of Creative Industries in Selected Countries ................................................................ 9

Creative Industries in the Philippines ................................................................................................... 12

Digital Content Goods and Services in the Philippines ......................................................................... 15

List of Tables

Table 1. Average Annual Growth Rate of Creative Industries, by Sub-Group (2002 – 2008) 7

Table 2. Breakdown in Growth of Creative Industries, Goods vs. Services (2002 – 2008) 7

Table 3. Top Countries in Terms of GDP Contribution by Its Creative Industry Sector 10

Table 4. Breakdown of the Philippines’ Creative Industries, Goods vs. Services (2002 – 2008) 12

Table 5. Rank of the Philippines’ Creative Industry Segments, by Goods Categories (2005) 12

Table 6. Rank of the Philippines’ Creative Industry Segments, by Services Categories (2008) 13

Table 7. Rank of the Philippines’ Digital Content Services, by Categories (2005) 15

List of Figures

Figure 1. Diagram Showing the Scope of ‘Creative Industries’ 6

Figure 2. Breakdown of the Value for the Philippines’ Creative Industries, for Goods (2005) 13

Figure 3. Breakdown of the Value for the Philippines’ Creative Industries, for Services (2008) 14



Creative Industries, Definitions ‘Creative industries’ are defined by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) as ‘the cycle of creation, production and distribution of goods and services that use intellectual capital as their primary input.’1 Such a definition encompasses ‘folk art, festivals, music, books, paintings and performing arts to more technology-intensive subsectors such as the film industry, broadcasting, digital animation and video games, and more service-oriented fields such as architectural and advertising services.’2 This definition has been adopted by the World Trade Organization (WTO) and its trade advisory body, the International Trade Centre (ITC).3 Another definition proposed which has been used by the WTO and ITC is that formulated by the United Kingdom’s Department for Culture, Media and Sports (DCMS), which states that ‘creative industries’ are ‘those industries which have their origin in individual creativity, skill and talent and which have a potential for wealth and job creation through the generation and exploitation of intellectual property.’ In this definition, ‘creative industries’ encompass ‘advertising, architecture, the art and antiques market, crafts, design, designer fashion, film and video, interactive leisure software, music, the performing arts, publishing, software and computer services, television and radio.’4 The major difference between the two definitions is the inclusion of software development and services in the DCMS definition, a sector that is not included in the UNCTAD definition. The UNCTAD definition has been used extensively to guide the monitoring of global trade and the establishment of trade treaties, governing ‘creative industries’. On the other hand, the DCMS definition has been used extensively as a guide for countries in the formulation of their economic development plans that are centred on, or that leverage from, their respective creative industries. An example is Taiwan’s first Cultural & Creative Industries Development Policy, which was legislated in 7 January 2010, and which was inspired by the UK government’s own creative industries initiative. Taiwan’s creative industries policy covers 15 sub-sectors, with focus on 6 flagship sectors – product design, digital content, craft, music and performing arts, movies/film, and broadcasting/television.5 The Philippines is currently pursuing several initiatives to formulate a definition of ‘creative industries’ that reflect the unique structure of its economy and culture. To this date, there have been at least three separate organizations pursuing initiatives with this objective in mind:

1. The Philippine Services Coalition (PSC) is a ‘partnership of concerned stakeholders from the government, the private sector, and the academe’ which was established ‘through funding and technical assistance from the Asia Trust Fund (ATF) of the European Commission (EC) and the International Trade Centre (ITC).’ The PSC’s mandate is to ‘develop and enhance Philippine trade in services’ by working with the Public-Private Sector Task Force on the Development of Globally Competitive Philippine Services Industries towards the formulation of action plans that will assist the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in helping achieve the objectives in then President Arroyo’s 10-point agenda, and support the successful implementation of the Philippine Export Development Plan 2005 – 2007 (PEDP). Although the programs of the PSC relating to the PEDP ended in 2007, the DFA (which acts as the

1 ‘Goods’ in this context and when used in this report refers both to tangible (example: music CDs) and

intangible goods (example: digital recordings). 2 ‘Creative Economy Report 2008,’ UNCTAD. 2008

3 http://www.intracen.org/creativeindustries/ retrieved 25 December 2010

4 ‘Creative Industries Mapping Document,’ DCMS. 2001

5 ‘Taiwan Creative Industries Sector Report,’ UK Trade and Investments. March 2010

http://www.intracen.org/creativeindustries/



Secretariat of the PSC through the Office of the Undersecretary for International Economic Relations, OUIER) is still conducting activities of the PSC to sustain its programs.6

2. The National Competitiveness Council (NCC) ‘was formed in October 2006 as a Public-Private Task Force on Philippine Competitiveness by virtue of Presidential Executive Order No. 571, to address the improvement of the country’s competitiveness from the bottom third of competitiveness rankings to the top third by 2010.’7 The NCC is currently conducting a series of consultation sessions with stakeholders from the Philippine creative industries sectors, notably the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) and private sector resource persons, for the formulation of a creative industries-driven economic development plan.8 With the passing of 2010, however, the NCC is re-evaluating its initiatives to establish new goals for the next decade.

