What EMC is Doing in India

The proof of the pudding is what they actually are paying them. If they've figured out how to not "treat them as commodity brains to be had on the cheap", while still in fact having them on the cheap -- well, that's brilliant!

EMC is doing the same thing that RCA and Zenith did years ago when they outsourced electronic manufacturing to Japan. They are enabling future competition. Japan mastered the technology and now the US does not have much of an electronics industry anymore. Now the IT companies are making the same mistake under the guise of cost savings and access to talent. When India and China master these technologies, the US companies will not be able to compete against their cost structures and we will lose the fundamental manufacturing and scientific knowledge in yet another key industry.

Its strange that there is no anti India comments till now. :)

Its strange that there is no anti India comments till now. :)

EMC has good company. IBM, HP, Cisco, Alcatel, Bosch, Fujitsu, Lenovo, Honeywell, GE, Siemens, BT, Oracle etc are all doing it.

I have been very impressed with EMC's maturity around "Global Talent Management". Like Steve said, that's they way they are handling this, not as low-cost outsourcing. At the same time, they continue to partner with a number of leading IT service providers for specialized capabilities, so there is a healthy "coopetition" between EMC's captive talent in India, China, etc. and their ITO/BPO providers, like Accenture, Wipro, etc.

But...there is still a long way to go in this journey, and a lot of bridges yet to cross.

Yes, thank you EMC and others for selling out America during the fallout of the tech boom in the early 2000's.

The Bangalore population is around 8million these few thousand jobs created by EMC is not a big deal.

It is indeed great news for the EMC India COE that over 1.5 Billion USD will be invested over the next 5 years at the Bangalore facility.
The comment about EMC employees ("...It doesn’t treat them as commodity brains to be had on the cheap. It signals that it expects great ideas and work to come from them...") is a sign of the times. Clearly, the Indian IT employee today has moved up in the global value chain & the fact that EMC has recognized this demonstrates it's forward thinking attitude.

John Herrera's comment about 'the increase in the costs of doing business in India in recent years haven’t deterred EMC from expanding there' and 'EMC is signaling strongly that it seeks innovation from India—not just cheaper labor'...goes to show that India is maturing as a world destination.

EMC is doing the right thing by focussing on quality people rather than just cheap people.

Free trade is a great thing. I'm glad EMC is investing in India. It's a great move and it's smart business. Anyone who thinks this is "unfair" trade and anyone who opposes outsourcing to make US companies more competitive is a SOCIALIST RADICAL. Plain and simple. We either have socialism for all or we accept the free-market system where there are winners and not losers but those who do not win as much.

Free trade is a great thing. I'm glad EMC is investing in India. It's a great move and it's smart business. Anyone who thinks this is "unfair" trade and anyone who opposes outsourcing to make US companies more competitive is a SOCIALIST RADICAL. Plain and simple. We either have socialism for all or we accept the free-market system where there are winners and not losers but those who do not win as much.

Competition is only fair if it's conducted according to compatible rules. Would a "football" game between Manchester United and the Pittsburgh Steelers -- each side playing by its own rules -- be fair? One of those teams would be mauled, excellent athletes though they be.

Developed countries compete within certain strictures: slavery and child labor are not tolerated, near-universal education is provided, minimum wages and social safety nets are such that nearly all residents can afford toilets and refrigerators, etc.

India's cost advantage over developed countries exists because it does none of the above. Bond-slavery and child labor are rampant, less than 10 percent of young people complete high-school equivalence, and most people in the country can not afford toilets and refrigerators. All this allows the tiny Indian elite to live well while greatly undercutting developed-world wages.

If we are to compete with India, we have two choices: either we compete by their rules, or we require them to compete by ours. Personally, I prefer the latter; I've gotten used to having my toilet and refrigerator.

I am just as surprised as Guest that there are no anti-India comments. Maybe if there are, then EMC would look stupid and of course that would make the commentator even more silly. Maybe i spoke too soon because that guy who makes comments about Indians wiping their a..s is still asleep

At the end of the day, EMC is doing what every profit centric organisation does...invest in growth areas of the future. The issue here is engaging talent and that means treating them as equal partners. Talent does not have geographic exclusivity and considering the sheer numbers in both India and China, there will be much higher concentration of talent in both these countries. As for US losing the technology race, I am yet to see any economy which has taken over the US in the last 50 years. Think its a bit alarmist. US remains the global engine of growth and innovation and they are pretty saavy about how to maintain that. So no worries there.

a note to 'a parent' - none of the MNCs doing BPO intiatives in India employ child labor, we're not talking about garment factories of 50-some years ago. I think you need to rethink your objections to stay current perhaps.... and from what I've heard and seen first-hand on my last visit, the business parks the MNCs build or contract are pretty posh joints with decent amenities, and yes, toilets even!
by the way, its about time someone provided a sense of time perspective to this 'poor underdeveloped india' image - India has been poor for maybe 70-100 years, post-British rule. It has a vibrant 2000+ year history of great advances and riches. 70 years may seem like a lifetime to young USoA, but to Indians, it seems like a day or two....perhaps India is not 'becoming' a powerhouse, perhaps it is merely reclaiming a recently-lost legacy of scientific and technological innovation? I'd even go so far as to say that the US has its current (and any future) position thanks in good part to the brainy immigrants who have washed to its shores. beware of what you wish for...you may get it. what if ALL immigrants left the US today, huh? Who seriously thinks that would be a good thing for USA?

To Couchtraveler:

Indeed, the business parks the MNCs build are posh joints. They are built -- more "cost-effectively" than would be possible in high-literacy countries -- with bricks. Who makes the bricks? In India, bricks are made by child laborers and bond slaves. Cost advantage: India.

Who cleans the toilets in those posh joints? How much are they paid? Where do their children go to high school? Cost advantage: India.

The small metro area (1 million population) where I live recently took on a billion-dollar bond issue to modernize its sewer system. It comes out of individual and corporate taxes, and goes into the cost of living and doing business here. But India's National Capital processes sewage much more cost-effectively: by sending low-caste laborers down into the sewer pipes with shovels to clear it out by hand -- in the process of which hundreds asphyxiate. Cost advantage: India.

As I said in my previous post: "All this allows the tiny Indian elite to live well while greatly undercutting developed-world wages."

For the U.S. to compete by India's rules, the median American's material lifestyle will have to descend -- not to the level of Indian IT workers, but to the level of the median Indian.

I'm a strictly median American, nobody special by birth nor education. In India, people of socioeconomic background equivalent to mine don't go to high school, much less college. If we open our economy to the Indian way of life, people like me will live like the poor that the Indian elite step over on their way to their posh business parks.

Yes, EMC is investing in talent in India. Good for them. As a U.S. taxpayer though, I don't want any of my taxes used for Indian wages. EMC should be prohibited from bidding on any federal, state, or local government contract unless it can guarantee that only Americans will work on those contracts.

Greg,

Indian government imports hell a lot of equipment from the US. Going by your logic, Indian Government should stop buying them because Indian Tax Payers' money (mine included) is being spent on wages for americans. Please remember that India imports more from america than it exports to it. So, by your logic, Indian citizens have been paying the wages of american workers for last at least 50 years.

Gopal