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Khaiser Ali Shah
Title: International Business Management
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THEORIES OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE
International M arketing is p
erformance of business activities
design ed to p lan, p rice, p romote
and direct the flow of comp anies
goods & services to customers or
users in more than one
nation for p rofit
Absolute Advantage Theory
The absolute advantage theory of
international trade was p ut forward
by Adam S mith. In his
work "The Wealth of Nations",
Adam Smith said that the real wealth
of nation consists of
goods & services availab le to the
citizens & not on the quantity of
bullion.
Smith believed that every country
has an absolute advantage in p
roducin g some co mmodity
over the others. Thus a country must
imp ort those goods which are
relatively cheap in other
countries & exp ort those goods
which are ch eap ly p roduced inside
the country . Smith was
advocate of Lassiez-Faire or Free
Trade between the countries.
Accordin g to Smith, a country
should sp ecialize in those p
roducts in which it either has a
natural or an acqu ired adv antage.
Natural advantage may be available
to a country on
account of climatic cond itions,
availability of natural resources,
abundant labour supp ly etc.
The comp etitive advantage of
nations in the exp ort of
manufactured goods & serv ices
dep ends up on acquired advantage
E.g. Jap an has an acquired
advantage in the p roduction of high
qu ality steel although she has
a natural disadvantage in not havin
g any iron and coal min es. While
India h as abundant
supp ly of natural resources in
terms of mineral & min es, it can
exp loit its natural advantage
only in exp orting iron ore and imp
ort value added steel fro m Jap an
for want of an acquired
advantage.
The theory of absolute cost
advantage can be illustrated with
the examp le of a two-country ;
two-commodity model.
Assump tion:
1.
Two countries India and United
States
2.
Two commodities Tea and Wheat
3.
Both countries have the same
quantity of p roductive resources
available to
p roduce tea & wheat & these
resources measure up to 200 units.
Int ernat ional Business Management
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Summer 2007 Phase II
Producti ve Resources = 200 units
India
Unites States
Tea
8 units to p roduce
40 units to p roduce
1 Qunt.
1 Qunt.
Wheat
20 units to p roduce
10 units to p roduce
1 Qunt.
1 Qunt.
M ore Efficient
Tea
Wheat
In the absence of International
trade, both countries divide their p
roduction resources equally
between tea & wheat.
India
United States
Total
Tea
100/8 = 12.5
100/40 = 2.5
12.50 qunt
qunt.
qunt.
+2.50 qunt
15.00 qunt
Wheat
100/20 =
100/10 =
05.00 qunt
5qunt.
10qunt
+10.00 qunt
15.00 qunt
Point A
Point B
Point A & B shows the p roduction p
ossibility of both the countries.
Now, assume India & U.S decide to sp
ecialize in p roduction of that
commodity in which it
has an absolute advantage. India
would sp ecialize in p roduction of
tea & U.S in wheat.
India
United States
Total
Tea
200/8 = 25
--
25 qunt
qunt.
Wheat
--
200/10 = 20
20 qunt
qunt
Point D
Point C
Extendin g this examp le to all the
countries of the world, we may say
that international
division of labour will lead to sp
ecialization, gr eater efficien cy
and all the countries can hav e
more of every commod ity that is p
roduced in the world.
E.g. Let us assume that India is
more efficient in p roducin g tea &
wheat than U.S. India
therefore has an absolute advantage
in p roducing both the commod ities.
Further, let us assume that India &
U.S has only 200 units of resources
availab le to p roduce
these goods.
Int ernat ional Business Management
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Submitted by: Khaiser Ali Shah -
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Summer 2007 Phase II
Int ernat ional Business Management
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Comparative Advantage Theory
David Ricardo imp roved up on
the Absolute Cost Advantage theory
of
Adam Smith & p ut forward his theory
of Comp arative Advantage in 1817.
What happ ens if a country has an
absolute advantage or absolute
disadvantage in p roducing
all the commodities that it wants to
consume?
Will the country imp ort all its
requirements in the case of an
absolute disadvantage across the
board or will the country p roduce
every thing that it wants in the
case of an absolute
advantage across the board?
In both the cases, the answer is "NO"
David Ricardo said that countries
should p roduce only those goods in
which it either has a
comp arative advantage or has the
least comp arative disadvantage. The
cru x of the theory is
that resources should be withdrawn
from less efficient uses &
redirected to more efficient
uses.
India
Unites States
Tea
8 units to p roduce
20 units to p roduce
1 Qunt.
1 Qunt.
Wheat
10 units to p roduce
20 units to p roduce
1 Qunt.
1 Qunt.
M ore Efficient
In the absence of international
trade, both the countries divide
their available resources
equally in the p roduction of tea &
wheat.
India
United States
Total
Tea
100/8 = 12.5
100/20 = 5
17.5 qunt
qunt
qunt
Wheat
100/10 = 10
100/20 = 5
15 qunt
qunt
qunt
Now, given the distribution of
resources and other things remainin
g constant the p roduction
of tea or wheat in both the
countries cannot be increased
without involving a sacrif ice i.e.
if
the p roduction of tea is to be
increased, wheat p roduction will
have to be reduced and vice-
versa.
