Cary,
Friedman's professional life, as I'm sure you know, has been that of a travelling salesman for globalization, which is one tough sell in most areas of the developing world. Tom is somewhat panglossian by nature. In the future we will all be better off and what's best for the Fortune 500 is best for the world, etc. etc. The reason I liked his piece in today's Times is because I happen to think that there is probably no better paradigm of successful globalization than the Indian call center. Now I'm sure there are plenty of nice folks and their wives in Des Moines who have lost perfectly decent jobs to these kids fresh out of college in India who are getting the equivalent of a graduate education in American Dialects 101, and now they will have to retrain to do something else, but I have been to Bangalore and I can say that these kids are much more vital to the future of India than the jobs that are leaving the US. In the US these particular jobs are low wage, low priority. In India, they are relatively high wage and they give a kid from southern India a pretty good idea of what is happening in the so-called rich North. It is the best type of cross cultural exposure you can have and a great opportunity to learn on the job, even if the hours are long and the dialog highly scripted. Most of all it gives them the communication skills that will be vital for their next jobs at Intel or AMAT, India.
I thought the evidence presented in the article of trade as a two-way street were quite compelling, not just of 24/7's use of American products but JadooWorks' outsourcing to American and British companies for high value-added creative talent.
Sam |
