Reuters (March 30)
In India, artificial intelligence has already facilitated significant job cuts. Major downsizing by Oracle and Amazon appears to be “just the beginning of the headcount reductions.” The ensuing jobs crisis in the “vast outsourcing industry spells trouble for the country’s $4 trillion consumption-led economy.” The long-term impact “of AI on the global workforce may ultimately create more jobs. First, though, it may turn India’s already weak consumption and much-vaunted demographic dividend into a nightmare.”
Tags: $4 trillion, AI, Amazon, Consumption-led economy, Crisis, Demographic dividend, Global workforce, Headcount reductions, India, Jobs, Oracle, Outsourcing, Trouble
Philadelphia Inquirer (April 15)
“At the age of 192, The Inquirer is stopping its own presses for good—the April 1 issues marked the last official runs—and will be outsourcing its print operations in line with newspapers across the country that are cutting costs and fighting a media universe changing at the speed of breaking news.”
Tags: Breaking news, Costs, Inquirer, Media universe, Newspapers, Outsourcing, Presses, Print operations, Stopping
New York Times (June 27)
The outsourcing model is broken. “Most American and European brands and retailers use a rotating cast of hundreds of third-world suppliers, instead of establishing long-term relationships with fewer of them.” The result is a race to the bottom and horrid catastrophes like the building collapse in Bangladesh which killed more than 1,100 people. Things must change. Retailers should “contract with fewer factories and establish long-term relationships with them. If they did so, they would have to monitor fewer factories and would have greater influence over suppliers to demand upgrades and changes.”
Tags: Bangladesh, Brands, Collapse, Europe, Factories, Long-term relationships, Outsourcing, Retailers, Suppliers, Third world, U.S.
