A2X Consulting

I just read an article in Economic Times, a widely respected Indian newspaper. The article is entitled ‘Americans Happy To Lose Jobs To India’. While I always admire the counterintuitive, this one just floored me.

Not much mention is made about the nature of the study, its methodology but instead the piece just summarizes the key findings. And there is no link to the website where further information could be culled. Yes, I guess it is inconvenient to present data in a way that would elicit more questions!

This post is not merely about this particular study but also about the media coverage of a significant study. It would be interesting to watch what the reactions would be.

I don’t believe in the wisdom of outsourcing all ‘low end’ jobs as a matter of policy. It neither enriches the ‘outsourcer’ nor the ‘outsourced’ in the long run. Outsourcing, finally, is not just about economics. It is ideally a ‘case to case’ decision on activities to make individual companies competitive. While I can truly appreciate some X or Y company taking the decision to outsource A or B activity, I don’t precisely understand why America should be happy, if indeed it is. And the US Chamber of Commerce seems to only think of Commerce.

Now, don’t be surprised if some Indian IT companies announce a 100% increase in headcount based on the newspaper article, without ever asking to see the report.