Sunday Posts

Is going nearshore a strategy which will help lift the fortunes of the embattled Indian BPO industry? Seems so, as one can clearly notice the rising public sentiment against offshoring of jobs when the domestic opportunities are drying up. Earlier, the economic logic that this keeps the cost of service cheap was good enough; but today an organization employing overseas workers may appear insensitive and overtly motivated by profit, not a good thing when such public goodwill is so necessary for ongoing existence of the business. We have noticed that there was a premium attached to 'UK Call Centres' even before the recession hit. However, most people did not care. Though this was a slightly more sensitive issue than buying Chinese toys in the supermarket - manufacturing seemed remote and people preferred lower prices on goods - this was okay. However, as the recession bites and everyone suddenly knows someone who got affected, this uneasiness about services being offered by ov...

President Obama finally said what he has been saying for a while - that US companies will not receive tax breaks if they ship American jobs abroad. He is speaking for many democrats, who favoured such a measure for a long time. They are hoping that this will dampen outsourcing, at a crucial time when the politicians need to be seen doing something to stem the job losses. It will tickle the economic nationalists the right way, and indeed, every recession sees them in ascendancy . So, President Obama has said the right thing, at the right time, for the Americans. The comment dominated the discussions in India. We traditionally favour democratic candidates, but usually got raw deals from successive democratic administrations. The reviled George W. bestowed us with a nuclear deal, whereas the enormously popular Clinton clubbed us with Pakistan and tried to put sanctions on us. Obama, and Kerry before him, has been saying uncomfortable things for a while, but now this has become a policy st...