Outsourcing: Opportunities and challenges in adversity

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-09-10 16:10

Based in Gurgaon, India, Genpact has provided business process outsourcing (BPO) since 1997 and now serves customers from the US, Mexico, UK, Eastern Europe, Philippines, China and India.Pramod Bhasin, president & CEO of Genpact and chairman of the Indian IT industry group NASSCOM, talked with China Daily about the industry.

Q: How do you see the business landscape recovering in Asia?

Pramod Bhasin: China, along with India, represents one of the fastest growing economies of the world. They are redefining trade and power in Asia. Leading organizations from here are closing the gap with the world's largest companies. Businesses here have been rapidly moving up the value chain, enhancing the quality of their products and services and acquiring the capabilities needed to sustain profitable growth across sectors.

But while these economies are important, the emerging economic giants alone do not have the clout to drag the global economy out of one of the worst slump of recent times. China and India have only a marginal impact on the wider global economy because they are exporters with limited domestic demand - ultimately, they are relying on the developed world to recover first before they too can move ahead once more.

The United States, Europe and Japan are the key markets for goods and services provided by these countries - and with low consumer spending showing slow signs of recovery, conditions are not yet conducive to a revival.

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However, it is important to state that when we say the US has been hit badly, we do not say that all of the country and all its business are not doing well. Has the mortgage businesses or consumer loan business got hit? Yes. But have healthcare equipment makers or security system manufacturers been hit? No. So there is an overall impact but it's not the same across all business and also not across countries either.

With no organization immune to the impact of the economic crisis, there is renewed focus on running day-to-day operations better than ever, and confront in real-time the challenges and threats unique to this economic crisis. In fact, organizations globally are looking at the downturn as an opportunity to strengthen their marketplace position and outperform competitors.

While no one can predict when market conditions will improve, we do know that positive action now can help companies navigate through these recessionary times.

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