個案資料

The Ivey Business Journal interviews Robert Kennedy, the dean of the Ivey Business School. He characterizes globalization as disruptive in the short term but crucial for long-term growth and discusses how the globalization of services has accelerated. To transfer work overseas (e.g. through call centres), firms have to implement new IT systems and digitize processes, and these typically generate a much larger return than the savings realized on labour, due to more efficiency. People often believe that heading offshore is just for “low-end” operations like call centres. However, what makes an activity amenable to going offshore is related not to being low end, but to whether or not one has to be physically present. <br><br>Dean Kennedy lists three foundational elements that position a country well for the services shift: a large English-speaking population, a higher-education infrastructure, and a tech-savvy environment. As an economist, he possesses three main global concerns: 1. America’s huge savings shortage, driven by huge government deficits and low personal savings rates. 2. Europe’s social welfare system, which is unsustainable because of the rapidly aging E.U. population. 3. Tensions between China’s economy and its fairly centrally controlled political system.