Category: Value Chain

Quick note: When I wrote this, I was thinking of ICT firms that cater to business markets (as opposed to ICT firms that cater to consumer markets).

In my previous entry, I wrote about how information technology can “explode” the value chain such that the value-adding activities of a firm need not be housed under one roof. The beauty of this is that firms now have more flexible options in terms of choosing which parts of the business it wants to concentrate on. While many regions have realised this fact for some time now, I’m not entirely sure if we’re seeing this phenomenon for what it really is: the outsourcing of business services and activities.

The reason I say this is that even now I still observe a largely supply-side driven industry in Davao City. That is, we see the technology first before we see the needs of the market. There’s nothing wrong with that kind of thought process per se, (one might argue that that’s how some breakthroughs were born) but if done on a large scale, I fear we might run the risk of alienating ourselves from those whom we’re trying to sell our products or services to. Even worse, we might run out of resources long before we can even begin selling our products and services! Continue reading “We’re in the BPO industry, not the ICT industry”