Outsourcing to Armageddon
Outsourcing to Armageddon
Date: Sunday, June 16, 2002 5:03 PM
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Here are two articles.
Article 1:
One is about Align, a company that makes braces for our teeth by
outsourcing to Pakistan. Align and many other companies shrug off the
possibility that their outsourcing centers may be the next Armageddon.
Article 2:
The next article talks about why nuclear war is far closer than the
corporate owned American press will admit.
I wonder how many Americans understand that the Pakistani company making
their braces will have access to their medical and insurance records?
How
many Americans would be shocked to know that the TV show "Friends" is
being
used as a model of American culture to train outsourcers all over the
world?
http://www.feer.com/hg76dkg75jg/0206_20_p036innov.html
TELECOMS
Lahore Calls For Business
Forget political tensions: A California company is outsourcing
call-centre
operations and graphic-design work to a back office in Pakistan
By Peter Lagerquist/LAHORE
Issue cover-dated June 20, 2002
WHILE PAKISTAN is front-page news around the globe as the potential
Armageddon, business goes on in Lahore. And sometimes it's a bit of a
laugh.
Take the new recruits who watch the United States television programme
Friends during their training session as customer-service
representatives at
Align Technology's remote-call centre in Lahore. Many may have already
watched U.S. culture on local TV and satellite channels, but they still
have
questions. "A couple of them asked: 'Is Hollywood like the real
America?',"
laughs the company's call-centre manager, John Armbruster, recalling the
first group of recruits who went through the programme in 2000.
It is apparently close enough for California-based Align, which is
pioneering Information Technology-enabled remote-services sourcing in
Pakistan. Friends is now a regular feature of culture-training at
Align's
customer-service centre that handles calls about its product Invisalign,
which are plastic aligners--or an innovative update on braces for
teeth--that are nearly invisible.
There are 500 computer-graphics designers and 150 call-centre operators
managing U.S.-wide orders at the centre. Queries come both from
customers,
who call a toll-free number in the U.S., and dental-care providers. The
latter prescribe the treatment and provide dental imprints, which are
rendered into 3-D computer images and used by the graphic designers in
Lahore to generate digital models for each individual aligner set.
Along with the Pakistan government, Align co-founder Zia Chishti is
hoping
to make this a new growth model in his native country, building novel
economic ties with the U.S., and finally putting Pakistan on the map of
the
globalizing service economy. Over the past decade and a half, falling
international-telecommunications costs and low overseas wages have
persuaded
a growing number of Western companies such as construction firm Bechtel,
British Airways and financial-services company GE Capital to source
customer-interaction services to remote offices across the globe. In
some
developing countries, this has become an increasingly salient and
profitable
face of globalization. The U.S. consulting firm McKinsey & Company
predicts
that the world market for remote services will grow to $142 billion by
2008,
a 15-fold increase within 10 years.
Pakistan has long languished on the periphery of this trend, which has
provided jobs in far-flung countries ranging from the Philippines to
Jamaica
to India. The latter exported $8 billion in remote-sourced software
alone in
2000. In comparison, Pakistan's annual information-technology exports
presently amount to no more than $100 million. But Align's early success
has
been a touchstone for hopes that Pakistan may be able to get a bigger
piece
of the pie.
This has turned Chishti into something of a local golden boy. The
company he
co-founded in 1997 as a student at Stanford Business School has sparked
a
bit of a revolution in the U.S. orthodontics industry with its
Invisalign
braces. As the name suggests, its chief selling point is that the braces
in
question are clear, saving its wearers the stigma inflicted by
traditional
metal contraptions.
Having pulled off an initial public offering in 2001, Align has since
steadily ramped up its sales and manufacturing operations, opening sales
offices in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Australia. In
2001,
revenues grew nearly six-fold, reaching $46 million.
Underpinning this performance is a globalized business model. For cost
considerations, Align's braces are manufactured in Mexico through a
patented
stereolithography process. Remote-sourcing the company's other
activities
also saved on staff costs, and Chishti settled on his native country as
the
venue of choice. With a population of 140 million, the labour pool is
considerable, and the basic skills are there, believes Align. Indeed,
most
of its Lahore staff have master's degrees and speak fluent English, an
official language of Pakistan.