By entering into International
Trade, combin ed p roduction of Tea
& Wheat can be increased.
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Submitted by: Khaiser Ali Shah -
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Summer 2007 Phase II
India
United States
Total
Tea
140/8 = 17.5
--
17.5 qunt
qunt
Wheat
60/10 = 6
Full 200 units
qunt
then,
200/20 = 10
16 qunt
qunt
India
United States
Total
Tea
150/8 = 18.75
--
18.7.5 qunt
qunt
Wheat
50/10 = 5 qunt
200/20 = 10
15 qunt
qunt
This gain can be shared by both the
countries, thus increasin g the
economic welf are of the
p eop le.Product Life C ycle
Theory
Raymond Vernon, exp lains
world trade in manufactured p
roducts on the basis of stages in
the p roduct life. Accordin g to
Vernon, certain p roducts go through
a cy cle consisting of
about 4 stages, namely
Introduction
Growth
M aturity
Decline and the location of the p
roduction will shift internationally
dep ending
on the stage of the cy cle.
The Introduction stage of the
p roduct life cy cle, which starts
with the launching of the new
p roduct characterized by
1.
No sales : because it gen erally
takes sometime for a new p roduct to
get wide
accep tance by consumers and it also
takes time to exp and the marketin g
of the
p roduct.
2.
High cost p er unit, because of the
low sales and high p romotional exp
enditure
3.
Absence of or low comp etition if
the p roduct is entirely new. Loss
or
negligib le p rofit because of low
sales and h igh cost
The Growth stage which
follows the International stage is
characterized by
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1.
Fast growth in sales because of incr
easin g consumer accep tance and
exp ansion of mark eting
2.
Growing p rofits because of growin g
sales and fall in the incidence of
fixed
p roduction cost and marketing cost
p er unit
3.
Increase in comp etition
4.
M arket segmentation and the
introduction of different versions
(models of the
p roduct)
The Maturity stage is ch
aracterized by
1.
Saturation of sales: In the ear ly p
art of the stage sales may grow
slowly but at
a later p art there could even be a
f all in sales
2.
Intense comp etition
3.
Fall in p rofits because of high p
romotional exp enditure and fallin g
mar gins
Last stage (Decline) is
characterized by
1.
Entry of new p roducts which comp
ete with the p roduct
2.
Declinin g sales
3.
Declinin g p rofits: Profits may
even become negative
4.
Exit of some of the firms
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E.g. A Black and White television
extensively p enetrated households
in the USA, nearly a
dozen y ears before, they reached
comp arable number of v iewers in
Europ e and Jap an. In the
case of colour television the time
lag was 5-6 y ears for Jap an and a
few more for Europ e.
In the case of video cassette
recorders, there was a difference of
3-4 y ears. But in this case
Europ e and Jap an led the way , the
USA kept its focus on cable
television.
It may be noted that the Black and
Wh ite television was introduced in
Ind ia nationally only
after it had reached the declin in g
stage in advan ced countries and the
Colour television was
in the introduction / growth stages
in India, wher eas it was in the
maturity / declinin g stage in
several other countries.
AN INTRODUCTION TO INTERNAT IONAL
INFORMAT ION
TECHNOLOGY EN AB LED S ERVIC ES
(IIT ES )
The ITES is that sector of
information technolo gy (IT) which
aims at p roviding various
services through the use of IT. The
sp ectrum of IT enabled services
includ es call centers,
medical transcrip tion, back office
op erations, accounting and legal
services, content
develop ment esp ecially for the
internet, p ay roll management, lo
gistics management, GIS
map p ing, etc.
The entire range of IT enabled
services varies from p ure and simp
le data entry to customer
interaction, which is comp lex and r
equires intelligen ce.
Comp lete work sp here of ITES
Activities involves
Data entry
Back office p rocessing
M edical transcrip tion
Insurance claims p rocessing
Salary p rocessing
Legal d atabase
Content develop ment
Call centers
Customer service
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Knowledge Process Outsourcing
(KPO)
KPO is an up coming facility which
deals with research and develop ment
activities. It has
been estimated that by 2010, 300,000
jobs would be created in the KPO sp
ace and 70% of
these jobs are exp ected to come to
India. But the p icture is not as
rosy as it looks. The KPO
industry will hav e to wade through
many challen ges to keep up the exp
ectations and
p redictions for its bright future.
Difficulties faced by KPO
One of the major p roblems faced by
the KPO industry is the dearth of
skilled manp ower with
domain exp ertise. The client's exp
ectations and quality requirements
are very high. Also in
the KPO sp ace, client conversion
and develop ment takes longer comp
ared to other p rocesses.
If India wants to get 70% of KPO
jobs by 2010, then serious
intervention at the educational
level and investment in trainin g ar
e imp erative.
A Peek into the BPO Industry
Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)
is the delegation of one or more
IT-intensive business
p rocesses to an external p rovider
that in turn owns, administers and
manages the selected
p rocess based on defined and
measurab le p erforman ce cr iteria.
