ANALysis of the Emerging Economy
Perhaps I should clarify that this is an analysis of my company only and not the country as a whole. Before I begin, let me ask you a question:
What if Superman never ever realized he had special powers?
The question above seems to best summarize the situation at my new company (referred to as The Company henceforth). The Company is basically an offshore office of a large global entity, as is common in the Emerging Economy. It was initially setup with the idea of reducing costs – surprise surprise!!!
However, in the years since the office was setup, two important things have happened:
- People in the Emerging Economy have picked up vital skills, so much so, that they could replace any of their counterparts in the west. And given that there is no shortage of people here, it means there is no shortage of skills.
- People in the west, seeing that a lot of their work can now be done by cheaper resources offshore, have moved away from developing skills in these areas. Which means, fewer skilled people in the west.
These factors combined with the global financial crisis have resulted in the offshore office becoming a key strategic partner of the wider organization – you would think this puts the offshore delivery center in a rather envious and powerful position, doesn’t it!
It does – only, no one here seems to realize the leverage they hold. The idea of taking control does not seem to have occurred as of now. The idea that their position allows them to do truly wonderful things and become something like a power sharing center, just hasn’t occurred. Now don’t get me wrong – I am not suggesting a mutiny or anything silly of that sort – but I am saying that knowing what you are capable of and where you stand not only allows you an advantage compared to the rest of the organization, but also against your competitors. This benefits The Company as a whole.
The other thing that seems to lack here is innovation. Innovation, not in terms of work delivery, but innovation in terms of really designing and coming up with revenue generating opportunities. Somehow, the people here tend to believe that all the thinking must be done at the mothership. Reality check – new ideas don’t necessarily come from the 60 year old veterans but from the young people coming out of college – does not matter where in the world they happen to be located.
Much as I love the Emerging Economy, and I think this place has great potential (for my wallet too), I am a bit frustrated at how little the people here work towards empowering themselves. If only they knew what they could do – the world as we know it would change significantly!
It’s as if Superman hasn’t yet been enlightened!
Dear Banalyst… that’s an awesome thought.
As a followup though… Do you think the rise of Africa (say Kenya, where there is an English speaking populace) can shove or even gently push the stakes higher for the “established emerging nations?” Philipines, Veitnam etc have already stolen a huge market cap n potential from India- the big bad wolf of outsourcing…
Africa is a hidden gem. The potential there is unbelievable, but it still is a very difficult place to invest or do business in (with notable exceptions of course). Having said that the Chinese state machinery really seems to be aggressively entering into China. This will pay them rich dividends in the decades to come.
Regarding rise of Africa and other eastern Asian nations, I don’t see them affecting India a lot. Yes India started to rise due to the outsourcing boom post the dotcom bust, but India seems to have moved up in the value chain rather quickly. It no longer relies on Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). Indian companies are coming of their own and don’t forget India itself is a market of half a billion consumers. Will be interesting to see how things pan out!
Great commentary. The one issue is that most of the companies that employ these people are Western. Superman is owned……