[photopress:indian_traffic_jam.jpg,full,alignright]The importance of logistics to the future of China has been has been highlighted in an article by Erika Morphy in CRM Buyer.
It used to be that if a company wanted to outsource non-core operations, India was the locale to choose. Since then markets around the world have evolved giving companies a whole new set of considerations as to where, when and how to outsource specific operations. And logistics is playing a major part.
Akiba Stern, a partner with New York-based Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, said, ‘Companies that select services from an offshore location nowadays will do so for a variety of reason. Two very similar firms could opt to outsource operations in completely different markets.’
He said that where India is now lagging behind is in logistics. Akiba Stern said, ‘In some cities in India, people are literally choking on the growth. There are not enough roads — not enough bandwidth for some operations.’
Raj Ganesan, director of corporate performance for the Hackett Group, said, many Chinese firms are locating their contact center operations in the U.S. — acquiring contact centers in many instances — in order to support manufacturing operations in China.
‘These are much smaller contact operations,designed to help customers track a specific item that has been shipped from their factories. Over the last few years, the expectation of service on the part of the buyer has increased — and the costs of interacting with customers at this level have dropped.’