BPO is a bro ad term ref errin g
to outsourcing in all fields. It
differentiates itself by either p
utting in n ew technolo gy or
app ly ing existing technolo gy in a
new way to imp rove a p rocess.
BPO has been the latest mantra
in India today . As the current
sources of revenue face slower
growth, software comp anies are try
ing new way s to increase their
revenues. BPO is top on
their list today . IT services
companies are mak in g a qu ick
entry into the BPO sp ace on the
strength of their existing set of
clients. We hop e to addr ess all
issues related to BPO in Ind ia
on this p ortal.
The p hilosop hy behind BPO is sp
ecific, do what y ou do best and
leave every thing else to
business p rocess outsourcers. Comp
anies are movin g their non-core
busin ess p rocesses to
outsource p roviders. BPO saves p
recious management time and
resources and allows focus
while build in g up on core co mp
etencies. The list of functions bein
g outsourced is getting
longer by the day . Call center
s ap art, functions outsourced sp an
p urchasing and
disbursement, order entry , billin g
and collection, hu man resources
administration, cash and
investment management, tax co mp
liance, internal audit, p ay
roll...the list gets lon ger
every day . BPO is one way of
increasing the p rofits. If done
well, BPO results in increasing
shareholder value. Few of the
motivation factors as to why BPO is
gainin g ground are:
Int ernat ional Business Management
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Int ernat ional Business Management
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UM3371BHR8116
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CALL C ENTRES IN INDIA
Definition of Call Center
A Call Center is the room or rooms
where telemark eters sit at p hone
banks talking with
customers or p rosp ective
customers. There are two kinds of
call center, though the two are
sometimes combin ed in on e p lace.
An inbound call center
receives call, as when a customer
calls a 1-800 nu mber with a
question about a p roduct. In an
outbound call center, the
telemarketers call the customer or
the prosp ective customer. Outbound
call centers often use
an automatic dialer, a setup in
which a comp uter dials random p
hone numbers from a given
file and then transfers any answered
calls to an availab le telemarketer.
Availability of high ly qualified
skill p ool and faster adop tion of
well-def ined busin ess
p rocesses leads to higher p
roductivity gains without comp
romising on quality . Customers
across verticals like Insurance,
Bankin g, Pharmaceuticals, Telecom,
Automotive and Air lines
seem to be the early adop ters of
Business Process Outsourcing. Of the
vertical listed above
insurance and bank in g are able to
gener ate bulk of the sav in gs p
urely because of the lar ge
p rop ortion of p rocesses they can
outsource like claims p rocessing,
loans p rocessing and
client servicin g through call
centers.
Why Outsourcing from India?
Robust communication infrastructure,
a lar ge En glish-sp eakin g
workforce, low labor costs,
app rop riate time-zone difference
with the West and the brand equity
built by the software
services sector are comp ellin g
reasons for choosin g Ind ia as the
BPO destination. The
international bandwidth situation
has imp roved dramatically over the
last 3 y ears with the
launch of India's first p rivate
undersea cable.
The p rivatization of the telecom
Industry has resulted in significant
drop in telecom rates.
Continuing co mp etition in the
industry with the recent entry of
newer p lay ers will see a
further drop in telecom p rices. As
a result, the telecom costs have
dropp ed by 85% in 3 y ears.
Power availability has also imp
roved dramatically over the last 5 y
ears, thus ensuring p ower
reliab ility at most ITES locations
like Ban galore, Delhi, Chennai,
Bombay , Pune and
Calcutta. Resp ective state
governments in India have undertaken
reforms in the p ower sector
to imp rove p ower supp ly to ITES
comp anies.
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INDIA CONS IS T OUTSOURCING OF
80% T HROUGH OUT THE WORLD.
India emer ged as a software service
exp orter in the late 1980s and
early 1990s with the
country 's transition from
centralized p lannin g to a
market-oriented economy . Today
Indian
comp anies hold the lion share of
the global outsourcing market and
comp ete with leading
multi-national sup p liers across
the IT solutions sp ectrum.
Following is the p ie chart
describing the share of India as a
software service exp orter in the
glob al BPO industry
Few of the motivation factors as to
why BPO is gainin g ground are:
Factor Cost Advantage
Economy of Scale
Business Risk M itigation
Sup erior Comp etency
Utilization Imp rovement
S UTHERLAND AT A GLANCE
Founded in 1986, Sutherland h as
metamorp hosed from a regional
startup into a global
outsourcing giant. Dilip Vellod i,
founder and CEO has been the drivin
g for ce b ehind 19
y ears of relentless endeavor that
is catap ulated Sutherland Global
Services into the top 15
outsourcing firms on the p lanet.
A p ioneer in Closed Loop customer M
anagement, a mod el r ep licated in
the initial serv ices
p latform at Sutherland. The comp
any serves fortune 500 clients in
the Information,
Communication, Technolo gy ,
Financial Services and e-Retail sp
ace. Sutherland has sp awned
confidence and goodwill amon g the
business across the world by its
ability to access market
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needs and p rovide results based
Technology and M arketing Solutions.
Sutherland, with a
legacy of nearly two decades has
emer ged a lead er in an area, still
deemed to be in its
infancy .
