Adam J. Davis’ Blog

There has been and continues to be a lot of press about the large and well known countries that are international powerhouses for outsourcing and offshoring. 

Here is a brief overview of a few of the well known current outsourcing giants:

India - well known for IT service outsourcing and business process outsourcing

China - well known for manufacturing outsourcing and textile manufacturing

Taiwan - well known for contract electronics manufacturing outsourcing

 What you need to know, as a business owner or professional operating today, is that there are some up and coming emerging market countries that are making waves on the global business scene and will likely become household names and represent great opportunities to do business with and to do business in, in the near future.

According to a 2006 report by Frost and Sullivan, the global market for shared services and outsourcing is expected to grow to $1.43 trillion by the end of 2009, from $930 billion in 2006.

For this week’s “Top 5″, I am going to cover the top 5 countries that need to be on your business map for 2008 and beyond.

 1. Vietnam- We were once fighting in their jungles, now we are doing increasing business with this southeast Asian country.  Currently undergoing economic reforms, 60% of the workforce in Vietnam is under 30 years old.  They are slowly throwing away the shackles of communism and moving toward capitalist markets.  Opportunities are ripe here.

2. Estonia- Estonia is the home Skype, and other web 2.0 companies that are impacting the world.  With a highly touted modernized infrastructure, Estonia is quickly moving up the international economic food chain.

3. Pakistan- Pakistan has a 90,000 + IT workforce and recent ISO certification.  Opportunity is high in this nation, for IT and manufacturing.  Security risks are high as well, as recent events demonstrate.

4. Uruguay - This small South American country has burgeoning free trade zone and strong education system.  Watch for more things to come here.

5. Latvia - Right next to Estonia, Latvia is fast becoming an IT bastion for Sweden, Finland and Norway, among other countries.

Very soon, you might find yourself doing business with companies in these countries, either providing services to businesses there or partnering with them for services provided to you business. 

In a world of constant change, keep abreast of what is going on globally.  Be careful not to catch Boiling Frog Syndrome, defined as follows:

“If you throw a frog into a pot of boiling water, it will jump out.  But, if you place a frog into a pot of lukewarm water a slowly turn up the heat, it will boil to death.”

I fully expect to get some angry comments from PETA members.  However, the ‘boiling frog’ illustrates that we must make ourselves constantly aware of gradual changes.  You can take that to the bank!

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