Trade In Service

Global trade in services is becoming more prominent these days. In fact, services took on a greater growth of 10.1% as compared to 9% growth in goods. It is apparent that the more developed a country is, the greater the share of services in its GDP. But nowadays, we see emerging countries such as the Philippines developing its services industry not just domestically but in the international arena as well. There is a lot of potential for economies like those in Southeast Asia. In fact, Asia is now actually in the forefront of growth in world service exports.

According to Ms. Jonsson, service is meeting and exceeding customer needs. It is actually like "selling the invisible". It is difficult to sell something that one can't see. One has to make the service happen. In this phase of globalization, it actually doesn't matter anymore where service transactions happen. What is more important is the foreign revenue that a country is able to generate. The focus is more on the nationality, not the residency.

There's a lot of opportunity for the services industry. We see that due to the emergence of ICT information, services have become more tradable, highly flexible and cost efficient. Also, apparent is how a country sells its cultural background in order to attract investors. Oftentimes we sell our country first before we sell ourselves. Aside from this, business-to-business trade has become the fastest-growing sub-sector with services such as IT and HR. Moreover, companies have also opened doors to social equity. There are a lot of born global companies who brand themselves with neutrality to age and gender.

But despite the opportunities, there are also certain challenges that one must face. Nowadays, we see that there is often a lack of credibility. The temporary business entry, visas, and regulations pose a need for harmonization in order to allow professionals to move and travel easier. We are also aware of the rapidly