Obama names Jack Welch accolyte and GE CEO, Jeff Immelt, to top job on his economic team.

[Stinky The Clown]

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2115009020110121

:popcorn:

[Amerigo Vespucci]

1. From 2005: "The Future of Outsourcing: An exclusive look inside GE's back-office machine"

The Future of Outsourcing
An exclusive look inside GE's back-office machine.
Abe De Ramos - CFO Asia

June 15, 2005

http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/3860276

There is a buzz at the ground-floor cafeteria of Gecis, the back-office operation of General Electric just outside Delhi. About a dozen people are gathered round a corner, and more are forming a queue. "Have you got your free drink?" a woman in a green sari asks a colleague, lifting a can of Red Bull in her hand. The energy-drink maker is giving free samples of a new flavor. It's nearly 4 p.m. in India, the beginning of the workday for many at Gecis, and they can use the energy boost. By the time their U.S. colleagues clock in, they will have done a fair amount of tasks for GE worldwide, from underwriting insurance and collecting delinquent accounts for its finance businesses, to performing cost analysis and tracking inventory for its industrial operations.

This is the world of offshore business-process outsourcing (BPO), where corporations farm out routine office functions to developing countries to take advantage of lower labor costs and higher productivity. It's the little sister to the phenomenon of manufacturing and IT-services outsourcing — only 3 percent of overall BPO spending is currently spent offshore, according to research firm Gartner. But offshore BPO is catching up, be it in the form of companies setting up captive back-office units abroad or contracting out the work to third-party providers. Either way, the trend may rattle the global labor market yet again. In its World Investment Report 2004, the United Nations Commission on Trade and Development argued that offshoring of corporate service functions could become "the next global shift".

Currently synonymous with call centers, offshore BPO is becoming commonplace, especially in India, by far the most favored BPO location. Gartner estimates the market there will soar from US$3.6 billion last year to US$24.3 billion in 2007. Based on 2004 revenues, Nasscom, the industry lobby group, says a third of all BPO work are in the area of customer care, followed by finance, administration, content development, payment services, and human resources. India already houses captive units set up by multinationals from American Express and HSBC to Dell and IBM, doing mostly standardized tasks such as general accounting, records management, and transaction processes such as accounts payable.

The tasks being remotely processed are now going up the value chain. You no longer have to imagine a company whose finance team in the United States is made up of only the controller, treasurer, and CFO, with their staff in India. This is already happening. What you need to still imagine is what happens when headquarters, unburdened by the rigors of running a factory and the tangles of accounts collection, is left only with the core tasks of selling products, developing new ones, and mapping growth strategies. This scenario may be way out on the horizon right now, but it is worth pondering how far it can go — and how it can change the way CFOs run finance.

[Octafish]

2. Connections.

IMFO, the suits are scarier than working stiffs.

[xchrom]

3. The Single Narrative Express.

i guess it's working out well for obama.

[Freddie Stubbs]

7. Indeed. His poll numbers are rising

[Smashcut]

17. Yes, as long as people are *buying* the bullshit

everything's working out just fine.

Never mind the outsourcing - how about another INSPIRING SPEECH, eh Mr. President?

[lame54]

4. Of course

[Chimichurri]

5. This is heartwrenching. Jack is a corporate hero for kick-starting

the whole outsourcing industry. We are a bona fide Corporatocracy now.

[DirkGently]

6. Ugh. The President's comments on NPR this morning were all straight from the Big Business Bible.

All about too much "borrowing and spending." "Put away the credit card." As though that had anything to do with the economic crisis caused by deregulated financial institutions stealing wealth from the entire world with heedless speculation.

Had to turn it off.

[eilen]

9. I heard it too

I threw up in my mouth a little and turned off the radio.

I really don't understand the wait and see people anymore. He's shown us who he is. What can anyone do about it?

[DirkGently]

19. Yep. Sad.

[obxhead]

10. He does have something to do with it though.

Did he create it? No. Is he addressing it in a serious and effective manner? Again no.

[lame54]

8. How can he have a team of rivals without hiring any liberals?

[HughBeaumont]

11. The Ununitied Snakes of CorpMerica.

"Jobs? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha . . . oh, wait, you're serious, aren't you?"

[somone]

12. Same old shit

“Globalization is good. Globalization makes countries more interdependent on each other. And, the more interdependent we are, the better chances we have for peace. And, globalization will in the end create more competitive environments." - Jack Welch

[alsame]

13. USA Inc.

[OHdem10]

14. Immelt knows is one of the first CEOs to admit that our Leaders

including Business made a Serious Mistake when they
made our country into a Service Economy. Immelt
has said this country cannot be sustained on a Service
Economy. We must rebuild our MFG BASE in this country.
He has pledged that when he outsources, he will form
new jobs in this country. I do not want my generation
to be the one that leaves this country in ruins. He
made this committment on C-Span, C. Rose . He says
we must move to get mfg up to at least 13 to 15%.

[Marr]

15. Obama listens to so many varied opinions!

BOTH sides of Wall Street get their say.

[kentuck]

16. I wish I had a President that could talk me out of this depression...

...and abject hopelessness. It would be so nice to have a leader that could encourage and inspire at this time...

[Solly Mack]

18. K&R

[Bluebear]

20. Jeez Louise.