Sutherland Glob al Services p
rovides world class Business p
rocess Outsourcing (BPO) that
enables its clients to manage their
customer-relationship s.
Sutherland Glob al Serv ices as a
BPO has exp anded itself to Canada,
Philip p ines and India
alon g with the Sutherland Global
Serv ices incorp oration in USA. In
India, the co mp any
established itself as the Sutherland
Global Services Limited. It co mp
rises of main ly two
branches, one of which is in Ch
ennai from p ast five y ears and the
other in M umbai fro m two
y ears.
The p hilosop hy of Sutherland
Global Services limited is laid down
in the words of the
Promoter, M r. Dilip Vellodi as
follows...
"The most imp ortant ingredient
Sutherland Global Serv ices p uts
into any relationship is not
what we say , but what we do and who
we are. Sutherland consists of p
rofessionals: all
dedicated 100% to our customers,
buildin g a legacy of relationship s
through the consistent
delivery of "end to end" Customer
Relationship M anagement Service. We
comb ine busin ess
strategy , business p rocess, p eop
le and technolo gy with knowledge
relentlessly driving
towards one key objective-increasin
g our clients' p roductivity "
In today 's world where
globalization is p roceeding at the
rap id rate with many BPO
incorp orations, Sutherland Global
Services has succeeded to acqu ire
second p osition in the
top five BPO firms.
MISS ION
To be the p remier p rovider of
integrated technolo gy , marketing
and customer care serv ices.
Sutherland's mission statement has
remain ed relevant and unchan ged
since incep tion.
VIS ION
To be the leadin g global p rovider
of Business Process Outsourcing
solutions in the Customer
M anagement sp ace. Sutherland's
offer in gs cover a ran ge of
services from consultin g for
p rocess outsourcing to the imp
lementation and man agement of
outsourced op erations.
Sutherland Global Services wil
strive to build strong client
relationship s and emerge as a
p artner of first choice for
strategic outsourcin g, and the emp
loy er of choice for each of the
geo gr ap hies within which we op
erate.
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S UTHERLAND AT THE FLOOR
LEADERS HIP
Dilip R. Vellodi - Chair man and CEO
Don Fairbairn - Chief People Officer
Ashok Jain - Chief Operating Officer
Prem Puthur - Chief Technology
Officer
Bharat Chadda - Senior Vice
President, Client Services
Christopher Crowley - Senior Vice
President, Sales
Daniel Lang - Senior Vice President,
M arketing and Strategic Accounts
Joseph Buggy - Senior Vice
President, Client Services
K. S. Kumar - Senior Vice President,
Global Initiatives
M uthu Narayanan - CFO, India
Operations
Tom Stuewe - Senior Vice President,
Service Delivery
THE HIERARCHICAL ORD ER
The 35000 sq feet area of the
Sutherland Glob al Services, where
var ious inbound and
outbound calls are carried on
involves the followin g h ierar chy
:
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P resident
(Mu mbai)
Chief
Vice-P resident
Department al Heads
(Hr, Finance, Administration,
Marketing)
Team Manager
Team Leader
Senior Executives
Executives
Associates
Trainees (Freshers)
THE MAIN DEPARTMENTS
The HR department
In case of BPO industry the HR dep
artment p lay s very imp ortant p
art. The HR sp ecialists
introduce a scientific and analy
tical ap p roach to the
organization. This dep artment faces
the
followin g challen ges:
1. Brand equity : Peop le still
consider BPO to be "low brow", thus
making it difficult to
attract the best talent.
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2. Standard p re-job training:
Again, due to the wide variety of
the jobs, lack of gener al
clarity on skill sets, etc, there is
no standard curr iculu m, which
could b e designed and
followed.
3. Benchmarks: There are hard ly any
benchmarks for comp ensation and
benefits,
p erformance or HR p olicies. Every
one is chartin g their own course.
4. Customer-comp anies tend to
demand better results from
outsourcing p artners than
what they could actually exp ect
from their own dep artments. "When
the job is being
done 10,000 miles away , demands on
p arameters such as quality , turn
around
timeliness, information security ,
business continuity and disaster
recovery , etc, are far
high er than at home. So, how to be
more efficient than the origin al?
5. Lack of focused train in g and
certifications.
The Finance Department
The Finance Dep artment needs to
consider the budget, the objectives
for the volume/quality
of data wanted, and the in-house
resources, in terms of manp ower,
skills and equip ment,
comp ared to the cost of using an
outside agen cy . Telemarketin g rar
ely stands on its own; it is
needed establish how it integrates
with the other sales and marketing
activities within the
financial bud get.
The Process of calls
Sutherland basically deals with
international inbound calls. All the
calls are conn ected with
the call center through hu ge
servers.
Typ ically , a customer calls the
call center (usually a toll-free
number). This number is
disp lay ed on the service tag of
the equip ment. The customers
usually dial this number to find
out solutions to the equip ment
related p roblems. This call gets
connected to any of the call
centers which are in contract with
the resp ective equip ment comp any
. After p ressing
numerous numbers (e.g. 1 for up
gradation, 2 for warranty p eriod, 3
for technical services
etc.) the op erator or the associate
resolves the resp ective query by
accessing the database
relatin g to the equip ment. The
query is resolved on p hone itself.