3. The Creative Industries Task Force (CITF) under the Center for International Trade

Expositions and Missions (CITEM) was formed in 2005 to assist the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) in the formulation of an international promotional plan that will result in a shift from a primarily services-driven economy to a creativity-driven economy.9,10 The CITF is currently coordinating with an initiative of the CCP and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) to map the Philippine creative industries.11

To this date, all three organizations are still working on their initiatives and, in spite of sharing information on such initiatives, no definitive output has been published.

6 http://www.philippineservicescoalition.com/about.htm retrieved 25 December 2010

7 http://www.competitive.org.ph/ retrieved 25 December 2010

8 “Philippines improves its competitiveness ranking,”GMA News.tv, 14 July 2008.

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/106843/Philippines-improves-its-competitivess-ranking retrieved 25 December 2010 9 “Mich Dulce: Hats Off!,” Philstar.com, 28 February 2010.

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=553484&publicationSubCategoryId=90 retrieved 25 December 2010 10

“RP promotes creative industries to take advantage of global trend,” GMA News.tv, 12 January 2009. http://www.gmanews.tv/story/143790/RP-promotes-creative-industries-to-take-advantage-of-global-trend retrieved 25 December 2010 11

“It’s Time for the Business of Creativity,” ECCP (European Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines), 2009. http://www.eccp.com/infocus.php?id=291 retrieved 25 December 2010

http://www.philippineservicescoalition.com/about.htm

http://www.competitive.org.ph/

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/106843/Philippines-improves-its-competitivess-ranking

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=553484&publicationSubCategoryId=90

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/143790/RP-promotes-creative-industries-to-take-advantage-of-global-trend

http://www.eccp.com/infocus.php?id=291



The Scope of Creative Industries For the purposes of this Primer, the definition published by UNCTAD will be adopted as the Philippine definition of ‘creative industries.’ This includes the UNCTAD definition of what industries are included under the scope of ‘creative industries.’ The technical definition for the UNCTAD scope of ‘creative industries is stated thus as ‘any economic activity producing symbolic goods with a heavy reliance on intellectual property and for as wide a market as possible.’12 The scope thus of this definition covers the following industry ‘clusters’:

Figure 1. Diagram Showing the Scope of ‘Creative Industries’13 NOTE: In the wider UNCTAD definition of ‘creative industries’ that use the WIPO14 copyright model (where focus is placed on intellectual property as the embodiment of creativity), ‘software’ goods and services are included. In the tighter definition that use the concentric circles model (where focus is placed on the amount of cultural content in a particular product or service), ‘software’ goods and services are noted as having the least amount of cultural content and is thus not included. The wider UNCTAD definition of ‘creative industries’ is virtually of the same scope as the DCMS definition.

12

2004 definition of UNCTAD as reported in the ‘Creative Economy Report 2008,’ UNCTAD, 2008 13

‘Creative Economy Report 2008,’ UNCTAD, 2008. 14

World Intellectual Property Organization



Global Demand for, and Trade in, Creative Goods and Services In terms of exports, UNCTAD reported that the global demand for creative goods and services amounted to almost US$576 Billion in 2005, growing by almost 15.6% annually (average) since 2000 – when exports amounted to almost US$324 Billion.15 A more recent report by UNCTAD16 placed the 2008 export estimate to almost US$592 Billion, a positive growth from 2005 in spite of the prevailing global financial crisis during the same period that resulted in a 12% contraction in international trade.17 The experience of 2007-2008 demonstrated the resilience of creative industries, and the trade of creative goods and services, to weather global economic storms. This has resulted in renewed interest in the trade of creative goods and services in recent years, as the world prepares for the eventuality of another global economic crisis. Using the UNCTAD proposed sub-groups (Heritage, Arts, Media and Functional Creations) the global trade of creative goods and services can be summarized in Table 1.

