Globalization is demanding that business
leaders face more challenges than ever before, from competitors,
customers, shareholders and regulators. This is forcing
business organizations to rapidly transform themselves
into being much more flexible, growth-oriented and customer-focused
in the face of competition and market pressures. Such transformation
of an organization, to become the most efficient producer,
can be achieved through the selective use of strategic
Business Transforming Outsourcing (BTO). This paper attempts
to define BTO and helps in understanding the HR (Human
Resource) challenges faced by the BTO organizations. Solutions
to overcome some of these critical challenges have been
recommended thereafter.
`Globalization', as a term, was coined
by Levitt (1983). The literature, however, tends to date
the start of globalization to a much later date, relating
it to the experience of the West. However, there is no
agreement on when globalization actually originated (Guillén,
2001). Globalization has been defined by many authors in
a variety of ways due to the varied approaches that their
definitions are based upon, such as economical, political,
financial, technological, etc. One common thread that runs
through these various definitions of globalization is that
it is primarily an economic phenomenon, involving the increasing
interaction or integration of national economic systems
all over the world through growth in international trade,
investment and capital flows. The phenomenon of globalization
is also associated with a rapid increase in cross-border
social, cultural and technological exchange (Raskin et
al., 2002). Jones (1995) suggested that globalization
is the intensification of the process of international
interdependence. It is a function of the growth of competition
in an international free trade system, which is intensified
by the diffusion of technology.
Globalization is characterized primarily
by the overlap of social, political and economic activities
across continents, and by the intensification of the interconnectedness
of trade and culture (www.polity.co.uk/global/globalization-oxford.asp).
This is leading to a situation wherein distant, local events,
which can be highly significant elsewhere, will have enormous
global consequences. Due to this, the boundaries between
domestic matters and global affairs are becoming increasingly
blurred. A good example is the US subprime crisis, which
is adversely affecting economies across the world |