But, if it is not p ossible, they
mail the resp ective comp any to
help the customer for services. The
timing of attending each
call is restricted for a given p
eriod of time.
All the receivin g, answerin g,
recordin g and fin al billin g are
effectively recorded, tap ed and at
the end of a certain p eriod rep
orted to the p rogrammin g manager.
Delegation of work
Int ernat ional Business Management
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UM3371BHR8116
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ATLAN TIC INTERNA TIO NAL
UNIVERS ITY
Summer 2007 Phase II
Bein g a lar ge scale unit the
entire work within the organization
is rightly delegated amongst
various lev els. Every team leader
has around 20-25 associates (emp loy
ees) under him with
whom he coordinates. There is a p
articular group of associates for
every client.
For e.g. there is a group of 400
associates to manage and answer the
calls related to DELL.
There is one p rogrammin g man ager
for them who is assisted by the team
leaders
Weekly schedules are p rovided to
every associate along with the
average numb er of calls to
be attended. Even after strict p
rofessional training if, in case any
associate is not answerable
to any call the call is transferred
to the sup erior escalation level.
Thus, only very complex
issues reach to the top most
escalation level. In order to assure
more efficiency and quality
service there ar e escalation lev
els namely :
Level 1 - Initial - Software
p rocess is ad hoc, chaotic and
undef ined with little success
Level 2 - Repeatable - Basic
p roject management p rocesses
established to track cost,
schedule and fun ctionality
Level 3 - Defined - Software
p rocess is documented, standardized
and integrated for the
organ ization
Level 4 - Managed - Detailed
measures of software p rocess and p
roduct quality collected
and software p rocess and p roducts
quantitatively understood and
controlled.
Level 5 - Optimizing -
Continuous p rocess improvement
enabled by quantitative
feedback fro m the p rocess and p
ilot innovative ideas and technolo
gies.
Int ernat ional Business Management
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PERFORMANC E MANAGEMENT PROCES S
Analy ze and Give Feedback
Identify Clear
M easures (involved clients)
Coach and Imp rove
Daily Feedback
Formal Evaluations
Continuous
Comp ensation Based on Performance
Imp rovement
M easure and M onitor
M easure Performance
M onitor Calls (online and lo gged)
M onitor Rep orts and Client Survey
s
Client Call and Agent M onitoring
Define Target M etrics
Nesting M entoring by Peers
Team Lead ers focus on Coachin g
Continuous Training
Int ernat ional Business Management
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EMPLOYEE CARE
The Associates at Sutherland
Two y ears from now when Sutherland
Glob al Services Ltd. started in M
umbai it had only
300 associates. At p resent it has
the strength of 1200 associates and
is aimin g at exp andin g it
to 2500 associates in near future.
At Sutherland, the emp loy ees are
their valuable assets. They look up
to maintain the healthy
working cond itions and try to
fulfill their exp ectations to the
maximum.
Parents meeting
Sutherland h elds frequ ent p arent
meetings in order to keep the p
arents of the emp loy ees well
informed about the work done and
also assurance about the saf ety and
comfort of their
children. This is because BPO has a
great height created in India. The p
arents want their
children to work in good environ
ment. Thus, all misconcep tions and
misrep resentations are
clear ed. There queries raised ar e
answered by the chief of Sutherland,
M umbai.
Transport
Sutherland p rovides transp ort
facilities to their associates.
Durin g day shifts, the associates
are p rovided with the p ick-drop
facility till the near est station.
At the time of night shifts the
associates are p rovided to p
ick-drop facility from their door
step itself.
Shifts
The associates are recruited in
three-four shifts dep ending on the
volume of calls that are to
be attended by them. One shift
consists of ten hours where in they
are giv en one hour as rest
time in break-up s of 15 minutes- 15
minutes and ½ hour.
Dress code
The dress code followed at
Sutherland is
> M onday- White shirt, Dark
trousers & Blue tie
> Tuesday - Formals
> Wednesday - Blue shirt and matchin
g p ants
> Friday - In formals
> Saturday Casuals (light colour
ed clothes)
Recreations
Int ernat ional Business Management
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Summer 2007 Phase II
The recreation availab le at
Sutherland, M umbai are:
Gy m with all advanced equip ments
Rest rooms with all entertainment p
rovisions
Canteen facilities with healthy food
Free tea, coffee, soup s etc availab
le any time of the day
Em ployee Related Officer (ERO)
All the associate's p roblem issues
related to their salaries, taxation,
misbehav ior not able to
understand something, gr anting
leave, transp ort p roblem, p
ersonal issues like blood
donations required or illness of the
associates or its family member etc
are resolv ed by this
officer eff ectively and efficiently
Training
Recruitment is done on the basis of
camp us interviews, consultants
recruit fresher. Freshers
are giv en inhouse trainin g in
their callcentres itself. Sutherland
h as seven trainin g roo ms and
each room h as 150 seatin g cap
acity it begins with the business
strategy and ends with a
comp lete curriculu m and delivery p
rogram. The chann els for delivery
include:
Face-to-face classroom trainin g
Conference sessions
Web-based seminars (webinars)
Self-p aced train in g (books and
toolkits
S ome of the benefits to the
associates at S outherland
Provident Fund
Gratuity
Group M edi-claim Insurance Sch eme
Personal Accident Insurance Sch eme
Subsidized Food and Transp ortation
Comp any Leased Accommodation.
