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Offshoring and international economics (the technology dimension)

Apr 30 2006

Posted by Gordon as General Management, Virtual Office

Call centers in Eastern Europe? Program coding tasks in India? Transcription and bookkeeping in Southeast Asia? These are all offshoots of the current trends in offshoring today, where almost anything can be outsourced anywhere in the world, from products created at less cost to services done at lower labor prices. What else has made all this possible but technology? Efficient shipping and logistics systems, such as those of big-name logistics companies have made possible just-in-time delivery of supplies and raw materials. High-capacity broadband networks have enabled people to send and receive large amounts of data—including voice, documents, and other information—over a ...

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Offshoring and international economics (continued)

Apr 29 2006

Posted by Gordon as General Management, Off Shore Companies

Business process offshoring is basically an offshoot of the “comparative advantage” argument in international economics, where countries that can produce output at lower costs usually get the deal. And lately, this has been true for developing countries, where companies' business processes—including customer contact centers, programming, bookkeeping, and data management—are usually outsourced. What’s great is that the cost of offshoring these business processes is definitely lower than what one would expect to pay in more developed countries, with higher costs of living and higher overheads. Another concern of those against offshoring is the quality of work. Some would argue that ...

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Offshoring and international economics

Apr 28 2006

Posted by Gordon as Business Concepts, General Management, Off Shore Companies

Business process offshoring, or also called outsourcing, is just another economic concept business people are expected to be in the know of. This trend in how companies produce goods or services has existed since decades gone by, but it’s only now that it’s in the limelight, because of increasing pressure from some sectors of western society for companies to stop trading goods and services with developing countries with lower labour costs. It is argued that the presence of low cost workers in other countries, along with cheap shipping costs, is killing local companies and putting locals out of ...

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Protectionist schemes and benefits?

Apr 26 2006

Posted by Gordon as General Management

Studies have shown that overly protectionist schemes, such as provision for longer maternity leaves, tenure security, racial- and gender-based hiring quotas, and other such employer-employee arrangements common to unionized settings, are actually more harmful to the workforce rather than helpful. This is because employers may be hiring individuals not because of their skills and credentials, but to comply with requirements, and also to minimize the possibility of having to maintain an employee who can be considered a liability. For instance, companies are getting more wary to hire individuals with families—especially women of childbearing age—because these people are more likely to ...

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IM: Why Not?

Apr 25 2006

Posted by Gordon as General Management, Virtual Office

Many businesses are opting out of the instant messaging game early on. Even with the reported benefits of IM among companies—which may include increased productivity due to faster communications, and faster turnaround times of business processes. Some companies even use instant messaging for customer service, either through dedicated online chat support, or via staff or employees getting in touch with clients via IM (for the more tech-oriented companies, that is). However, some companies, particularly those on the more traditional side, are opting out of this trend, even going to the extent of banning their employees outright from using instant messaging ...

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Instant Messaging as a tool for business communications: the cons

Apr 24 2006

Posted by Gordon as E-Commerce, General Management

We previously wrote on how businesses are adopting instant messaging to complement or even sometimes replace their existing email services as preferred communication means by companies. Yes, it’s great—you get instant feedback from your corresponded; it’s as if you’re talking on the phone rather than writing and sending letters back and forth. Instant messaging is great, and is beneficial for those who want quick communications. But of course, there are also disadvantages to using IM for business needs and for inter-office communications. Privacy – Unless you set your IM client to say you’re invisible or busy, most IM clients would ...

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Instant Messaging as a tool for business communications: pros and cons

Apr 23 2006

Posted by Gordon as General Management, Virtual Office

Instant messaging, or IM, has been touted as the new email, and we see favorable adoption across businesses of all types, whether they be from the Information Technology sectors, to more traditional business settings. Management and staff are enjoying the benefits of quick business communication and even virtual conferencing via IM. Advantages include the following: Online indicators. Unlike email, where you have to wait until your correspondent gets online, reads, and responds to your message, IM clients usually have online indicators, which tell you whether your colleague is available or not. Message broadcast and conferencing. IM clients have message broadcast ...

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Instant Messaging: the New Email (part 2)?

Apr 22 2006

Posted by Gordon as E-Commerce, General Management, Virtual Office

Companies are appreciating the immediacy of communication via Instant Messaging or IM. While this technology was first thought of as more for personal uses—such as kids chatting with friends, or long-distance lovers chatting and video-conferencing—the business implications have been quick to sink in. Managers could talk to staff in immediacy, whether the latter is in the same building or in another country. Virtual conferences can be held, where more people can join in on the discussion. And IM allows for multiple conversations at the same time, so one can be talking to a client or a colleague, while checking ...

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Instant Messaging: the New Email?

Apr 21 2006

Posted by Gordon as E-Commerce, General Management

A decade ago, the use of email for business correspondence was unheard of . Companies were still using fax machines to transmit official messages and informal inquiries to other companies, whether within the vicinity or across continents. Offices used paper-based inter-office memoranda to communicate among staff and departments within the same company. Of course, there were disadvantages to this, including issues in timeliness of message arrival (or circulation) and costs (such as long-distance phone calls). The advent of email changed all that, as messages got more speedily delivered and the response could be received as quickly, too. There were also ...

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Managing home and career balance – Can be culture-based!

Apr 20 2006

Posted by Gordon as General Management

Today’s hot topic in human resource management is attaining a good work and home balance for a company’s workforce. Companies think up various means to help employees become more productive in the workplace, and at the same time be able to adequately attend to their personal and family needs. The consensus is that there is no boilerplate solution that works with each and every company. It depends upon the cultural makeup of a company. For instance, Americans are usually fond of flexi-time arrangements, where staff are adequately compensated for the number of hours worked. But for Asians, more hours ...

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