Keeping up with Industry 4.0: An Analysis of Sharing Economy’s Implications on Philippine Political Economy

Abstract

Philippine firms are optimistic about the opportunities presented by Industry 4.0 but only 27 percent can keep up with the changing technological landscape due to high fixed-capital and licensing costs. The World Economic Forum’s 2018 Readiness Assessment underscores that the country has a strong production base for Fourth Industrial Revolution-related activities but is perennially challenged by weak institutional framework, inadequate technology platforms, and insufficient human capital. The government responded through key Industry 4.0-related
policies and plans such as the Comprehensive National Industrial Strategy and Inclusive Innovation
Industrial Strategy, National Technical Education and Skills Development Plan (2018–2022), and Science for Change Program. Despite this stride, the country is still perennially beset by issues of poverty, corruption, and wealth inequality. Hence, the introduction of the sharing economy (SE) in the Philippines may be taken as a welcome development given the current state of the country’s political economy. Using a descriptive-exploratory approach, this study generated two key findings: (1) the tenets of the liberal perspective are the same forces that continuously
underpin the emergence of Industry 4.0 and SE but few deviations can be observed; and (2) SE is expected to further empower Filipino individuals through introducing new means of carrying out
production and consumption-related tasks but a proactive regulatory agency is necessary to ensure inclusive growth; and. This study concludes that embodiment of adaptive agility by Philippine
government is a key element in effectively competing in an environment increasingly being driven by
unprecedented ideas and never-before-seen technologies.