Singh (2003) reported in The Financial Times that British Telecom had decided to effectively "outsource" some of its call center operations by opening call centers in India in the cities of New Delhi and Bangalore. The rationale behind the move by the British telecommunications giant is that the cost of operating domestic call centers -- which includes both information technology hardware and software costs as well as costs for human capital and staffing -- have escalated to a point where the call centers are simply unprofitable. Rather than functioning as a value-added service that increases corporate profitability, the call centers operated in the United Kingdom by British Telecom are losing money. As Mike Schraer, British Telecom's Director of Commercial partnerships put it, "To stay competitive to have to outsource to low-cost destinations (Singh, 2003, p. A1).
The problem is significant, says Singh (20030, in that more and more companies in the highly advanced, industrialized and technology-rich Western nations are turning to developing countries of the Third and Second Worlds to find low-cost human resource solutions. In the case of Great Britain, Singh (20030 reported that relatively few jobs have thus far been outsourced abroad; however, there are indications that the use of overseas outsourcers by British companies will continue to increase over time as the costs of doing business at home also tend to increase.
Singh (2003) also noted that for many workers at British Telecom (and, by extension, workers in all Western countries, regardless of market or business sector), the firm's move to reduce its domestic workforce and expand its outsourced operations in India is cause for concern. Companies are being challenged to develop co-operative ways of working with outsourcers to ensure that some domestic or existing employees are not laid off and that skill improvements are possible for domestic employees, leading ...