Table 1. Average Annual Growth Rate of Creative Industries, by Sub-Group (2002 – 2008)18

Sub-Group 2002 Value of Exports (US$ Billions)

2008 Value of Exports (US$ Billions)

Average Annual Growth Rate (%)

Total* 267.175 592.079 16.6%

Heritage 25.007 43.629 12.4%

Arts 25.109 55.876 20.4%

Media 43.960 75.503 12.0%

Functional Creations 194.263 454.813 22.4%

* Using the wider definition of ‘creative industries,’ to include Software goods and services. The above table shows that the trade of Functional Creations (design goods, new media goods, advertising and related services, architecture and related services, research and development services, and personal, cultural and recreational services) has shown the highest growth rate among the sub-groups. Even the lowest performing sub-group (Media) has grown an average of 12% during the period of 2002 to 2008, when the world economy grew only by 2.9% annually from 2001 to 2008. In terms of breakdown among goods and services, Table 2 below shows growth is most notable among services vis-a-vis goods – growing at least twice as fast.

Table 2. Breakdown in Growth of Creative Industries, Goods vs. Services (2002 – 2008)19

Goods vs. Services 2002 Value of Exports (US$ Billions)

2008 Value of Exports (US$ Billions)


Total* 267.175 592.079 16.6%

Goods 209.948 406.992 15.6%

Services 62.227 185.087 32.9%

* Using the wider definition of ‘creative industries,’ to include Software goods and services.

15

‘Creative Economy Report 2008,’ UNCTAD. 2008 16

“Creative Economy Report 2010: Creative Industries Are Stimulating Economic Recovery,” Dexigner, 19 December 2010. http://www.dexigner.com/news/22073 retrieved 25 December 2010 17

‘Creative Economy Report 2010,’ UNCTAD. 2010. p. xxiii. 18

‘Creative Economy Report 2010,’ UNCTAD. 2010. p. 126. 19

‘Creative Economy Report 2010,’ UNCTAD. 2010. p. 126.

http://www.dexigner.com/news/22073



As a result of the performance of creative industries in world trade during the global financial crisis, and the notable growth of creative services, as well as the growth in Arts and Functional Creations sub-groups, there is increasing interest among countries in formulating economic development plans that are centred on, or leverage from, creative industries. Aside from leading efforts by the UK, Japan and Taiwan, developed countries such as the US and Singapore, and developing countries such as those in the ASEAN region, are pursuing initiatives to craft creative industry-led economic development plans for the next decade.



Economic Value of Creative Industries in Selected Countries Quantifying the economic value of creative industries has posed a continuing challenge to economic planners. UNCTAD proposed four methods of measuring the economic value of creative industries:20

1. Employment. This method is hindered by a lack of internationally-accepted and adopted definitions of what is a ‘creative worker’. In some cases, newly emerging forms of creative businesses are so new that employment in such businesses is often not included in ‘creative workers’ immediately. Furthermore, differences in methods of capturing employment statistics (some are collected through dedicated labour surveys for the creative industry sectors, and in others statistics are collected as part of a general census) pose a challenge in collating global statistics or in conducting country-to-country comparisons. For the most part, the use of employment as a measure of creative industries – often through the use of international standards on job classification as proposed by the International Labour Organization (ILO) – is a widely accepted method.

2. Time Use. Pioneered by Australia, the use of time use for creative activities (both economic and non-economic activities) is regarded as one of the more robust methods for quantifying the value of creative industries. However, the method is labour-intensive to apply, and very few countries have so far been able to utilize this method.

3. Trade and Value Added. Although capable of producing reliable estimates on value of goods

and services from creative industries, the use of trade activities for measuring the value of creative industries has so far provided a less-than-accurate estimate. The estimates are always underestimated, as non-trade activities such as the flow of royalties are not captured by the trade method. The method remains internationally accepted, however, and is a standard used often by UNCTAD and most international organizations such as the WTO for measuring the value of creative industries.

4. Copyright and Intellectual Property Rights. Proposed by the WIPO, this method relies on the

measure of employment and economic activity in industries that are classified under ‘creative industries,’ and expressing such measures as a percentage contribution to a country’s GDP. This method utilizes industrial taxonomies as defined by the International Standard Industrial Classification, or ISIC. Efforts for collecting statistical information using this method are currently ongoing in several developed countries. However, the high costs of conducting such studies are prohibitive in developing countries and have mostly been used for monitoring purposes only.

