Booming corporations worldwide prefer to invest in the Philippines, according to a survey done by the Grant Thornton International Business Report (IBR).

The Philippines was said to have found its niche by shifting from manufacturing to services.

By happenstance, big corporations were expanding also in the services sector like outsourcing.

The survey, Super Growth 2007, of 7,200 privately-held businesses in 32 countries placed the Philippines 8th in the list of countries with the highest proportion , 21 percent, of super growth companies.

A super growth company grows at a faster rate than average, measured against turnover and employment.

Of the 150 local respondents tapped for the survey, 21 percent qualified as super growth companies, compared to only 7 percent last year.

Greg Navarro, managing partner and chief executive officer of Punongbayan & Araullo which is the Philippine partner of Grant Thornton International, said the results of the survey reflects the effects a growing economy, with GDP growth of over 5 percent over recent years.

Navarro also attributed this to government plans to boost infrastructure spending ten-fold and to target an accelerated growth of the economy by 7 percent in 2007.

He added that these prospects would open several opportunities for businesses to boost turnover and employment.

The local bourse’s bullish performance, he said, is also seen as having an effect on the way individual enterprises are faring.

Antonio Herbosa, head for corporate finance at P&A, for his part said the presence of super growth companies in the Philippines means that the country has found its global niche by shifting from manufacturing to a more service-based economy.

"It is perhaps a niche that is not just measured in terms of foreign direct investments - which is more appropriate for manufacturing powerhouses like China and Vietnam - but more in terms of employee and revenue growth," Herbosa said.

Herbosa noted that the Philippine growth story will continue to be anchored on overseas Filipino workers’ remittances and the corresponding consumption-driven business models that best capture these inflows: business process outsourcing, call centers and other information technology-based industries, medical tourism, leisure and affordable housing.