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India Outsources Jobs To U.S. In Video-Effects Field
Based in Bangalore, India, a Tata subsidiary that specializes in video effects and animation will open a high-tech delivery center in Los Angeles next week to cater to Hollywood's appetite for video wizardry. Since this is clearly a case of outsourcing, I must ask the question: will the professional positions created at the new lab be "our jobs"?
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Based in Bangalore, India, a Tata subsidiary that specializes in video effects and animation will open a high-tech delivery center in Los Angeles next week to cater to Hollywood's appetite for video wizardry. Since this is clearly a case of outsourcing, I must ask the question: will the professional positions created at the new lab be "our jobs"?The new video lab is being opened by Tata Elxsi, which wants to raise its profile and capabilities in Hollywood as it looks to create other such delivery centers in key markets around the world, according to two Economic Times of India articles:
The software design services firm aims to expand its presence in the US in line with its global growth strategy, which includes opening more studios in high-growth markets.
"We expect to get $300-$400 million in topline over the next three years, and we intend to keep doubling it every three years after that," Tata Elxsi Ltd.'s CEO and Managing Director, Madhukar Dev, told reporters [in Mumbai] today.
"We would open more centres in other parts of the world depending on the work-flow coming in from the US and from Europe," he added.
The lab will be operated by Tata Elxsi's Visual Computing Labs division, the second Economic Times article said:
With this new studio, VCL will be in a position to take on high-end VFX work. Studios in Hollywood normally outsource middle and low-end work to Indian firms. . . . Currently 85-90% of VCL's total revenues come from domestic work. "Going forward, we expect domestic and international revenues to be equal," said S Nagarajan, chief operating officer, VCL.
In terms of political philosophy, this could present quite a challenge to the many U.S. politicians--starting with President Obama--who have demonized outsourcing and made various promises about levying financial penalties on U.S.-based companies that send "our jobs" overseas.
But what exactly is their position when the reverse occurs-as is the case with Tata Elxsi-and companies based outside the U.S. create new jobs within this country? What should we do: tax them excessively for promoting the outsourcing bogeyman? Or tax them lightly to underscore our hypocrisy and the yawning gap between what we say and what we do?
I'd suggest we treat them exactly the same way as we treat other businesses in this country, and that on a macro scale we establish policies that encourage in every way possible companies like Tata Elxsi to determine that the U.S. is a good place for business and a good place for new jobs.
But we'll never get to that spot in today's wide-open global economy if we continue pushing this misguided concept of "our jobs," a quaint but terribly outdated position that will achieve nothing except limit this country's ability to maintain its status as a world leader in innovation, technology, and entrepreneurship.
For more perspectives on this vital subject of outsourcing and "our jobs," please check out the following:
IBM, Microsoft, And The Myth Of 'Our Jobs'
Oracle, Protectionism, And The Myth Of 'Our Jobs'
Global CIO: The Ugly And Dangerous Prejudice Against Outsourcing
Global CIO: Let's Put The Offshoring Bogeyman In Proper Perspective
Obama Protectionism Blasted By Microsoft's Ballmer And Symantec's Thompson
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