The link between technological education, employment and competitiveness – Part 2 – India

The introductory part of this series stressed the close relationship between technological education/training, employment opportunities and competitiveness. Part 2 is devoted to India, as an example of a rising technological star with large population and high promises.

Unlike China and its manufacturing prowess, India has so far mainly specialised on the service part of the economy. For years now, call centers of many -mainly American- companies are operated in India. A good grasp of the English language, good IT skills and a number of open-thinking service companies led to an explosion that soon spread to the medical field, databases, programming and many other activities that could be undertaken at large distances from clients.

The skills that helped make this progress -do not forget that language, IT and medical skills are all a direct result of education and training- are now in short supply. Companies that set up operations in India are having the awkward problem of employee supply, with the extra twist of personnel that is not well enough educated to meet the new challenges and expectations. University degrees are not a guarantee for employers and foreign-educated scientists are not enough to fill the void.

Undersea cable damage hammers Internet connectivity in Egypt and India

See what happens when Internet connectivity relies on just one main option? A cut undersea cable in the Mediterranean Sea is estimated to have limited Internet access in Egypt by 70% and India by 60%! Information from Egypt states that it is not known what caused the damage but repairs will need several days. Sounds like a lot of fun…

The Egyptian stock market has continued transactions but it is pointed out that some international transactions have been affected. At the Cairo International Airport ticket sales have been halted but flights continue as scheduled.

Is consumer spending on electronics going to slow down?

Now that US economic forecasts do not look so rosy, consumer response related to electronic products has become a constant worry. Manufacturers are churning out new models as if there is no tomorrow and if we are to believe the uplifting CES atmosphere all is going smooth. So who is right, the optimists that believe that the current US predictions will have no effect, or the pessimists that see a serious cut in spending?

One first remark is that to determine what’s happening we must consider the fact that most electronics and IT companies are already international operations, the US represents a portion and not all of their sales. Read the dealer/distributor page of any medium or small company and you will be surprised. There is contacts all over the world, often in all continents. This means that the US economic cycle is not necessarily the whole picture. The high exchange rate of the euro against the dollar for the moment shields the EU from high oil prices and is favourable for American imports! Asian markets are doing pretty well.

In tech there is more beyond China and India

In the technology, telecommunications and internet sectors no doubt China and India see the emergence of numerous middle classes that no sane international business can overlook. While their huge populations understandably attract most headlines, there is a group of countries (Brazil, Indonesia, Russia & Turkey) that follow closely but more quietly as they do not appear in the news so often. They are much smaller than China and India but have large enough populations to justify large investment projects and high expectations. Saturated markets in Europe, North America and Japan already start to bring significant investment and news elsewhere.

Vodafone has reasons to be optimistic as the latest results a few days ago point to both India and Turkey as great markets with 40% growth rates that balance the low 2% of Europe. And this with a Vodafone entrance to the Turkish market that is very recent. Japan’s DoCoMo plans an international expansion to Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and New Zealand. Russian telecoms and IT sectors are set to grow next year by 20% a number unthinkable a decade earlier, and Brazil is jumping on the 3G bandwagon.