Dalian: China's outsourcing capital, and a pretty nice town to boot
By Cam MacMurchy 2009-5-26 15:16:06
I've been working on a fascinating episode of BizTraveler this week on outsourcing. It's not exactly a sexy topic by any stretch, but what is surprising (to me, an outsourcing ludddite) is how wide-spread this practice is, and how, as one executive told me, "Everything can be outsourced."
I sat down with the Vice-President of the China Sourcing website, and he gave me a quick tour of how it operates. The site works to link overseas buyers with local providers, and really, there is no project too small. Consider one buyer is looking for a simple list of all the swimming teams and clubs in the San Francisco bay area; why do it yourself when you can outsource?
In addition to my duties at BizTraveler, I've also been assisting one international IT outsourcing provider in China with their marketing, PR, and media placements. I knew very little to nothing about the industry before I started, and now I'm finding myself slowly following industry news and trends.
According to the Vice-President of the China Sourcing website, China drew just US $2 billion in revenues from outsourcing projects last year, compared to India's US $40 billion. But the industry here is on a strong upward trajectory, as a generation of Chinese emerge with strong English skills, university degrees, and western business experience.
I arrived in Dalian this afternoon to shoot two more segments of the show this week at the famous Dalian Software Park. It's my first visit to the city, and while I haven't been here long enough to draw any conclusions, the intial impressions are quite good.
I've been doing some Google searching of late to find any good restaurants or must-see sights while I'm in town. I'm sure many readers may be familliar with these already, but I thought I would jot them down for anyone else who happens to come up this way (the "Hong Kong" of the north as some call it, although I must say that's a stretch):
I sat down with the Vice-President of the China Sourcing website, and he gave me a quick tour of how it operates. The site works to link overseas buyers with local providers, and really, there is no project too small. Consider one buyer is looking for a simple list of all the swimming teams and clubs in the San Francisco bay area; why do it yourself when you can outsource?
In addition to my duties at BizTraveler, I've also been assisting one international IT outsourcing provider in China with their marketing, PR, and media placements. I knew very little to nothing about the industry before I started, and now I'm finding myself slowly following industry news and trends.
According to the Vice-President of the China Sourcing website, China drew just US $2 billion in revenues from outsourcing projects last year, compared to India's US $40 billion. But the industry here is on a strong upward trajectory, as a generation of Chinese emerge with strong English skills, university degrees, and western business experience.
I arrived in Dalian this afternoon to shoot two more segments of the show this week at the famous Dalian Software Park. It's my first visit to the city, and while I haven't been here long enough to draw any conclusions, the intial impressions are quite good.
I've been doing some Google searching of late to find any good restaurants or must-see sights while I'm in town. I'm sure many readers may be familliar with these already, but I thought I would jot them down for anyone else who happens to come up this way (the "Hong Kong" of the north as some call it, although I must say that's a stretch):
From www.zhongnanhaiblog.com