While watching the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, I, and the entire world, was in awe of how well the Chinese handled both shows: their precision in execution, the teamwork and coordination of all the people involved in the displays of elegance and entertainment as well as those operating the equipment, lighting and audio in the background.
What struck me was that I was looking into the future, the future center of economic power. The paradigm shift to where tomorrow’s major global decisions could be made if we in the United States do not learn some hard lessons and correct our current course. We could be handing over ‘the game’ to the Chinese.
Meanwhile, as I watch and listen to both major presidential candidates speak, I find a very common thread which is, oh, poor us...the loss of U.S. jobs to outsourcing, the big bad corporations not taking care of us – the people. But, neither candidate is discussing how the situation arose in the first place.
One question we need an answer to is outsourcing. Is outsourcing the real culprit of the loss of U.S. jobs? If you look at the history of the industrial revolutions in the U.S. and even England, one can see that, for both nations, outsourcing has been at the center of the revolution.
Our U.S. economy, businesses and social communities have grown and flourished because, as companies expanded to meet demand and cut costs, they have been able to outsource to smaller companies, and to locations where there has been a pool of talent willing to do the job better and cheaper. We used to call this free enterprise at work.
Now, if this truly was free enterprise, why is it that when outsourcing goes to other parts of the globe; be it India or China or Vietnam or Thailand, it is no longer free enterprise but, rather, American jobs being outsourced?
As hard as I try, I fail to see any U.S. seal on these jobs that indicates they are ‘jobs reserved only for Americans.’ The reason these jobs are going to India or China is the same reason companies such as Ford and GM held the jobs here, which is to say, it is because someone not only can do the same work more cost-effectively, but they are also able to provide the same quality of service.
Case in point; I was at a T.I.E. (The Indus Entrepreneurs) meeting where the former Indian government Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Dayanidhi Maran, was a guest speaker. Someone asked for his view on China entering the call center market. Minister Maran remarked, “Good. Let them have it. It’s a mature market from which we would like to move on.” His point being, companies (and countries) that recognize which markets and market segments have matured, and decide to move on to new areas, are the ones that survive. And thrive.
The truth of the matter is the U.S. has always thrived when we are on the cutting edge of innovation. This was true for us in the automotive industry, high-tech, telecommunications and the aeronautics industry, to name a few. The real problem is the U.S. is now witnessing other countries entering these matured markets and these countries have begun providing better products.
We have to stop crying foul about U.S. jobs being lost…the same jobs we used to give to lesser-developed areas of America where the cost of doing business was less expensive. The only difference between then and now is the jobs are going overseas to other countries that are less expensive.
We, as a nation, have always risen to the challenge of innovation. So, we need to figure out how we get back on track and innovate and create new areas and industries that will fuel employment. We need to gear-up our schools to develop new programs and generate new ideas that will help drive new development(s). Education standards must be established in our schools so that we train our workers of tomorrow to compete against the best the world has to offer. And, we need to retrain the displaced workers of yesterday.
Our government also needs to partner with industry to figure out how innovation can be stimulated. Plus, we need to have the right immigration policies in place that help attract the type of talent that will aid us in looking for new frontiers. Self-serving unions crying about U.S. job losses need to either learn how to help us create this new environment – or get out of the way.
Our national dialog needs to change. We need to look to the future and build new horizons instead of whining about the inequities that come with free market economies.
If we do look back, it should be to learn. To learn how we have, up until now, built a position of leadership in today’s world. Somewhere along the way we stopped innovating and decided our past justified our future birthright. Go figure.
We have to learn from our mistakes and correct our course. As a nation filled with good leaders, both business and political, we cannot afford to sit back and patronizingly watch other countries without raising the question: Should we gear up to meet this competitive challenge?
Battle-weathered generals that do not see the formation of an opposing army lose the war in the end. What I saw in the Games was a well-trained army marching in total formation. We must take heed.
Bal Singh is a Silicon Valley veteran with more than 20 years of experience at the executive and officer levels managing product quality; global operations and advanced manufacturing, sourcing and supply chains at venture-backed startups and Fortune 100 companies serving the electronics industry.
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