Recreation, Caf eteria, ATM and
Concierge f acilities
Corp orate Credit Card
Cellular Phone / Lap top
Personal Health Care (Regu lar
medical ch eck-up s.
Loans
Educational B enefits
Performance b ased incentives
Int ernat ional Business Management
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Flexi-time
Flexible Salary Benefits
Regu lar Get together and other
cultural p rogr ams
Weddin g Day Gift
Emp loy ee Referral Scheme
Paid Day s Off
M aternity Leave
*These benefits vary as p er the p
ost of each associate
Problems faced by S utherland
Attrition
Attrition level is not only the p
roblem of Sutherland but of every
call centre that is of every
BPO all over the world.
In literary lan guage, Attrition imp
lies a gradu al, n atural redu ction
in memb ership or
p ersonnel, as through retirement,
resignation, or death.
But in p racticality , The reasons
for the high rate of attrition was
due to various factors like
salary , work timings, other career
op tions, adding that there is alway
s the danger of costs
increasin g while billin g r ates
declin e.
The new strategy regardin g this p
roblem imp lies that the industry
should look bey ond the
traditional areas of recruitment and
some thought should be given to emp
loy p hysically
challen ged p eop le and housewives.
Competition
The comp etition virtually does not
p revail. The only fact that in the
Interface Buildin g,
M alad, and M umbai there are four
other call centers alon g with
Sutherland which adds to the
comp etition. Besides the this
office buildin g, there are several
call center or ganization the
surrounding ar eas.
As a result situations are such that
at times when a graduate comes for
interview, he has
interview letters of the other call
centers in the same ar ea.
Int ernat ional Business Management
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GO BACK T O CONT ENT S
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Summer 2007 Phase II
THE EXT ERNAL ENVIRONMENT OF S
UTHERLAND GLOBAL INDUS TRIES
Sutherland is unique in the
outsourcing industry where they are
able to build and manage an
integrated B lended So lution, in
which a client p rogram is comp
rised of agents located across
multip le geo gr ap hies working
under a sin gle management model.
Client experience
Sutherland takes great p ride in not
only the p eop le they employ and
the work they do, but
also in their esteemed glob al
client base. Fortune 500 leaders, as
well as emer gin g growth
comp anies, have relied on their p
roven app roach to customer
management outsourcing to
achiev e their business objectives.
The kinds of outsourcing projects
managed
Technical sup p ort for a Fortune
500 comp uter manufacturer.
Customer care for a Fortune 500
online r etailer.
Cross-sales for the leadin g cab le
co mp any in the United States.
Customer care and licensed sales for
a Fortune 500 insurance comp any .
Lead gen eration for a Fortune 500
telecommunications equip ment comp
any .
Account management for a lead in g
U.S. medical equ ip ment company .
Customer care for a leadin g
electronic p ay ment systems comp
any .
Sales, customer care and back-office
p rocessing for a leadin g U.S.
wireless
telecommun ications comp any .
Direct sales for a Fortune 50 p
harmaceutical comp any .
Technical sup p ort for a Fortune
100 software comp any .
Installed base sales and account
management for a leading exp ress
delivery
comp any .
Back-office p rocessing for a lead
in g U.S. catalo g comp any
Customers
Sutherland Global Serv ices value
their customers as business p
artners and also treat their
goals and objectives as their own.
Supported Mo des of Customer
Interaction:
Leveragin g a rock-solid telecommun
ications n etwork and technolo gy
infrastructure that they
have inv ested in dur in g 18 y ears
as a contact center outsourcing comp
any , Sutherland builds
and runs Customer Service op
erations for comp anies in the
insurance industry . Sutherland
Int ernat ional Business Management
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p rovides multi-lingual supp ort to
consumers over telep hone, as well
as via email and web
chat.
Live, 24 x7 supp ort featuring
agents trained on y our sp ecific p
roducts and p rocedures, and
qualified to interact directly with
y our customers over the telep hone.
For both automated and agent-based
supp ort environments, we can
efficiently manage high
volumes of e-mail and Web-for m
inquir ies.
Real-time customer sup p ort via
one-on-one text chat sessions
between y our customers and
our agents
Enhanced agent assistance such as
collabor ative browsing, forms/d
esktop sharing,
transferring URLs and online shop p
ing cart order assistance.
Advanced remote supp ort cap
abilities such as automated p roblem
detection, diagnostics and
rep air.
Sutherland currently uses technology
such as fax on demand, automated f
ax back, and fax
servers to add efficien cies to our
customer supp ort p rograms.
