Michael Baier ([log in to unmask]) wrote:
: I recently move from Germany to the US.
: What scares me, that most labels that I see have
: Made in China, Korea, India, Bangladesh.
:
Welcome to globalization.
: Even if you want to, the products are not manufactured in the US anymore.
: You can't get them from anybody that produces here.
Most manufacturing jobs have already been relocated offshore to take
advantage of cheaper labor.
Now IT and IT-enabled jobs are also being relocated offshore to take
advntage of cheaper labor:
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200-8324464.html
India becoming world's back office - Tech News - CNET.com
[snip]
"India's latest export: IT-enabled services.
These include telemarketing, helpdesk support, medical transcription,
back-office accounting, payroll management, maintaining legal
databases, insurance claim and credit-card processing, animation, and
higher-end engineering design--all of which can be delivered by phone,
computer and the Internet.
[snip]
Call center services can even extend to emotional help, as Bangalore
IT-firm Phoenix Global Solutions plans to do. It has hired 50 people
for a pilot project to counsel troubled Americans."
How thoughtful.
:
: Seems like most companies are only in the service sector but not in
: producing.
: When calling hotlines or 800-No's you reach somebody, that hardly speaks
: English. I know, that is bad for a German to say but whatever language they
: talk on the phone, it is not English. My wife, she is American, can't
: understand it mostly either.
:
You're probably reaching someone in India...
http://iwsun4.infoworld.com/articles/fe/xml/01/08/20/010820feindia.xml
The back office moves to India
[snip]
The U.S. economic slowdown is likely to be a boon to India's
IT-enabled services providers. "The slowdown will impact us positively
because companies need to take advantage of the leveraged costs of
outsourcing to be in a position to consistently shore up their bottom
lines quarter to quarter," says Meena Ganesh, director and co-founder
of CustomerAsset in Bangalore.
[snip]
Revenue from IT-enabled services is likely to continue to grow in
India despite -- or because of -- the U.S. slowdown, but it is likely
to be a low-profile activity, because most customers are wary of being
named. "It doesn't make for good public relations in the U.S. market
to be seen to be moving jobs outside the United States, even if it
makes great economic sense," says a representative for a U.S. company
that outsources customer support to India."
CEOs now have a quick fix when they see they're not going to make
their numbers: offshore outsourcing.
http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/main/0,14179,2865181,00.html
ZDNet: Tech Update: Enterprise Applications /
Global services jobs landing in India
"BOMBAY, India (Reuters) - For once, tech gurus may be guilty of
underplaying how much the Internet will change your life.
Especially if you live in a moderate- to high-income country, are of
modest to moderate intelligence, and work at a service industry job
that can be done more cheaply -- and possibly better -- by some bright
eager beaver in Bangalore.
Or Madras, Delhi, Bombay -- anywhere in India to which globally active
banks, insurance companies, airlines or credit card companies shift
their most labor-intensive operations.
The telecommunications revolution has made it possible for functions
such as insurance claims processing, accounting, order taking or
customer support to be done from anywhere.
The economics of global competition will ensure they are.
Tech researcher Gartner recently forecast that by December more than
80 percent of multinationals will use IT outsourcing to save money,
overcome skills shortages or increase flexibility.
Without a doubt, much of that work is headed to India.
"Today India is the dominant player, with a greater than $6.2 billion
(IT service) export industry, more than 900 software export firms and
approximately 415,000 English-literate IT professionals," the report
said.
Gartner Dataquest forecasts the market for this type of service, which
the industry calls global business process outsourcing, (BPO), will
grow to $543 billion in 2004, at a compound annual growth rate of 21
percent.
BPO operations in India are being set up by listed Indian companies,
such as Infosys Technologies and Wipro Ltd., and by foreign
multinationals themselves.
"Companies like GE, American Express and British Airways have
successfully demonstrated the benefits of the model, with total
savings of a few hundred million dollars between them," Kandathil
Jacob, a visiting professor at the management school at Bombay's
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), wrote recently.
Citibank, Dell Computers, Oracle and Lufthansa are among the other
firms that have set up service centers in India, staffed by college
graduates delighted to land a job paying $204-$245 a month.
[snip]
Some business groups estimate a large multinational can typically
recoup within a month the cost of setting up 10,000-strong operations
in India.
And the threat of disorder, posed by tension with neighboring Pakistan
and religious riots in the western state of Gujarat, does not outweigh
the savings gained by transferring big chunks of back office and call
center operations to India.
[snip]
More problematic are government curbs on Internet telephony. One can
use VoIP to call either a phone or PC abroad, making the technology
accessible to the IT-enabled services industry.
But PC-to-phone calls are barred in India.
"The intention right now is to make it very restrictive," Supreme
Court advocate Pavan Duggal told the VoIP India 2002 seminar.
If you're an ordinary office worker in a U.S., European or upper
income Asian nation, your job could depend on how long those
restrictions last."
: So, how shall we buy American? What is still made in the US?
:
A bigger concern is how you keep your job, given the offshore
outsourcing.
--Jerry Leslie (my opinions are strictly my own)
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