Some years ago I had been researching the great outsourcing work being done out of Ireland. Being culturally closer to the US, it was easier though costlier to work with Irish providers. Ireland had beaten unemployment from 16% down to 3.9% and Government incentives including low taxes had major companies like Pfizer, Dell, Microsoft, Google doing a lot of work from Ireland. In fact, with no tigers in Ireland it came to be known as “Celtic Tiger” given its huge growth and success like the South East Asian “Tiger” countries in early nineties.
[Note: This post is originally published Nov 22, 2010 updated for formatting only May 18, 2021]
Author Archives: StratoServe
Microfinance problems in the developing world – let’s look at the math
Last month (in 2010) this blog had reported about the microfinance industry problems and now there is a story in the NY Times . Let’s get the math straight- if you hire a CEO at a salary of 0.5 Million $/year and the the typical loan you give out is $200 at let us say 10 % ( rates for microfinance loans are reported at 30-70%) you make 20 $ a customer on interest. Just to make up the CEO salary you need 25,000 good microloans and this number would be about 10 thousand loans if you went up on the interest rate. If you counted the whole other administrative costs of putting loan officers in every village the number of loanees needed to break even would sky-rocket.That’s hard (find “good” loans to give out) for a populous country like India, very hard for less populated Latin America and truly difficult in many sparsely populated parts of Africa.
[Note: This post from November 19, 2010 was updated on May 31, 2021 for formatting issues]
As US auto starts booming again time to bailout weaker Tier 1 Tier 2 suppliers who could not globalize
When US auto sales declined from 17 million in 2005 to a low of 10.5 milliom in 2009 the suppliers whether Tier 1 or Tier 2 got squeezed. The demand for lower costs and market contraction meant that weaker auto suppliers barely stayed alive and certainly could not globalize into low-cost locations. There was neither hope nor cash to expand globally.
Thanksgiving holiday travel expected to rise by 11 % as consumer spending takes economy to stable ground
The American automobile association (AAA) is reporting that holiday travel (November 2010) will improve by 11% over last year as Americans travel at least 50 miles during the Thanksgiving break. The big spike will be in driving which is expected to go up over 12% while air travel is likely to increase by a moreContinue reading “Thanksgiving holiday travel expected to rise by 11 % as consumer spending takes economy to stable ground”
Warm weather helps US shoppers go out to malls and auto sales are up
// <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-857684-6']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })(); // ]]> // ]]> The relatively warm weather in October-November has helpedContinue reading “Warm weather helps US shoppers go out to malls and auto sales are up”
Rolls Royce engine troubles: why aviation industry closes ranks on safety but pharma can’t
You might have heard (November 10, 2010) about the Qantas plane to Sydney whose engine parts blew out part of the fuselage and the plane luckily made it back to Singapore. Since then several airlines with the Rolls Royce engines have been grounded for checks and verification.
[Note: This post from November 10, 2010 was updated for formatting issues on May 31, 2021]
Global organizations think local in India – GE,UTC ,Pepsi – the US small business “global” ecosystem?
// <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // &lt;![CDATA[ // &amp;lt;![CDATA[ // &amp;amp;lt;![CDATA[ // &amp;amp;amp;lt;![CDATA[ // &amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;![CDATA[ var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push([&amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;_setAccount&amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;, &amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;UA-857684-6&amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;]); _gaq.push([&amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;_trackPageview&amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;]); (function() { var ga = document.createElement(&amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;script&amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;); ga.type = &amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;text/javascript&amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;; ga.async = true; ga.src = (&amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;https:&amp;amp;amp;amp;#39; == document.location.protocol ? &amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;https://ssl&amp;amp;amp;amp;#39; : &amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;http://www&amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;) + &amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;.google-analytics.com/ga.js&amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;; var s = document.getElementsByTagName(&amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;script&amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })(); // ]]&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Continue reading “Global organizations think local in India – GE,UTC ,Pepsi – the US small business “global” ecosystem?”
Obama in India : deals yield over 50,000 new US Jobs- first day orders for Boeing and GE
// <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-857684-6']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })(); // ]]> // ]]> As expected the Obama India visit is shapingContinue reading “Obama in India : deals yield over 50,000 new US Jobs- first day orders for Boeing and GE”
India lights up on Diwali to welcome President Obama
Tomorrow is Diwali in the US when President Obama sets out with Michelle Obama and 200 US CEO’s to India as India literally lights up for Diwali ! Ahead of the visit President Obama has sent greetings to India and the visit dates alone are right out of the culture “textbook.” The Obama team willContinue reading “India lights up on Diwali to welcome President Obama”
Healthcare – avoiding Washington gridlock and growing jobs
Americans are sagacious and have given an electoral verdict and its really important for Congress to understand the mandate. Consider healthcare reform. The time has come to spell out what the details of healthcare reform will look like. If there are differences between the political parties – they need to sort it out between theContinue reading “Healthcare – avoiding Washington gridlock and growing jobs”