Customer care
Sutherland builds a multi-chann el
customer car e op eration to handle
customer inquiries and
p rovide the level of service they
demand. During due diligence p
rocess, Sutherland has
develop ed a full understandin g of
customer serv ice objectives so that
it can design and build
a customized contact center
operation that meets all the requir
ements. Sutherland will build a
customer care solution to p rovide
telep hone, e-mail and ch at supp
ort from a choice of on e or
Int ernat ional Business Management
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UM3371BHR8116
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Summer 2007 Phase II
a comb ination of locations around
the world the United States,
Canada, India and the
Philip p ines.
Sutherland's Best shore Delivery
Model p rovides clients with
a choice of strategic delivery
locations across the glob e.
Some examp les of the typ es of
customer care services we can p
rovide include:
Pre-sales
Ship p ing/delivery
Insurance claims hand lin g
inquiries
Billin g sup p ort
Order inquiries
Reservations
Shop p ing
Pay ments
Warranty entitlement
assistance
Refunds
and
Account
rebates
information
Technical Support to customers
Technology 's p roliferation within
the business, home, p ersonal
communications and
entertainment environments is causin
g a tremendous in crease in the
demand for first-rate
technical sup p ort cap abilities.
Often, the comp anies that develop
and market technical
p roducts and services do not have
the in-house exp ertise, resources
or desire to op erate a
high-qu ality supp ort center. These
comp anies are increasin gly turning
to outsourced service
p roviders to help them deliver p
ost-sales technical sup p ort to
their customers.
Sutherland p rovides technical sup p
ort services to some of the world's
leadin g technolo gy
comp anies. It has established a r
ep utation in the high-technolo gy
industry as one of the most
credible accomp lished and creative
p roviders of outsourced technical
sup p ort services by
consistently deliverin g on our
commitments and scorin g high
customer satisfaction marks for
our clients. Clients take their
customer supp ort rep utation
seriously . And so do The
Sutherland group , which is why all
of client relationship s are rooted
in the ability to deliver
high customer satisfaction scores at
a comp etitive value.
Sup p ort team dedicated to each
client (no shared resources)
Business-to-consumer and
business-to-business models
Best shore delivery option from
our centers in the U.S., Canada,
India and
the Philipp ines
M ulti-channel cap abilities that
include voice, e-mail, chat and
remote
assistance
Web p ortal technology , knowledgeb
ase tools, and integrated p roblem
case
tracking
Int ernat ional Business Management
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Summer 2007 Phase II
COPC and Six Sigma methodolo gies
Flexible p ricin g structures
Sutherland also comp lements
technology supp ort with revenue
generatin g customer
extension services such as
entitlement sales, warranty up
grades, cross-sell and up-sell
initiatives.
Our technical sup p ort exp erience
sp ans a wide variety of p roducts:
Hardware Desktop , notebook,
server
Software Op erating sy stem, ap p
lications, p roductivity , utilities
and secur ity ,
web p ublishing
Broadband Internet services
Networking/teleco mmunications equip
ment
Comp uter p erip herals
Consumer electronics
Online software and services
Customer satisfaction
Quality monitoring is one of the
most effective methods for imp
roving customer satisfaction
levels. M any sup ervisors and
managers look for correlation
between customer service levels
and quality monitoring scores. Wh en
p erformin g quality monitoring,
Sutherland :
Imp rove overall emp loy ee p
erformance.
Gain valuab le customer feedback.
Increase customer satisfaction by
addressin g common co mp laints and
evaluatin g customer needs.
Assess associates' listening and
comp rehension skills.
Evaluate associates' p
roblem-solving abilities.
Gain insight as to how well agents
are controllin g the p ace and f low
of the
conversation.
Assess associates' customer
relationship management skills.
Int ernat ional Business Management
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UM3371BHR8116
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Summer 2007 Phase II
A
c 1988
Sutherland established in Rochester,
NY
h 1993
Comp any lands major BPO client
relationship s with Digital Equip
ment
i
Corp oration and Xerox Corp oration
e
v 1996
Entered into a co-sourcin g arr an
gement with a Fortune 50 technology
client.
e
Sutherland is resp onsible for
customer care, account management
and
m
marketin g supp ort services from
four op erations centers across the
U.S.
e
n
1
Launches Technical Sup p ort/Help
Desk p ractice
t
9
Achieved I SO 9000 registration
s
9
8
2
Offshore op erations commence with
the op ening of f irst facility in
Chennai,
0
India
0
0
C
2
Near shore op erations commence with
the op ening of first facility in
Sault Ste.
o
0
M arie, Canada
r
0
e
3
v
2
Sutherland receiv es first round of
COPC certifications
a
0
l
0
u
4
e
s
2
Sutherland exp ands into the Philipp
ines with the op ening of first
facility in
0
M anila
o
0
b
5
s
e
2
Comp any crosses the 10,000 employ
ee mark
r
0
v
0
e
5
d
Int ernat ional Business Management
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UM3371BHR8116
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Summer 2007 Phase II
Values
Peop le The Sutherland Group value
their emp loy ees and their
contributions. They are
dedicated to p roviding a workplace
that is p rofessionally challengin g
and p ersonally
rewardin g.