For this report, the method used when citing the value of creative industries is that of Trade and Value Added. Statistics cited from reports conducted by the WTO and ITC, and by UNCTAD, use this method. In other publications, the Copyright and Intellectual Property Rights method is used. Expressed as a percentage contribution to a country’s GDP21, this method of measuring the value of creative industries is most frequently cited in the international press. The British Council’s Creative Industries initiative uses this method.

20

‘Creative Economy Report 2010,’ UNCTAD. 2010. pp. 100 – 101. 21

Gross Domestic Product - the market value of all final goods and services made within the borders of a country in a year.



As a proxy to the value reported using the Copyright and Intellectual Property Rights method, this report utilizes the value of creative industries using the Trade and Value Added method – and then expresses such a value as a percentage of the GDP. Various countries’ GDP contributions of their respective creative industries are shown in Table 3 below.

Table 3. Top Countries in Terms of GDP Contribution by Its Creative Industry Sector22, 23, 24

Country Industry Size (US$ Billions, est.)25

GDP (US$ Billions)26

GDP Contribution (%) Reference Year

Thailand 32.7 272.4 12.0% 2008

US 1,581.3 14,119.0 11.2% 2009

Hungary 8.6 129.0 6.7% 2009

UK 170.4 2,662.6 6.4% 2008

Indonesia 32.2 510.5 6.3% 2008

Russia 75.1 1,231.9 6.1% 2009

Korea 54.0 931.4 5.8% 2008

Singapore 10.8 193.3 5.6% 2008

Jamaica 0.8 14.7 5.1% 2009

Philippines 7.9 160.5 4.9% 2009

Mexico 42.0 874.9 4.8% 2009

Lebanon 1.5 34.4 4.5% 2009

Canada 60.1 1,336.1 4.5% 2009

Croatia 2.8 63.0 4.4% 2009

Hong Kong 8.6 215.4 4.0% 2008

Latvia 1.0 26.2 4.0% 2009

Bulgaria 1.8 47.1 3.9% 2009

New Zealand 3.6 117.8 3.1% 2008

Other Countries of Interest

Japan 88.4 3,842.3 2.3% 1998

Malaysia 3.3 221.8 1.5% 2008

22

2008 figures are based on the article “From Manufacturing Hubs to Creative Hubs,” Periscope (Synovate Business Consulting), December 2009. http://www.synovate.com/businessconsulting/insights/periscope/issues/200912/ retrieved 25 December 2010 23

2009 figures are based on the article “Creative industries 4.5 percent of Lebanon GDP,” The Daily Star, 24 December 2010. http://dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=3&article_id=122872#axzz19DDtbose retrieved 25 December 2010 24

1998 figure for Japan is based on the report ‘National Studies on Assessing the Economic Contribution of the Copyright-Based Industries (Creative Industries Series No. 2),’ World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), 2009. 25

The Industry Size figures were computed by multiplying the Nominal GDP with the estimated percentage GDP contribution. 26

Nominal GDP figures. 2009 GDP figures obtained from the report ‘The World Bank: World Development Indicators database,’ World Bank, 27 September 2010. 2008 figures obtained from The World Data & Statistics page (http://econ.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/DATASTATISTICS/0,,contentMDK:20394802~menuPK:1192714~pagePK:64133150~piPK:64133175~theSitePK:239419~isCURL:Y,00.html retrieved 25 December 2010)

http://www.synovate.com/businessconsulting/insights/periscope/issues/200912/

http://dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=3&article_id=122872#axzz19DDtbose

http://econ.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/DATASTATISTICS/0,,contentMDK:20394802~menuPK:1192714~pagePK:64133150~piPK:64133175~theSitePK:239419~isCURL:Y,00.html

http://econ.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/DATASTATISTICS/0,,contentMDK:20394802~menuPK:1192714~pagePK:64133150~piPK:64133175~theSitePK:239419~isCURL:Y,00.html



As Table 3 above shows, the Philippines is one of the leading countries in terms of the GDP contribution of its creative industries. The Philippines is also among the top ASEAN countries, next to Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore. In terms of economic value, the Philippines’ creative industries sector is one of the most prominent in the world as shown in the table above.



