What do I mean?
When people immigrate, they tend to immigrate to the same destinations. Nobody goes from California to Ohio. But, many people go from Michigan to California. People immigrate to America. But, how many would immigrate to India even if there were jobs there? Syrians are in a huge hurry to get to Sweden and Germany. But, if all of the other Syrians go there, how many opportunities will be left? How come the Syrians don’t want to go to India or China? That’s where the money is! My point is that people’s minds are limited. Most people cannot fathom doing anything that other people are not doing in mass. If everyone else is wearing a green shirt, you will want to wear one too. If everyone else is jumping off a cliff, you’ll probably do it too without a second thought.
Outsourcing is popular in India. It is such a trend that even if it becomes a bad idea to do outsourcing, people will continue doing it just like they continue selling corn on the street even if not a soul will buy it from them.
But, the countries with high unemployment are not doing outsourcing — and perhaps they should. They don’t do it or much of it perhaps because it has not yet become a culturally engrained behavior. I have never heard of a Madrid based BPO specializing in data entry. I haven’t heard of a Somali Call Center. When was the last time you got an inquiry from an Italian technical support company? No, the emails are almost all coming from Mumbai or Manila, not Mogadishu.
So, with a labor shortage in America and India, maybe it is time to venture into other countries and set up outsourcing operations. Labor rates in Pakistan, Kenya, and Rome are a lot easier to deal with than Bombay or Boston. The question is — who will make the first move