Integrity The Sutherland Group
insist on op en and honest dealin gs
with our emp loy ees,
customers and vendors. They believe
that this is the only way to do
business.
Training The Sutherland Group is
committed to investing in the d
evelop ment of every
emp loy ee as they p rogress through
their career in the or ganization.
Customers The Sutherland Group
value their customers as business p
artners and will treat
their goals and objectives as their
own.
Entrep reneurial Sp irit the
Sutherland group takes p ersonal
risks to imp rove their comp any
and maintain the leadership p
osition as the p remier p rovider of
outsourced sales, marketing
and technolo gy services.
Focus
Sutherland's back-off ice services
allow clients to focus on strategic
functions while
outsourcing the management or
execution of non value-addin g p
rocesses to the enterprise.
These p rocesses typ ically involve
transaction p rocessing of high
volume, rep eatable, labor
intensive tasks that dominate the
back-office.
Flexible
The services are either managed comp
letely by Sutherland, whereby we own
all op erational
asp ects of the back-office
function, or are co-sourced with
both Sutherland and the client
managin g d ifferent asp ects
together.
Efficient
Sutherland's solutions lev erage
technolo gy and a global delivery
model to enable dramatic
cost savings and p rocess imp
rovements, while p roviding the
client with flexibility and
control.
Total S olutions
Int ernat ional Business Management
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Summer 2007 Phase II
The Sutherland Group p rovides the
highest quality service to the
customers. They increase
their comp etitive advantage through
sup erior service and p erformance,
consistently
exceed in g their goals and exp
ectations.
S WOT ANALYS IS
S trengths
Highly skilled, En glish-sp eakin g
Workforce.
Cost Advantage
Lower attrition rates than in the
West.
Dedicated workforce aimin g at makin
g a lon g-term car eer in the field.
Round-the-clock adv antage for
Western comp anies du e to the hu ge
time
difference.
Lower resp onse time with efficient
and effective serv ice.
Exp ertise in new technolo gies and
reasonab le technical innovations.
Strong Government Sup p ort.
Weaknesses
Recent months have seen a rise in
the level of attrition rates amon g
ITES
workers who are quitting their jobs
to p ursue higher studies. Of late
workers
have shown a tendency not to p ursue
ITES as a full-time career.
The cost of telecom and n etwork
infrastructure is much higher in
India than in
the US.
Opportunities
To work closely with associations
like Nasscom to p ortray India as
the most
favoured ITES destination in the
world.
Indian ITES comp anies should work
closely with western governments and
assuage their concerns and issues.
India can be branded as a quality
ITES destination rather than a
low-cost
destination.
It gives op p ortunities for
creation of global brands.
Indian domestic-market growth.
Threats
Int ernat ional Business Management
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Other ITES destinations such as
China, Philipp ines and South Africa
could
have an ed ge on the cost factors.
Internal comp etition for resources.
Rising labor costs.
The biggest challen ge the sector is
facin g is with attrition.
Int ernat ional Business Management
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Summer 2007 Phase II
Bib lio grap hy
1. The Ethics of International
Business T Donaldson - 1989 -
Oxford University Press New
York
2. International Business:
Environments and Op erations JD
Daniels, LH Radebaugh... - 1989
- books.global-investor.com
3. International Trade and Business
Cy cles M Baxter - 1995 - id
eas.repec.org
4. M ultinational enterp rises and
the global economy JH Dunning -
1993 - Addison-Wesley
Reading, Mass
5. Coop erative Strategies in
International Business: Joint
Ventures and Technolo gy
Partnerships FJ Contractor, P
Lorange - 2002 - books.google.com
6. International Business Cy cles
and the ERM : Is There a Europ ean
Business Cy cle? MJ
Artis, W Zhang - 1995 -
doi.wiley.com
7. The borderless world: p ower and
strategy in the interlinked econo my
K Ohmae - 1990 -
reiters.com
8. Comp eting with Integrity in
International Business RT De
George - 1993 - Oxford
University Press New York, NY
9. A Theory of Co-op eration in
International Business PJ
Buckley, MC Casson - 1987 -
University of Reading, Dep t. of
Economics
10. [BOOK] Exp lainin g
international p roduction JH
Dunning - 1988 - Unwin Hyman Boston
11. Comp etition in global
industries ME Porter - 1986 -
Harvard Business School Press
Boston, Mass
Int ernat ional Business Management
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12. International business MR
Czinkota, IA Ronkainen, MH Moffett -
1994 - Dryden Press Fort
Worth
13. International marketin g PR
Cateora - 1987 - gsp.khu.ac.kr
14. The cultural dimension of
international business GP Ferraro
- 2002 - Prentice Hall
15. Globalization and its
discontents: essay s on the new
mobility of p eop le and money S
Sassen - 1998 - reiters.com
16. International p roduction and
the multinational enterp rise
JH Dunning - 1981 - Allen &
Unwin Boston
17. The cultural environment of
international business V
Terpstra, K David - 1991 - South-
Western Cincinn ati, OH
18. Technological innovation and
multinational corp orations J
Cantwell - 1989 - B. Blackwell
Cambridge, Mass., USA
Int ernat ional Business Management
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