Creative Industries in the Philippines Using the same definition of ‘creative industries’ as that used by UNCTAD’s expanded definition (to include software goods and services), we can quantify the value of the Philippines’ creative industries as follows:

Table 4. Breakdown of the Philippines’ Creative Industries, Goods vs. Services (2002 – 2008)27

Goods vs. Services 2002 Value of Exports (US$ Millions)

2008 Value of Exports (US$ Millions)


Total* 7 620 1,459.5%

Goods <1.0 580 96,500.0%

Services 7 40 78.6%

* Using the wider definition of ‘creative industries,’ to include software goods and services. Table 4 above demonstrates the Philippines’ remarkable growth in the trade of creative goods and services in the last decade, a growth that has recently generated interest from various stakeholders and sectors – to a point where there are now several initiatives to further develop the creative industries in order to help drive economic growth in the country’s economy for the next decade. In terms of goods, the Philippines is most notable for exports in the following product categories:

Table 5. Rank of the Philippines’ Creative Industry Segments, by Goods Categories (2005)28

Goods Category 2005 Value of Exports (US$ Millions)

Rank in Category Among Developing Economies

Rank in Category Among All Economies

Sculpture 102 5th Not in top 10

Wickerware 95 2nd 2nd

Newspapers 67 4th Not in top 10

Celebration (Fiestas, etc.) 57 5th 10th

Digital records 3 10th Not in top 10

Paperware < 1.0 8th Not in top 10

NOTE: The Philippines is currently not significantly trading in other creative goods categories. 2008 data for the trade in creative goods is not currently available from UNCTAD. Among the goods categories shown in Table 5 above, the Philippines is most notable for Celebrations and Wickerware. This indicates that, for the most part, the Philippines appears to be globally competitive in the handicrafts and cultural event segments. And although the Philippines is also active in the art segment (sculpture), the country is not as competitive globally. There is thus potential for the Philippines to further improve its global positioning for the handicrafts, cultural events, and art segments.

27

Creative Economy Report 2010,’ UNCTAD. 2010. 28

Creative Economy Report 2008,’ UNCTAD. 2008.



Figure 2. Breakdown of the Value for the Philippines’ Creative Industries, for Goods (2005)29

Sculpture

32%

Wickerware

29%

Newspapers

21%

Celebration

17%

Digital Records

1%

Paperware

0%

Other Goods

0%

In terms of contribution to the total value of creative goods, Figure 1 above shows that Sculpture, Wickerware, Newspapers, and Celebrations are the top segments for the Philippines. This also shows that there is room to expand for Digital Records and Paperware, as well as in other goods categories (namely Carpets, Yarn, Other Arts and Crafts, Film, Graphic Design, Fashion Design, Glassware, Interior Design, Jewellery, Toys, Records, Printed Music, Video Games, Books, Other Publishing, Painting, Photography, Antiques, and Other Visual Arts). In terms of services, the Philippines is most notable for exports in the following categories:

Table 6. Rank of the Philippines’ Creative Industry Segments, by Services Categories (2008)30

Services Category 2008 Value of Exports (US$ Millions)



Research and Development Services

19 5th Not in top 10

Personal, Cultural and Recreational Services

21 Not in top 10 Not in top 10

Audiovisual and Related Services

8 9th Not in top 10

Other Personal, Cultural and Recreational Services

13 Not in top 10 Not in top 10

Among the services categories shown in Table 6 above, the Philippines is most notable for R&D and Audiovisual services. This indicates that there is potential for the Philippines to further improve its global competitiveness in these two segments.

29





Figure 3. Breakdown of the Value for the Philippines’ Creative Industries, for Services (2008)31

Personal,

Cultural and

Recreational

31%

R&D

35%

Audiovisual

13%

Others

21%

In terms of contribution to the total value of services, Figure 2 above shows that Personal, Cultural and Recreational, and R&D services are the top segments for the Philippines. This also shows that there is room to expand for Audiovisual services, as well as in Other Services. Tables 5 and 6 indicate that, although the Philippines has seen remarkable growth in the trade of creative goods and services over the last decade, the country has to strive some more in order to further improve its global competitiveness and positioning – particularly on creative services.

31




Digital Content Goods and Services in the Philippines The scope of digital content goods and services includes the following segments:

1. Publishing – includes digital comics 2. Audiovisuals – including animation and online broadcast materials (from film, television and

radio broadcasts) 3. Design – including interior, graphic, and fashion design 4. New Media – including software goods and services, and videogames (also called

entertainment software, and includes educational games and advergames) 5. Creative Services – Architectural, advertising, and other cultural content services that utilize

an online delivery system As indicated in Table 5, the Philippines is currently not aggressively exporting creative goods (also called creative goods). Table 6 also shows that, for services, the Philippines has a lot more room to expand for the export of creative services. Among the product segments, the Philippines has yet to develop an action plan to expand its share of global demand. However, some discussions are being taken up for improving the access to the world market for Philippine goods in the Film, Fashion Design, Interior Design, Digital Records, Video Games, Photography, and Other Visual Art categories.32 Currently, the Philippines generates less than US$0.1 Million in export revenues for each of these creative product categories (except for Digital Records, where the Philippines exported approximately US$3 Million in revenues in 2005 and was the 10th largest exporter among the developing countries in the world).33 Among the service segments, the Philippines is currently formulating an initiative to expand its global market for Audiovisuals, Design, New Media and Other Creative Services. This initiative is being spearheaded by the Philippine Services Coalition under the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA),34 and by the Department of Trade and Investments (DTI) via its events management affiliate, CITEM.35 It is expected that the output of their planning activities will eventually become public as early as 2011.

Table 7. Rank of the Philippines’ Digital Content Services, by Categories (2005)36

Digital Content Service Categories

2005 Value of Exports (US$ Millions)



Visual Arts 107 10th Not in top 10

Design < 1.0 Not in top 10 Not in top 10

New Media < 1.0 Not in top 10 Not in top 10

Other Creative Services < 1.0 Not in top 10 Not in top 10

32

Based on an interview with CITEM and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). 33


Based on an interview with the Office of the Undersecretary for International Economic Relations (DFA-OUIER). 35

Based on an interview with James Romana, Chief – Creative Industry Division (CITEM). 36




Another private sector initiative is that being spearheaded by research firm, Powerhaus Outsourcing Solutions and Consultancy (POSC) – a competitive intelligence research firm. Working closely with CITEM and the Animation Council of the Philippines (ACPI), Game Developers Association of the Philippines (GDAP) and a coalition of comic book industry organizations, POSC is formulating an action plan towards catalyzing the export trade of digital content goods and services in 2011. The output of this initiative is intended for implementation during the 2011 e-Services Conference, “the largest IT-Enabled Services (ITES) sourcing event in Southeast Asia.”37 The 2011 e-Services Conference is tentatively scheduled for July 2011. With the velocity building up for a national development program towards expanding the trade of digital content goods and services, the Philippines is now poised to get a larger share of the global market.

37

E-Services website. http://www.e-servicesphils.com/esp2010/ retrieved 25 December 2010

http://www.e-servicesphils.com/esp2010/



About the Author Cesar Tolentino has been a consultant in IT-Enabled Services (ITES) since 1998. He began his career with providing strategic advisory to one of the earliest call centers in the Philippines, eTelecare. This was followed by a series of consulting engagements in many of today's top call centers in the Philippines – NetRep International (now Aegis PeopleSupport), Contact World (now Sitel-Client Logic), Ambergris Solutions (now Telus), Sykes, Advanced Contact Solutions, Daksh (now IBM Daksh), Convergys, Teletech and ePLDT Ventus (now SPI Ventus). Mr. Tolentino has leveraged his knowledge and experience with outsourcing to enter into consulting engagements with other Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) companies including Accenture, IBM Business Solutions, Proview Global, Salmat Group, Chevron Philippines, Six Continent Hotels (now Hotel Intercontinental), and Amtec Human Capital. While part of academic institution, University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P), and consulting company XMG Asia-Pacific, Mr. Tolentino strengthened his strategic advisory services in the areas of IT and Telecom, providing important support to the strategic growth plans of companies such as Oracle, Info-Alchemy, Wideout, Broadband Philippines, PLDT, Smart, Pacific Internet, as well as organizations in related industries such as Level-Up Games, Slycesoft Games, The Game Developers Association of the Philippines (GDAP), Philippine Software Industry Association (PSIA), European IT Service Center (EITSC), Colliers International, Canadian Embassy, Frontstate, Lingua Franca, FutureGov, and Digital Media Exchange. Mr. Tolentino has a Bachelor's Degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of the Philippines-Diliman, and a Masters of Science in Business Administration from the same institution. He has had more than fifteen years experience as a consultant and research analyst, five of which was spent in the game and entertainment industry. About POSC Powerhaus Outsourcing Solutions and Consultancy, Inc. Is a pioneer research and consulting firm in the field of competitive intelligence (CI). Since 2005, POSC has provided reliable, relevant, and actionable information that is used for business decision-making. POSC is a pure CI firm that provides clients with research and analysis, training, strategic consultancy, advisory and CI outsourcing services. Clients are able to pre-empt their destinies by using proleptic information to guide their decisions.

Documents

A Primer on Creative Industries and Digital Content Products and Services