But as Align and others have learned, fluency in the global business
language, English, is not enough. "We also have to teach them to
understand
American idioms and accents," says Mohammed Khaishgi, chief of Align's
customer-relationship management. "It's difficult, for instance, for a
Pakistani to understand what someone from the Deep South says,
particularly
if they are speaking quickly. It takes some getting used to."
Which is where Friends comes in handy. "We realized we had to train our
staff somehow and having them watch U.S. sitcoms was an easy way of
familiarizing them with American culture," explains Khaishgi.
This kind of training is becoming a must for the remote industry, argues
McKinsey. In a study for the National Association of Software and
Service
Companies in India, McKinsey analysts stress the importance of overseas
workers learning to comprehend foreign diction and culturally specific
forms
of speech, such as forms of address in Eastern countries and polite
language
in the West.
Align has a lot of catching up to do, acknowledges Armbruster. Other
countries are definitely further ahead on the curve, he says: "In India
they
have boards with weather charts from different U.S. cities, and sports
scores . . . I have two trips to India scheduled this year to do
benchmarking." But insofar as it has set an example for other
businesses,
Align has been widely feted as heralding a new generation of
entrepreneurship in Pakistan. "These are people who have broken new
ground
in regard to key issues: acquiring bandwidth, training people and
acquiring
the right technology. It [Align] has established a paradigm, providing
elements which others can emulate," says Salman Ansari, chief adviser to
Pakistan's science and technology minister.
Align claims that so far it has had no problems attracting trained
staff,
but by the government's own admission, the country faces a looming
shortage
of trained labour. It currently has only an estimated 8,000-9,000
trained IT
professionals, and until recently, no more than an additional 800 were
entering the labour market every year. "The main challenge is quantity
and
quality of human resources. Especially quality," says Minister of
Science
and Technology Atta-ur-Rehman. "Numbers don't mean anything if you don't
have quality people."
Another challenge is the national telecommunications infrastructure. As
of
1999, for instance, there were only 2.22 telephone lines per 100 people.
The
country is working its way through a comprehensive telecoms-deregulation
programme, which has already produced results, says Ansari. The price of
bandwidth has dropped and he claims that more than 570 Pakistani cities,
towns and villages have been connected to the Internet, up from a mere
20
two years before. In addition, within the past 18 months the number of
cities connected by fibre-optic cable has jumped from 53 to 200.
Building this business, though, hasn't been all smooth sailing. In the
wake
of September 11, Align's venture acquired unexpected geopolitical
significance. The company suffered a backlash among both stockholders
and
clients, spurred by political uncertainties about the impact of the war
in
Afghanistan and riled U.S. sensitivities. "There was a lot of dumping of
our
stock," says Chishti. "A couple of guys either e-mailed or called in,
saying, 'We don't feel comfortable doing business with someone who is a
Muslim'."
While investors returned as time passed, the looming possibility of war
with
neighbouring nuclear-capable India leaves some watchers still worried.
To
guard against contingencies, the company has since also opened a back-up
call-centre facility in the Gulf emirate of Sharjah, and another in
Costa
Rica.
Still, Ansari, the science and technology minister's adviser, claims he
is
currently in talks with U.S. and Canadian companies interested in
setting up
new call centres in Pakistan. He is the first to admit that call centres
are
on the lower value-added rungs of the IT-enabled service economy, but
emphasizes that they are just the beginning: "We recognize fully well
that
initially Pakistan will be perceived as a sweatshop, but this has a way
of
ballooning out." Indeed, before the crisis with India broke, his
ministry
was predicting $400 million in overseas investment in IT in 2002,
overtaking
textiles as Pakistan's largest investment sector.
Align is certainly looking to the future with cautious optimism. While
the
politics of the Subcontinent leaves many other observers worried, the
company hopes it has struck on a model that will both allow Pakistanis
to
share the rewards of the global economy and have U.S. investors smiling
all
the way to the bank. Now, if only everyone in the Subcontinent could be
Friends.
http://www.debka.com/
Nuclear Fist-Shaking in S. Asia and Mid East
DEBKAfile Special Political-Military Analysis
Picture: Dolphin Sub in Haifa Port
15 June: On Wednesday, June 12, out of the blue, the Iraqi foreign
ministry
issued a far from routine communiqué: It vilified Israel's launch of a
new
spy satellite (Ofek-5 on May 28) as posing a "threat to Arab national
security as a whole...providing additional evidence" of Israel's
"hostile and
aggressive intentions towards Arab states" and exposing its quest to
expand
its "alien" presence and spread its hegemony over the region. Arab
states
were urged to "take all necessary measures to face and contain the
repercussions" of the missile launch.
