This book, published by Springer in 2007, features 12 chapters written by the most important chief executives from the BRICs countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) who outline their views on the next decade for offshoring. Names include Nandan Nilekani (CEO of Infosys), Shiv Nadar (CEO of HCL), and Jiren Liu (Chairman and CEO of Neusoft). I have written the chapter presenting the point of view of Venus Software of China.
Purchase the book on Amazon
Remi Vespa is a veteran of the outsourcing industry.
An Indian newspaper (the India Times) recently reported on Obama’s position on job outsourcing.
More generally, what do the Presidential candidates say regarding employment in the USA?
Their opinions are diametrically opposed. While one considers corporate tax cuts an appropriate answer, the other believes the priority should be in recreating the conditions necessary for creating jobs inshore. [Read more].
Could a falling dollar and pricey oil make manufacturing goods in the USA an economically viable solution again?
Not too sure, says Pete Engardio, in the June 30 issue of Business Week.
The main reason it that it would cost too much to revitalize some heavy industries. James Turk, CEMCO’s CFO notes, “American foundries now can compete head-to-head on cost, but there are not many foundries, welders, machinists, and quality-control engineers. What we had 10 years ago is gone.”
The May issue of INC. magazine features Mitch Free, the founder and CEO of www.mfg.com, an Atlanta-based company, whose business skyrocketed after Free established a presence in China.
I would recognize a lot of my own story in his account. When I started doing business with Mainland China, I was a little concerned. As many Westerners, I was raised in an environment that would see China as a threat, almost similar to the USSR’s. And even today, years after China opened to International trade, many negative rumors are still floating around about doing business in China: “you will never get paid”, “it takes forever to establish a profitable operation”, “IP will be stolen”, “not a good place for a Westerner”, “nobody speaks English”, etc. [Read more].
The McKinsey Quarterly recently conducted an interesting survey on “Competition from China.”
With 41% of the answers, China is widely seen as the country where major competition comes from and is likely to continue to come from in the future. China tops by far India 22%, South East Asia 11%, and Eastern Europe 6%.
What are the reasons that make China such a strong contender? [Read more].
On May 14, I posted an email I received from a friend of mine who moved last year from San Francisco to Chengdu. His message was about the earthquake “seen” from Chengdu. In a new email I just received, he describes his actions as a volunteer for the rescue campaign. I am sharing for all the wonderful synchronicities that happen in life! [Read more].
China receives a lot of criticism for the lack of civil rights, with Tibet being the most recent example. I am certainly not to take any repressing force’s side; however, I believe that it is always important to understand where people are coming from before formulating an opinion.
Let’s start by quoting the CIA’s world fact book, a goldmine and a source that cannot be accused of being anti-American! [Read more].
A few days ago, while in line at the grocery store, my attention was caught by the cover page of a magazine called Good: “don’t be scared of China”, said the main title.
I immediately bought a copy. First of all, it is refreshing to see that some writers focus on the positive side of things and do not always keep reporting on the things that go wrong. The magazine is well written and uplifting. In addition, most articles are available online at www.goodmagazine.com.
The entire issue is dedicated to China, and offers a non-partisan point of view. The main article offers 10 reasons why the USA should not be scared of China, and explains why a strong partnership between the two countries would benefit the whole planet.
This is an issue definitely worth reading for those of us wondering what could happen between China and the USA in the next 20 years.
There is also a fun article loaded with pictures of a suburb of Beijing, called Orange County, and which looks like our very own Orange County.
According to Wikipedia, all the units of this 143-unit housing development situated about one hour north of Beijing, and consisting entirely of expensive American-style townhouses and tract homes, decorated and furnished with American products sold within a month of going on sale.
One of the pictures shows a Hummer parked in front of a townhouse. Hey dude! Where is your Prius?
I am an avid reader of Yang Zhao’s blog (www.168.fr), a blog that reports on the latest Chinese Tech news. Since there is a lot going on in this country, it is an invaluable source of information for people who do not read Chinese.
A funny thing is that the blog is written in French, as Yang Zhao lives and works in Paris. Welcome to a flat world!
That said, the blog offers an automatic translation to English, which seems to work, as the English text makes sense.
Yang recently reported that most of the major Chinese sites were now in black and white, in remembrance of the recent earthquakes.
Examples include search engines such as Google and Yahoo!, online news sites like Xinhua and CCTV, video sharing , etc.
