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Dell Expands In India

Posted by Hemos on from the growing-with-the-cost-basis dept.

s31523 writes "NEW DELHI - Computer maker Dell Inc. said Monday it planned to add 5,000 jobs in India over the next two years, bringing its work force in the country to 15,000. Dell is also looking to set up a manufacturing center in India, a move that could help boost the sale of Dell computers here, President and CEO Kevin Rollins told reporters after a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. "

10 of 53 comments (clear)

  1. In related news... by PFI_Optix · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I thought Dell's market share was slipping in the U.S. following their outsourcing of tech support and the frustration/language barrier it created. When are they going to be adding more jobs back in the U.S. to satisfy their customers here?

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    1. Re:In related news... by Austerity+Empowers · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I think Dell understood that as "People are frustrated with wait times and queue's" rather than "People are frustrated with bad english".

    2. Re:In related news... by Austerity+Empowers · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I think they chose "B", except that the hiring is in India. I'm not aware of call center closings in the US, in my experience those are mostly allocated to corporate purchases. I'm not saying that I agree with their policy, but their competitors are doing the same. Unless either a) the US government finds a way to discourage this activity or b) customers express a strong interest in only buying american products supported by american citizens (they haven't, see the auto industry), everyone in any industry that can will outsource, outsource, outsource. Anyone that doesn't goes out of business or has a hard time getting funding.

    3. Re:In related news... by homer_ca · · Score: 2, Insightful

      customers express a strong interest in only buying american products supported by american citizens (they haven't, see the auto industry)

      There's a big difference there. Japanese and German auto workers have good pay and benefits too. Most Japanese and German brands have assembly plants in the U.S. with varying degrees of imported components. The only low-wage country that exports a significant number of cars to the U.S. is Mexico. They have assembly plants for Ford, GM and VW.

      Cars are complex machines, and in this case customers have generally chosen quality over low prices. In other markets like clothing and electronics, customers have chosen low prices over quality.

    4. Re:In related news... by CMiYC · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I'm sure the message gave you a sense of satisfaction, but it did not amount to much. You did not "write to Dell" you wrote to a minimal wage employee reading customer support emails. That person most likely read your message and deleted it.

      Sending shitty emails to a customer service box is as effective as yelling at a customer service person on the phone. You'll feel better but they'll care even less about your issue.

      People seem to forget that just because a company employs someone, that person is still a person. So they will react and handle things the way they do. There isn't a "Dell" chip implanted in employees anymore than any other company. Assuming you work at a medium-large sized company, imagine a reversal. Say a customer called you and asked you a question (not necessarily tech support question). Do you think you would answer or react the same way the guy sitting next to you would? Why not? You work at the same company, don't you?

  2. Use local resources for local markets by MikeRT · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It'd be a good idea for them to use local labor to build for local markets. That way you help foster a labor pool that is capable of buying your products. It's part of the reason that Japanese car companies are investing a lot of money into building manufacturing plants in the US, especially in the South.

  3. Dell getting wise? by AKAImBatman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Dell is also looking to set up a manufacturing center in India

    Now that's the first smart thing I've seen anyone do with Indian outsourcing.

    Outsourcing manufacturing is a tried and true method of cost saving. Since the work that needs to be done is mostly repetitive, it lends itself well to operating with minimal communication from the headquarters.

    Computer Programming, OTOH, is inherently about collecting new requirements and developing new processes. When you have an office with an orthagonal time zone, working with completely separate operations from the one's they are trying to reduce to code, you're significantly reducing your ability to produce the results you need.

    Managers need to get this through their heads: Coding is not a blue collar job. It inherently requires direct interaction with other professionals, and is core to making a business work. Bringing highly trained workers from other countries can work (putting aside cultural and language issues that sometimes cause problems), but you just can't be moving your core operations away from your headquarters unless you also move your headquarters. It's a recipe for disaster every time.

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  4. To address the inevitable... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful
    To address the inevitable deluge/trickle (as the case may be) of comments grumbling about Dell moving jaabs offshore, here's a quote from TFA:

    But Rollins said his company's expansion plans were not limited to tapping the talent, but also benefit from the growing demand for desktop computers and notebooks.

    A free market economy is not a one way street. You can't treat a country with a population of 1 billion solely as a market to sell goods to. Most people opposed to this idea of "outsourcing" would rather have companies (McDonald's, Coke, or their IT counterparts) profit from selling their goods to other countries, but not have them benefit through creation of local jobs or improvements in economy.

  5. Re:India Market by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Uh, yeah -- I can't imagine how selling computers to the second-most populous country in the world is in the company's long-term interest. As you say, it's just a scam "so the board members can make an extra buck or two".

  6. Versus tax rebates in the US by gelfling · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Here in Central North Carolina Dell was offered about 300 million dollars in tax rebates to locate a plant here. But the local conservatives and small business groups are up in arms that tax dollars should be spent at all, even if it is for jobs. Now the number of jobs is questionable so the criticism may be valid but on the whole, in the US we prefer the Walmart model which is to move in to a local economy, destroy it, and then hire back some of the people to work in the local hypermart. Most local governments would rather have one Walmart with 1500 part time jobs than one software developer with 300 high paying jobs. So if its going to be 1500 wage slave jobs then there's no need to fork over tax dollars to entice them when there's a bunch of hypermarts lining up to do it for 'free'.

    Let Dell hire 100,000 people in India. Americans don't care as long as you don't spend tax money.