After running the Iraqi communiqué, Space Daily noted that India and
Turkey
are among the potential customers of the Ofek-5 satellite intelligence
data.
The next day, June 13, the foreign ministry in Baghdad was busy again. A
note was sent off to the UN secretary accusing the United States of
being on
the point of a nuclear attack on Iraq.Israel was charged merely with
possession of nuclear weapons - not the intention to use them, although
the
Baghdad message pointed out that Israel had bombed Iraq's nuclear
reactor
exactly 19 years ago.
The implication is clear: The Israeli space satellite was placed in
orbit in
advance of the projected American attack on Iraq. It was there also to
service the Turkish armed forces taking part in that assault, as well as
assisting India in its coming conflict with Pakistan.
Another vital piece in this menacing mosaic appeared first in DEBKAfile
and
DEBKA-Net-Weekly as early as September 7, 2001, a report that Israel had
been commissioned by India to set up an electronic fence in Kashmir with
six
main electronic early warning stations based on the Israeli-made Green
Pine
radar system.
These disclosures portend the two major conflicts expected to be fought
this
year being the most extensively electronics-based wars in military
history.
Both the US campaign against Iraq and the Indian-Pakistani conflict will
unveil missile and surveillance systems never seen before.
A strong nuclear dimension also appears unavoidable.
On Saturday, June 15, the Washington Post reported Israel had armed
three
diesel submarines with newly-designed cruise missiles capable of
carrying
nuclear warheads.
On May 11, 2001, thirteen months ago, DEBKA-Net-Weekly, Issue No.
12,revealed:
India's nuclear collaboration plan hinges on the three Israeli 1,925-ton
800-class German-made Dolphin-class submarines, which are armed with
Israel-designed 1,500-km range Popeye Turbo cruise missiles capable of
carrying nuclear warheads. This flotilla is sought as a second strike
capability for the Indian air force and naval units present in the
Arabian
Sea opposite Pakistan.Israel maintains one or sometimes two of those
submarines permanently in Persian Gulf waters as a sea-launched
deterrent
force - its second-tier, first strike capability, against Iran and Iraq.
Picture: Israeli cruise missiles in American publications
This month, on June 7, 2002, DEBKA-Net-Weekly again reported that
Israeli
Dolphin-class submarines, like other naval and air units, were
permanently
using the big air and naval base on Eritrea's Red Sea Dahlak
Archipelago,
near the confluence of the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea and the Indian
Ocean.
All of a sudden, for some weeks now, the United States, India,Pakistan,
Israel,Iran and Iraq have become exceptionally outspoken about war
preparations. With uncharacteristic openness, they have burst into
speech on
the use of use of nuclear weapons.
The announcement in Washington on Friday, June 14, of the expulsion of
the
first secretary at the Iraqi UN mission, Abdul Rahman Saad, for
espionage,
was another element in the rhetorical escalation.
All in all, the war of words sounds as though it is nearing the point of
spilling over into deeds.
Most governments have three possible reasons for giving publicity to the
types of weaponry in the hands of adversaries:
1. They are just about ready to make their first military move - in the
case
of Iran and Iraq, their military preparations would also entail a
mega-terror attack, for which they need to soften up world opinion in
advance.
2. As a hands-off signal from the potential victim's intelligence
service to
the would-be aggressor that "all is known" and reprisals are store if he
goes ahead.
3. When signs of popular unrest or military disaffection against the
leadership of the enemy's camp are detected. Certain revelations may
have
the power to whip up outright domestic opposition to the enemy
government.
In this context, Baghdad, conscious that the United States is on the
threshold of a decisive military move, published its intelligence
estimate
that America plans a nuclear attack. The Iraqis have no certain
knowledge of
the form the American strike will take, whether nuclear bombs or only
tactical devices, but it hopes exposure of this intent will put the
Americans off whatever they plan.
