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| Source: Bloomberg Businessweek |
Showing posts with label Peru. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Peru. Show all posts
Firms Seek Alternatives to India for Outsourcing Higher-Level Jobs
In 2011, Latin America and Eastern Europe surpassed India in the growth of outsourcing facilities. According to Everest Group, India opened 49 new outsourcing facilities in 2011 while Latin America and eastern Europe opened 54 new facilities. The trend of shifting functions away from India and toward nearshore destinations is continues to grow as American companies outsource skilled white-collar jobs in research, accounting, procurement, and financial analysis. As many companies have capitalized fully on their savings potential in India, it is natural progression to seek savings in other functions and geographic locations. With higher-level functions that don't require mass processing or large numbers of workers, countries like Argentina and Poland are viable options. While you won't find critical mass in any one Argentinian outsourcing firm, the laborers are skilled and offer a valuable service at a lower hourly rate than companies can find in the U.S.
Outsourcing firms in India are catching on the the trend as well; Tata Consultancy has 8,500 employees operating in Peru and Paraguay. Genpact, India's largest BPO firm, opened and F&A (Finance and Accounting) outsourcing firm in Brazil. Outsourcing is becoming increasingly popular in Eastern Europe. Particularly in Wroclaw, Poland, 30 universities graduate a steady stream of skilled laborers each year. Firms including IBM, Ernst and Young, and Microsoft have opened up outsourcing centers in Wroclaw. Poland and other Eastern European countries offer a better environment for high-level outsourcing. About 50% of Poland's 20-24 year olds are college-educated, compared with a mere 10% of 20-24 year-olds in India. It's important to keep in mind that India's massive population means an incomparably larger number of college graduates; India has 109.4 million people between 20-24, compared with Poland's 2.9 million people in that age range. Though the sheer numbers may always be in favor of India, nearshoring offers valuable benefits that India can't match, such as cultural alignment, language capabilities, and the ability to interact with clients.
"Random Hacks of Kindness" in Latin America
Random Hacks of Kindness, a global community of computer experts that develop practial open technology for social good, is now partnering with Fundación Ciudadano Inteligente (The Smart Citizen Foundation) to support their efforts in Latin America.
Based in Santiago, Chile, Fundación Ciudadano Inteligente was founded with the goal to promote transparency. FCI encourages citizens to utilize information and communication technologies to join the organization's cause and networks with organizations that work in themes of transparency, technology, and social good throughout Latin America.
Random Hacks of Kindness has been responsible for sharing open-source technologies mostly related to water management: flood warning systems, supply-demand water planning, maximized utilization of non-potable water for crop irrigation systems, ect. In one particular project, these technological tools are meeting the tangible needs of the citizens of Peru.
In Peru, water resources management is a major issue. Over 98% of the country's annual renewable water resources is available east of the Andes Mountains, in the Amazon region. This leaves the coastal area of Peru, home to most of the major Peruvian economic activity and half of the country's population, with less than 1.8% of the national freshwater renewable resources. RHoK is working to create a crowdsourced bank of hydrology maps online that will enable more efficient water usage and planning, thus stopping the increasing toll that economic and population growth take on the inaccessible water resources.
The Developing Latin America event will bring together developers, designers, and members of civil society from 6 Latin American countries to find innovative technological solutions for the social good of their country and region. All 6 event locations will participate in the upcoming RHoK Global December 2011 event where they will have an opportunity to collaborate with peers around the world.
Solutions in Latin America:
2011 Nearshore Destinations Ranking
Nearshoring has become a popular and intelligent option for US companies that are not only looking to lower costs, but also want that cultural affinity and technological innovation that lend themselves to increased productivity and expertise. Latin America as a whole is gaining credibility, but it is important to delve deeper than the regional level to find the place where a company can attain the most value. With this in mind, ThinkSolutions took 19 countries in Central and South America to determine their overall appeal as nearshoring service locations and ranked them according to their financial incentives, business environment, and labor force. We placed emphasis on factors that would bring out the unique characteristics of the region, such as cultural affinity, time zone alignment, technological readiness, and language capabilities. These rankings will be updated quarterly or as major events occur that alter the outsourcing landscape. Click here to request a white paper.
Will Peru's New President Stifle Economic Growth?
On June 5, Ollanta Humala, an ex-army lieutenant with no political background, defeated Keiko Fujimori in the Peruvian presidential race.
