Q: Why is Shanghai focusing on the development of offshore outsourcing?

A: At present, Shanghai is implementing the idea of scientific development by accelerating its economic growth methods and improving its industry structure. An increased development in the modern service industry and an advanced manufacturing industry is also a priority in the city’s development guidelines. Shanghai is striving to make the service industry the city’s major thrust to economic growth. By developing a service outsourcing industry, especially handling multinational companies’ offshore service outsourcing business, it will strongly help Shanghai boost its development into a modern service industry. It will be a great opportunity for Shanghai to change its growth technique with foreign capital and to optimize the composition of foreign capital; helping turn the goods trade into a service trade. It will also contribute to Shanghai’s increased competitive edge, moving it towards a more internationalized economy, and to better serve the whole country. It will also bring more development opportunities to the neighboring regions.

Q: The country has proposed an enhanced enterprise innovative capability. What influence does the service outsourcing development have on improving innovation?

A: The international service outsourcing industry will be very conducive to the status of developing countries in the chain of global industry and value. It will be helpful in boosting a company’s innovation and build up its own brand. Taking software outsourcing for an instance, the strict quality requirements of European and American countries have helped developing countries improve their management of software development and their quality guaranty system. Meanwhile, a long-term cooperation brings developing countries better knowledge of international business rules and international market demands. It also raises the level of technological developments in developing countries, including many achievements bearing their own intellectual property. In the research and design field, this effect will be more prominent. India, for example, has had nearly 150 multinational companies set up R&D centers.

Q: How does the development of a service outsourcing industry work in a global perspective? And what’s are some future developments?

A: Service outsourcing is a new trend, while the adjustment in the world’s industry layout is ongoing. According to an authoritative institution, the global service outsourcing market was as large as US$300 billion in 2004. The offshore outsourcing market is growing by more than 20 percent annually. Europe and the United States are major players in the outsource business. Nearly 50 percent of the top 500 European companies plan to move more businesses overseas in the next few years. 75 percent of US companies have outsourced part or all of their IT businesses. In earlier years, due to some factors, including the technology and service level and the legal and supervisory systems, the US, Europe and Japan were the major outsourcing service providers. But the Asian and Pacific region has recently become a fast developing area for service outsourcing.

Q: What is the “1,000, 100 and 10 program,’’ the Ministry of Commerce is carrying out?

A: The Ministry of Commerce is now selecting outsourcing bases as part of its program. The ministry expects the “1,000, 100 and 10 program” to propel the country’s service outsourcing development. According to the program’s proposal, the ministry will pick a group of major cities as the bases for offshore service outsourcing businesses, and will give them supports in macro policy, planning, inviting investments and some other aspects. The ministry will also set up special funds to help construct a public information platform, nurture human resources, build infrastructure and create a sound investment environment in the bases. The goal of the program is to build 10 bases in China to handle the offshore service outsourcing industry in the next three to five years; to attract 100 multinational companies to transfer part of its outsourced business to China; and to foster 1,000 Chinese large offshore service outsourcing companies. The Ministry of Commerce and local provincial governments will build the service outsourcing bases together. Shanghai is applying to be one of the “1,000, 100 and 10 program” service outsourcing bases.”

Q: Are there any measures being made in the near future to train professional talents in the service outsourcing industry?

A: As the country’s service outsourcing companies grow more and more rapidly, the demand for professionals in the industry is also increasingly swelling. To bolster the development of the service outsourcing industry and help enterprises liberate from the lack of human resources, the Ministry of Commerce plans to team up with the Shanghai government to build a national training base for the service outsourcing industry in Pudong. The facility will mainly train in demand professionals for the city’s service outsourcing companies. The ministry and the city government will give some subsidies to the eligible trainees. In the future, the further development of the service outsourcing industry will also make it possible to set up such a training base in other areas of Shanghai.

Q: Currently, which renowned multinational service outsourcing companies have opened their business in Shanghai?

A: In recent years, many prestigious multinational service outsourcing companies have set foot in Shanghai. They included a number of companies on the world’s top 100 service outsourcing companies list, which was released by the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals in March. Accenture, Unisys, NCS, Bleum and I. T. UNITED are examples of the multinational companies now inhabiting Shanghai.