India and Pakistan may have crossed the point of no return in their war
plans. It is now evident that the visits paid by defense secretary
Donald
Rumsfeld last week to New Delhi and Islamabad did little more than
postpone
the eruption for which both nuclear nations have set their faces.
In the Middle East, a military clash between Israel on one side and
Syria
and the Lebanese Hizballah is very much in the cards. Since Damascus and
Baghdad are bound by mutual defense treaties, the Hizballah is
militarily
affiliated to Teheran and Damascus - and all these parties are in close
military and political alliance with the Palestinians - an Israel-Syrian
border confrontation could quickly light the fire of war under the
entire
region. The belligerents in this case would proliferate to encompass the
United States, possibly Britain, as well as Israel,Iran, Iraq,Syria,
Jordan,Lebanon, the Hizballah and the Palestinians.
India and Pakistan are fully engaged in this war of words. It cannot be
ruled out therefore that aMiddle East war will be accompanied by a war
on
the subcontinent. DEBKAfile's military experts estimate that September
is
the next likely date for these chain-reaction conflicts to erupt into
full-scale belligerence.
The nuclear dimension of the India-Pakistan conflict is self-evident.
DEBKAfile's military sources on the Indian subcontinent report that
behind
the smiling, relaxed welcome the Pentagon leaders received from Indian
and
Pakistan leaders, they were shocked to find both smoothly discussing
nuclear
combat and the death of many millions in this war - their estimate is as
high as 10-15 million - as inevitable and acceptable. India's military
chiefs and its Kashmir commanders are described as clamoring for the
Vajpayee to go to war without delay. Intelligence reports from the field
indicate that India's front-line troops, including air force and naval
units, are tired of waiting for the government in New Delhi to give the
signal and growing restive.
There are similar pressures in Pakistan. In Islamabad, high Pakistan
officers told Rumsfeld that if India attacks, Washington had better be
prepared for Pakistan to rally Muslims from all over Asia in a holy
jihad
against India. Having invested so much in an Islamic nuclear bomb,
Pakistan
would "lose face" if it was not used.
An India-Pakistan war game played a few weeks ago at the US Naval War
College charted this scenario:
An al Qaeda terror attack triggers an Indian-Pakistani war. India
invades
Pakistan; Pakistan, whose army is half the size of India's, falls back,
firing off 3-4 nuclear missiles to cover its retreat and stop the Indian
advance; India retaliates with 10-12 nuclear missiles.
Israel's border with Syria and Lebanon is just as incendiary.
Week after week, President Bashar Assad has been building up the
military
tension since early April. DEBKAfile's military sources report that
Syria
and the Hizballah have in those two months set up a missile wall along
their
border with Israel, made up of thousands of projectiles capable of
pounding
all of northern Israel and parts of its central heartland. Israel has
held
back from firing a single shot to interfere with this buildup out of a
misconceived tactical reluctance to open a second front while its
military
hands are full keeping Palestinian terrorists from attack Israeli
civilians.
Encouraged by Israel's passivity, the Syrian leader in early June
ordered
his army chiefs to extend its missile line along the Syrian-Lebanese
frontier, including also the Syrian-Israel dividing line cutting through
the
Golan Heights. Part of this new array forms a defensive loop around the
strategic Lebanese Beqaa valley, where the most important cluster of
Syrian,
Iranian and Hizballah bases is situated. For Syria, the Lebanese Beqaa
is
its main line of defense against an assault on Damascus from the west.
A number of Israeli security and military chiefs disclosed last week
that
Israel was on the point of a strike against Syria in late April but
pulled
back at the eleventh hour. Their tone was one of frustration. Since late
April, Syria has not let the grass grow under its feet. A military
strike
now would have to contend not just with one line of missiles but two, a
far
costlier operation in military and civilian casualties than it would
have
been six weeks ago.
The conviction is gaining among Israel's military strategists that, as
the
American campaign against Baghdad draws near, it will be harder to
disentangle the Iraqi front from the Syrian-Palestinian arena, with
possible
Iranian involvement. This means that the delayed attack against Syria
will
force Israel to fight on three or four fronts - not just two, against
Iraq
and Iran as well, both of whom are possessed of limited nuclear
capabilities.
Under the shadow of these darkening clouds, the global war on terror
declared by US President George W. Bush is fast losing its focal edge.
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