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How To Become The Next Technology Leader (Satire)

This satire demonstrates a long-term plan for the use of strategic relations methods correctly implemented but for the wrong purposes. This is a hypothetical situation based on current outsourcing trends and isn't representational of any real company, nor is it consulting advice.

In Too Much Outsourcing Is Bad For Your Revenue I shared to strategies regarding the impact of outsourcing on local economies, and offered some advice on how you could address this situation for your company. Let's quickly look a strategy you company could use to take over a competitor or become the next world-wide technology leader with strategic relations methods.

  1. Select a small country with an impressionable government interested in infrastructure investments. Many Latin American countries already have reliable access to high-speed Internet and digital phones-- but the key is to find a country with a ready intellectual base within a reasonable travel distance.
  2. Invest in workforce training in exchange for term contracts with specific technologies. Look to EU and North American universities to support student development. Train these people were ever they will get the best knowledge possible, but require at least a one-year of work for one-year of school. Invest heavily in continuing education programs that support language skills and managerial decision making-- eventually you can lower middle management costs.
  3. With low-cost labor force, heavily invest in research and development to advance existing technologies. While increasing your costs, new R&D should offset at least 50% the labor savings. Quality professional employees are available in most developed or semi-developed countries, your workforce training would regularly feed this pool providing top students to support advanced development programs. Seek advancements that will:
  4. Market into developed countries who have capital to purchase your goods and services. While your production costs are lower, you sell these goods at their current value being careful not to increase the supply over previous levels until the appropriate demand is available. Focus on a distribution system that keeps channel profits low while improving your own profitability. To keep competition in check:

Continue to repeat this process until your entire operations is outside the starting company. This can reduce your labor costs by as much as 85% and still produce quality goods and services. Shareholders will be very proud of the short term gain and most traditional competitors will have a difficult time keep up with you.

Of course, as capital once available in the buying market is used to fund off-shore ventures, less funds are available to purchase the goods produced. In addition, this new workforce will spur secondary consumer industries that over time increase the cost of living, in turn bringing up labor rates.

The long-term results are more a shift in market and delay in cost increases. The original economy occupied by the higher-cost workforce will reach a point it would welcome low wages again in the future. At that point you can return to pursue the same strategy once again.

This isn't the right way to use strategic relations, it would be better to understand the local economic needs and work together with businesses in your ecosystem to produce the innovation necessary to lower costs and increase profits.

/ employee-relations | recession-busting /

By Justin Hitt at August 18, 2003 5:43 PM  Subscribe in a reader

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