{"id":19105,"date":"2024-07-26T14:14:06","date_gmt":"2024-07-26T17:14:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fund.ar\/publicacion\/argentinean-software-in-numbers-the-end-of-the-easy-growth-phase\/"},"modified":"2024-08-13T14:56:03","modified_gmt":"2024-08-13T17:56:03","slug":"argentinean-software-in-numbers-the-end-of-the-easy-growth-phase","status":"publish","type":"publicacion","link":"https:\/\/fund.ar\/en\/publicacion\/argentinean-software-in-numbers-the-end-of-the-easy-growth-phase\/","title":{"rendered":"Argentinean software in numbers: the end of the easy growth phase"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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The current context of increased global competition for software exports and greater technological and macroeconomic uncertainty for investments makes it urgent to rethink Argentina’s international insertion in the global software value chain. This requires understanding not only the evolution of the sector at the domestic level but also concerning other countries in the world that compete in the same segment. We present an analysis of the evolution of the main economic variables (employment, sales, exports) of the software sector in Argentina.<\/strong><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Illustration: Micaela Nanni<\/a>.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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A sector difficult to measure<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Any diagnosis seeks to start from an accurate measurement. However, there are two major challenges in quantifying and dimensioning the size of software-related activities. On the one hand, the difficulties in registering trade in services (given that its product is intangible). On the other hand, the existence of practices aimed at reducing the total tax burden (which generate incentives for companies to locate their operations in different locations).<\/p>

The statistics that measure the software sector have the challenge of taking an incomplete picture. This is true in all countries, even in the Global North; but the challenge is greater in Argentina. Restrictions in the foreign exchange market (which tend to generate a significant gap between the official price and the “market” price) as well as potential restrictions and regulations to operate with the rest of the world generate a structure of incentives on companies and workers to move their operations and eventual profits to other countries.<\/p>

Three phenomena impact the ability to quantify and correctly dimension the size of the sector in Argentina: the shift towards a cost centre of global companies; the relocation of the business structure<\/a> and the holding<\/i> behaviour of many domestic companies to sell to other countries; and the increase in the number of freelancers<\/em> and contractors<\/em>, who offer their services directly abroad.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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How has the software sector evolved in Argentina?<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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The local software sector has shown an important dynamism during the last 20 years. Between 2003 and 2022, more than 3,700 companies were created. At the same time, employment, sales and exports in the sector continued to grow. The evolution of these variables, analyzed in detail below, allows us to identify three periods in the sector’s growth rate: a first period of strong growth during the first decade of the 21st century; the beginning of a period of deceleration as of 2012; and, finally, a period of slight recovery as of 2020.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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