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Anti globalisation sentiment 

9 July 2008

'We’re in the centre of an economic revolution,’ Phil Morris, told delegates at BLP’s seminar on the impact of globalisation on outsourcing, labour and employment. ‘And most people are not aware of where it will end.’

This revolution is being driven, not by governments or statutory bodies, but by corporations however the globalisation trend is as old as the human race. ‘It’s something nobody should be afraid of,’ he said. Globalisation as it stands today has countless parallels throughout history with the exporting of knowledge, commodities, processes and technologies, yet there is still considerable resistance. ‘People are resisting the tide of change when they haven’t realised that the tide has already gone past them.’

The ebb and flow of wealth across the globe has been going on for centuries, aided and abetted by governments because they need it to survive; the future is now about how to compete in a global services network, he stressed. The list of globalisation’s supporters and detractors is almost endless, ranging from companies and governments through to activists and trade unions and the media and general public. ‘We usually have to deal with some subset of these people,’ he said. ‘But it’s about educating people and changing attitudes, rather than the fundamentals of outsourcing.’

Opponents of globalisation can no longer just depend on the status quo, he reiterated. ‘The fear, uncertainty and doubt they have been spreading for the last eight or ten years won’t wash any more.’ These issues had not only been solved, he said, but moved on to the next level of best practice.

Outsourcing has become a fundamental tool for executives to achieve what they need to achieve, with global sourcing touching almost every single business of a certain size. ‘The market for supply has matured massively. Everybody that wants to open their economy is getting on this bandwagon.’ Finding new business initiatives and entering new markets were the things that organisations were concerned with, but this now effectively amounted to ‘pushing at an open door’.

Furthermore, today’s market for outsourcing was expanding rapidly. ‘As Einstein said, imagination is more important than knowledge. If you can imagine a different kind of future and way of doing things, I guarantee you’ll find someone willing to engage on that with you, and go on that journey.’ There are no longer any standard solutions, he explained’ Your future is about talent and education,’ he told delegates,(it would be useful to have an example of the type of delegate attendees here) explaining that finding and retaining good people is key in this environment and that companies need to be lean, agile, efficient and flexible. The main drivers for outsourcing include resources, best practice and transparency but the dominant selection factor is, and always had been, cost. ‘The future rests on doing things at the right price, with highly skilled people making decisions in the right time frame.’

‘You can’t control inflation, economic unrest and economic protectionism,’ he said, but skills availability and education are things that can be tackled. ‘If we don’t address this, the emerging economies will shoot straight past us,’ he warned. Brand and reputation are  becoming key outsourcing issues, as could be seen by the declining use of overseas-based outbound call centres, and taxation, politics, the green agenda and an ageing population would all prove major influencers on the future shape of the outsourcing world. High oil prices, meanwhile, would have an impact on transporting bulky goods around the globe but would not affect services, he predicted.

‘There are threats and opportunities, and they exist for everybody,’ he said. ‘If you get this wrong you’ll waste your money, or worse. But if you get it right, you’re playing with the entire world.’



 

 

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