The election makes for an interesting story, and his victory comes partly from strategy and partly from tremendous luck... since the centrist vote split evenly between three candidates, Humala's only competition in the run-off election was Ms. Fujimori. Some may recall that her father, Alberto Fujimori, set in place the free market reforms that caused Peru's economic boom but also ruled as a corrupt autocrat. He is now serving 25 years in prison for human rights abuses and corrupt acts committed during his time as president. Because of this, Humala got votes from citizens that may have been fundamentally opposed to his political stance but couldn't bring themselves to support the Fujimori family. To appeal to the masses, Humala shifted his policies from left to center and switched his allegiances from Venezuelan nationalist Hugo Chavez to Brazil's former social democrat president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. He even brought in political advisers from Brazil’s ruling Workers’ Party. But in the campaign for the first round of the election, on April 10th, he was still proposing a “nationalist” economic policy and pledged to unpick contracts that have brought private investment in mining, gas and infrastructure. Needless to say, Peruvians are wondering where their new president's loyalties truly lie. The uncertainty surrounding the President Elect's policy intentions has created quite a mess for Peru. The day after the election, Lima's stock market dropped 12.5%, the largest daily fall in the country's history, and the shares of many companies with stock in Peru posted significant losses as well. Most of the losses were quickly recuperated, but the potential changes to Peru's financial and social policies have people worried that the country's economic boom might be coming to an end.
Read it here at The Economist.
The election makes for an interesting story, and his victory comes partly from strategy and partly from tremendous luck... since the centrist vote split evenly between three candidates, Humala's only competition in the run-off election was Ms. Fujimori. Some may recall that her father, Alberto Fujimori, set in place the free market reforms that caused Peru's economic boom but also ruled as a corrupt autocrat. He is now serving 25 years in prison for human rights abuses and corrupt acts committed during his time as president. Because of this, Humala got votes from citizens that may have been fundamentally opposed to his political stance but couldn't bring themselves to support the Fujimori family. To appeal to the masses, Humala shifted his policies from left to center and switched his allegiances from Venezuelan nationalist Hugo Chavez to Brazil's former social democrat president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. He even brought in political advisers from Brazil’s ruling Workers’ Party. But in the campaign for the first round of the election, on April 10th, he was still proposing a “nationalist” economic policy and pledged to unpick contracts that have brought private investment in mining, gas and infrastructure. Needless to say, Peruvians are wondering where their new president's loyalties truly lie. The uncertainty surrounding the President Elect's policy intentions has created quite a mess for Peru. The day after the election, Lima's stock market dropped 12.5%, the largest daily fall in the country's history, and the shares of many companies with stock in Peru posted significant losses as well. Most of the losses were quickly recuperated, but the potential changes to Peru's financial and social policies have people worried that the country's economic boom might be coming to an end.
Read it here at The Economist.
Bogotá Losing Competitiveness in IT Industry
Ankur Prakash Discusses TCS Latin America
As part of the Thought Leaders in Cloud Computing Series, Ankur Prakash, VP and COO of Tata Consulting Services Latin America, gives insight into the Latin American outsourcing market. To give a background on TCS Latin America, they began operations in Mexico City in 2003, and have since expanded into Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Argentina. Brazil, and Uruguay.
Prakash gives his take on the talent in Latin America, the strategy behind seeking first tier cities, and recruiting from the Latin American labor pool. When asked about the cost advantage of the region, he replied, "As for the Latin American cost advantage, cost arbitrage, I don’t think that any company that works just on cost arbitrage in Latin America can provide any kind of value additional and advantage to local customers." He also explains that because of the vastly different economies that exist in the region, it is difficult to generalize on cost savings. Indeed, companies will find most regional generalizations unhelpful when examining Latin America.
Read the full interview here.
Prakash gives his take on the talent in Latin America, the strategy behind seeking first tier cities, and recruiting from the Latin American labor pool. When asked about the cost advantage of the region, he replied, "As for the Latin American cost advantage, cost arbitrage, I don’t think that any company that works just on cost arbitrage in Latin America can provide any kind of value additional and advantage to local customers." He also explains that because of the vastly different economies that exist in the region, it is difficult to generalize on cost savings. Indeed, companies will find most regional generalizations unhelpful when examining Latin America.
Read the full interview here.
Jet Blue Prepares to Offer More Flights to Latin America
Jet Blue may become the airline of choice for companies with nearshoring strategies...
JetBlue Airways Corp., with 65 daily trips to the Caribbean and Latin America, may fly to more distant international destinations as it adds fuel-saving winglets to planes and receives new Airbus SAS A320neo jets.
The changes, along with replacing smaller Embraer E190 jets with bigger planes on some routes, will allow the New York-based carrier to fly farther and carry more passengers. JetBlue announced a $2.5 billion order Tuesday for 40 A320neos.
The plan will allow JetBlue to expand its strategy of focusing flying in New York, Boston and the Caribbean. The carrier said it also is likely to use Airbus A321 aircraft it will receive to boost service on high-demand cross-country routes between New York and San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Prosperity in Peru
Dismal shantytowns full of cardboard homes once surrounded the city, but those pueblos jovenes have now transformed into functioning mini-cities with services and buying power. Suburbs and commercial districts are emerging along with a middle class, bringing more business offices, government branches, and better education opportunities for the population.
Read it here from the LA Times.
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