India Will be $30 bn hub for engineering outsourcing

India’s engineering process outsourcing (EPO) business would grow 10-fold over the next seven years to touch $30 billion and make the country a major hub in this area, says a new study.“The estimated demand for engineering process outsourcing to India has grown at 30-35 percent since 2004-06,” said the study released here by Commerce Minister Kamal Nath, adding the momentum would be sustained in the ensuing years.The global EPO market, on the other hand, will grow to around $110-$140 billion by 2015, taking India’s share to 20-27 percent, said the study conducted by the state-run Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC).According to EEPC chairman Rakesh Shah, engineering exports from India touched $26 billion in 2006-07 but expressed concern over the decision to do away with the duty entitlement passbook scheme, an export incentive programme, next year.But Kamal Nath assured that the government was working to develop an alternative duty neutralisation scheme that would replace the current scheme to be in tune with the norms set by the World Trade Organisation.The minister asked the engineering exporters to use the focus market scheme to their advantage in promoting exports to the identified markets, especially to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).As many as 16 new destinations, including CIS, had been included this year in the focus market list and exporters will find it useful to concentrate on developing the markets in these countries, Kamal Nath added.“Indian exports including engineering exports are likely to face increased non-tariff barriers, considering that average tariffs for industrial products in all countries is headed southwards,” he warned.“This process has already begun for engineering products and is likely to gain greater momentum as India’s share in the world exports increases in the coming years.”

"Outsource Everything. Insource Marketing "

These marketing guys seem to have achieved a bit of a coup with this outsourcing thing.

Let’s look at this in the publishing context, since that’s what I’m most familiar with.

Domain-specific activities:
Circulation: Outsourceable
Customer service: Outsourceable
Printing: Outsourceable
Distribution: Outsourceable

Now, the core activities:
Writing: Outsourceable
Editing: Outsourceable
Design: Outsourceable

And the regulars:
Sales: Outsourceable
Finance: Outsourceable
Accounting: Outsourceable
HR: Outsourceable
IT: Outsourceable

Reg the core activities: Many publishers will consider outsourcing of content (especially writing) blasphemous. But isn’t that what many have begun to do? And isn’t that what content aggregation is all about? For those not familiar with publishing, content aggregation is the online term for content syndication, when companies use content generated by other companies for a fee or credit.

So, if we agree that even content can be outsourced (that it isn’t extensively being done is another matter), what process does that leave in-house? Marketing (branding, business development)? Could it be that publishers need to hire people only for brand enhancement and outsource management?

Let’s look at another industry — airlines. What does an airline company need to keep in-house?

Airlines
Aircraft manufacture: Outsourceable
Aircraft maintenance: Outsourceable
Billing: Outsourceable
Passenger reconciliation: Outsourceable
Ticketing and reservations: Outsourceable
In-flight staff: Outsourceable
Ground staff: Outsourceable
Freight handling: Outsourceable
Catering: Outsourceable
In-flight entertainment: Outsourceable
Sales, finance, accounting, HR, IT: Outsourceable

Can I conclude that even in airlines, companies need only invest in marketing and outsource management?

Why am I getting the feeling that the marketing guys may have achieved a coup with this outsourcing thing?