International Business Opportunities

A survey carried out in Australia found that Australian manufacturing companies will slash at least 30,000 jobs this year as they move to relocate more work offshore. The study was conducted by the Australian Industry Group, on a sample of 800 manufacturers and 200 chief executives.

The Australian Industry Group chief executive, Heather Ridout, said:

“Last year we lost 30,000 jobs in the industry. This year we estimate another 4 per cent, which means roughly the same amount will be lost again.”
He added: “It’s going to happen in the future at an accelerating rate and there’s not an awful lot the Government can do about it”

About the main causes:

- A boom in commodities prices is radically reshaping industry, making it harder for manufacturers;

- A high dollar has made manufacturing exports more expensive for foreign buyers, while making it difficult for manufacturers to compete with a flood of cheaper imports;

- China, with its extremely low labour costs, has transformed itself into the world’s manufacturing hub.

As a consequence of that, a third of manufacturers is very concerned about the future of the industry and would plan to make greater use of offshore outsourcing. ( source )

We have already covered topics about the Dubai’s goal to become a new offshore outsourcing destination. The government of Dubai, plans to make the emirate a offshore outsourcing location by 2010.

Now, a few figures from a Newsweek article, witnessing the fast growth of Dubai as financial and commercial hub, make clear how the government’s commitment in this emirate is critical to achieve any goal in a short time.

Their city-state has been aptly described as a family conglomerate run by Sheik Mohammed as ruler and CEO. He is the visionary behind the leading enterprises in Dubai, including investment, media and hotel holding companies, as well as Emirates air. He has transformed this coastal desert into a man-made mirage of artificial islands and spiraling skyscrapers. Dubai’s economy grew more than 16 percent last year. Multinationals, including Siemens, Oracle and Dell, have set up regional bases in this city, an efficient oasis amid the strife and commercial disorder that afflict much of the Middle East.[…]

(more…)

Not surprisingly, many Americans who are employed in the IT industry have been coming to India for years; it happens that they have to manage subsidiaries or train Indian workers. However, what happens now with the younger is a different story.

A small but growing number of young Americans, college and business school graduates, are now moving to India to launch businesses, study globalization or for interning in one of the world’s fastest-growing economies.
Nasscom, India’s National Association of Software and Services Companies, estimates around 800 Americans are working or interning at information technology companies in India, and the number is expected to grow.

Americans must face the hassles of daily life in India and generally accept lower salaries to work there, but to be part of this historic economic expansion and the chance to know the Indian culture, is priceless for them. India’s economy has grown at more than 8 percent over the past three years, driven by the rapid expansion of its software, IT and business-process outsourcing industries.

Unlike China, English is widely spoken in India, making its culture and career opportunities more accessible to foreign workers.
Bangalore, metropolis of more than 6 million, it is known as India’s Silicon Valley and is seeing breakneck growth, with an explosion of new office towers, technology parks, condo complexes and shopping malls. (Source)

Several automakers struggling at home, seem to be in good health when operating in Asia.

It happens that American companies such as General Motors, Buick, and Chevrolet are going to reduce their work force in U.S., while they are planning investment in new plants in Asia, especially in China.

But most important of all, as their market share is in decline in US, sales are exploding in China. In the last quarter of 2005 - source Newsweek, GM was passing Volkswagen as the No. 1 car seller in China, with 11.2 percent of a market that surpassed Japan for the first time to become the world’s second largest car market.
China is the hottest overseas market for GM, and the only one in which its big Japanese rivals, like Honda and Toyota, are playing catch-up.

That is a sign of its good health. Is it also a sign, that American companies are giving the priority to Asian markets?
Surely, Automotive will not be a ‘jobs creator industry’ anymore as in US as in other Western countries.