Like so:
Think about it: Spain and the US colonize it, impose their values on that country to at least some extent, for better or for worse, and now that's part of the very thing that's helping them be competitive - at least against the US - in one particular industry.The Philippines' widespread use of English and its historical ties with the West -- it was a U.S. colony for almost 50 years -- is helping in the global outsourcing market. "In call-centre work, the Philippines is a strong No. 2 and is very competitive with India," says Mr. Schmidt. "The quality of their voice services is considered very high because of their English proficiency and cultural affinity, particularly for North America, which they have leveraged into supporting the back-end processes as well."
Like India, the Philippines is also buoyed by a strong telecommunications infrastructure, tax breaks and low wages: Total labour costs for an employee are around US$5,000 to $6,000 a year, compared with US$25,000 to $30,000 in North America. The Philippines also has one distinct advantage over India: the local accent is seen as more palatable by some Western customers.
"We decided to start our operations in the Philippines rather than India, because the dialect here is softer," says John Langford, executive vice-president of ICT Group, a Pennsylvania-based global outsourcing company. He is sitting in the boardroom of the company's call centre in Manila's Makati City. "A lot of our clients in the U.S., and also the U.K. and Australia, find the Indian accent very harsh. The Filipino accent is more neutral. A lot of the time, our agents are mistaken for Hispanic."