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Outsourcing
by Greg Cruey on May 20, 2007
Usually, when we think of China's exports we think of stuff. China makes things and then exports them. At least that's the stereotype.
Apu's recent blog post, The secret weapon of the Chinese BPO industry, points out that China's Business Process Outsourcing sector is often more labor efficient than India's. But the BPO industry in China is focused primarily on domestic markets.
If international investment ever takes full advantage of BPO in China to export services (instead of goods), India's BPO companies may well eventually have to look for another line of work.
While I think Apu is right in his evaluation that labor efficiency in China's BPO industry could challenge India's dominance of the international scene, one question that came to my mind as I read his blog had to do with language - with proficiency in foreign languages. If China's BPO industry moved more aggressively into the international scene, could BPO companies there find (or create) the necessary worker with the required language skills? Time will tell. But with English as an official language, India still has a linguistic advantage, I suspect, over China.
Tags:
china
outsourcing
Trackback: http://publish.creative-weblogging.com/publish/mt-tb.pl/70919
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Vote for Will China Take Outsourcing Market From India?:
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Rating: 7.67 out of 3 vote(s) cast.
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Response from:
David Scott Lewis
(05/20/07 9:29pm)
Response from:
Apu
(05/21/07 12:18pm)
Thank you for your kind comments. I just posted a review of China's English shortcoming on my site at http://rationaloutsourcing.blogspot.com.')" rel="nofollow">http://rationaloutsourcing.blogspot.com">http://rationaloutsourcing.bl
ogspot.com.
While the problem is real today, several forces are working to ameliorate this shortcoming.
ogspot.com.
While the problem is real today, several forces are working to ameliorate this shortcoming.
Response from:
Apu
(05/27/07 1:35am)
Hi Greg. I just got quoted by an interesting news article on this very topic. You can see it at: http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1099320.
This story appeared in a leading Indian newspaper. Some of it is a repeat from what already appeared on my blog, but it should be interesting to you. Let me know what you think.
This story appeared in a leading Indian newspaper. Some of it is a repeat from what already appeared on my blog, but it should be interesting to you. Let me know what you think.
Response from:
Sagar Gupta
(07/09/07 5:05am)
Offers ASP/PHP Programmers hiring,SQL/MySQL development,software outsourcing, Offshore software development,PAYPAL Integration, Joomla Customization, Shopping Cart Customization, Script Instalation,Web Development and Web Design etc.
http://www.asiawebmedia.com
Offers ASP/PHP Programmers hiring,SQL/MySQL development,software outsourcing, Offshore software development,PAYPAL Integration, Joomla Customization, Shopping Cart Customization, Script Instalation,Web Development and Web Design etc.
http://www.asiawebmedia.com
Response from:
prabhat
(12/18/09 3:26am)
Very nice….I’m sure it will help many people
IT solution
IT solution
Response from:
Philippine Outsourcing
(01/20/10 7:33pm)
This was a very pertinent post. A fabulous article with an amazing level of detail. The real success will depend upon the BPO business model. Will it graduate from being a tool for cost advantage? If so, BPO business could be simply replicated by China, which will erode the market share for India. One of the research reports from Gartner says Indian market share is likely to evaporate in offshore business process outsourcing, from its current 80% to about 55% by 2007. Larger chunk will be eaten by China. But this erosion will primarily depend upon how China will sustain its low labor cost in long term simultaneously moving fast on the value chain. Next five years will conclude the debate of offshoring supremacy.
-Jamie
-Jamie
Response from:
China Law Blog
The Rational Outsourcing Blog just did an interesting post (h/t to China Venture News ) comparing the future of outsourcing for China versus India. The post is entitled, The secret weapon of the Chinese BPO industry, and the writer starts out by talkin...
Response from:
China Law Blog
The Rational Outsourcing Blog just did an interesting post (h/t to China Venture News ) comparing the future of outsourcing for China versus India. The post is entitled, "The secret weapon of the Chinese BPO industry," and the writer start...
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Anyway, BPO where the "O" means offshoring (versus domestic outsourcing) means Japan and Korea.
Fact is, if somebody has the adequate English-language skills to work in a call center, for example, they can get a job running international marketing at numerous Chinese firms. What would you rather do?
There might be some play for those with awful verbal skills but meager reading and writing skills for things like forms processing. But I'm highly skeptical about this. Don't believe what the Xi'an government wants you to believe: BPO in China for servicing English-speaking countries is a fantasy.
Matter of fact, to even consider this shows how little oe knows about China. Again, don't believe the propaganda about English-language skills in China. It's all a hoax. In areas like ITO, there are numerous engineers with adequate English-language skills, but they're better educated than anyone you'll find in a BPO operation.