COMPETITION Philippines

 Thanks to its sustained growth and modernisation, the Philippines has managed to attract many
large multinational corporations looking to lower their costs and take advantage of competitive
domestic wages and a highly educated workforce. Toyota, Intel and IBM have all moved
operations to the Philippines thanks to its strategic location in southeast Asia, nestled among
high growth nations such as Singapore, Malaysia and China on the mainland.
 But despite the many modernisations undertaken by the country, the World Bank and
International Finance Corporation (IFC) rank the Philippines in 138th place (out of 185
economies) for ease of doing business, highlighting the importance of local knowledge.
 Data show that the Philippine economy is more concentrated than other economies in the
region, with a higher proportion of monopoly, duopoly, and oligopoly markets. While
concentration might naturally result from the market conditions, these structures can be more
prone to collusion and abuse of market power – abetted by a plethora of restrictive regulations
and other restrictions.