The Philippines has been more cautious in its policy towards free trade agreements (FTAs) than other ASEAN member states, having signed, so far, only one bilateral agreement with Japan in addition to the various ASEAN+1 agreements. While the Government is expected to progressively reduce...

As the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) seeks to promote free trade and economic cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region, cross-border ICT-enabled services and business process outsourcing (BPO) are expected to contribute to economic integration and growth in the region. ICT-enabled...

This paper traces the urbanization experience of Tagbilaran City, Bohol taking into account the demographic development that took place, as well as the perceived contribution of tourism in the city's quest to firmly establish and improve its urban status. It also looks into the nature and...

This paper assesses one of the pillars of the "Big Push" for micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSME) development of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI): the shared service facility (SSF). Implemented in 2013, SSF seeks to address the gaps and bottlenecks in the value chain of priority...

This paper is a narrative account and assessment of the Grassroots Participatory Budgeting (GPB) process in three municipalities of the Negros Province, namely, Sagay City, Hinigaran and Cauayan. The GPB process was implemented with the objective of empowering civil society organizations to...

The study identifies outstanding issues and bottlenecks and provides recommendations to facilitate the Philippines' full compliance to its commitments to the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). Various in-depth interviews and surveys were conducted with concerned stakeholders from government...

Private firms invest in physical capital and human resource but they are also advised to invest in innovations to be more productive and profitable. Innovations refer to the development, deployment, and economic utilization of new products, processes, and services. It is important for firms to...

There is growing recognition that natural disasters and severe weather-related events pose risks that can potentially and unintentionally affect the financial performance of the banking system. This study provides further indication that severe weather conditions have an impact on the financial...

This paper investigates firm-to-firm technology and knowledge sharing in firms from the food manufacturing sector. Traditionally driven by secret recipes and family-grounded procedures, food processing firms are naturally unwilling and indisposed to embrace collaborative undertaking and develop...

It is widely acknowledged that technological innovations that can come from research and development (R and D) are crucial to industry competitiveness and sustained economic growth. Although R and D remains to be the central focus of policymaking and research, not all firms can afford and do R...