Mysore and Bangalore (updated twice)

Daniel From Sera I went back to Mysore, where I met Jon, a guy from an Canadian computer company. As most people he's here because his company has been outsorcing some IT-work to Bangalore.

When we strolled through the Maharadja's Palace and the local zoo, we had time to discuss his view on outsourcing. According to Jon you can cut the costs of an engineer down to a third, by hiring someone in India instead of the West. And unqualified work (like cheap production labor, etc.) costs 10% of the European price.

I'm currently reading a copy Thomas L. Friedmann's "A Flat World", which is all about the topic of outsourcing. The author started to earn my respect when he wrote/made a TV documentation about the arab view of 9/11, and this book turns out to be as well researched as the last one.

In the first chapters he summarizes how much is already being outsourced today. It's quite interesting to read that a lot of the US accounting is acually done in India. And of course, China produces almost evrything. But some tasks are outsourced from China to India, or from Japan to China. Well, I guess nowadays it's hard to say where the actual work is done...

And some of the conclusions of Thomas Friedmann are also very interesting:
He basically says, that outsourcing routine jobs to a cheap-labor-country usually helps companies free their (expensive) western workes for advanced tasks. Of course, at the beginning some people are laid off. But if the company manages to reduce friction and introduce a kind of "cooperation" with their Indian (or Chinese) employees, they suddenly don't have to worry about all the routine-tasks anymore, the work done in the west becomes more efficient. At that pointy they can start re-hiring people in the west.

But this means that western employees have to try harder be able to compete with their Asian competitors. I guess the only advantage we have is our education, and as Thomas Friedmann puts it:
"When I was growing up, my parents told me 'Tom, finish your dinner - people in China and India are starving'. [Now] my advice to you is: Finish your homework, people in China and India are starving for your jobs."

But back to Bangalore: The city is really nice, and if you get a chance, try the lobster in the restaurant above the Bombay store.

Mysore Zoo