Economics Coursework - Demand Essay Example for Free

Economics Coursework Demand Essay Manufacturers and dealers want UK to follow Europe into scheme to give cash to drivers who scrap old cars to buy new The government was facing renewed pleas to bail out Britains ailing motor industry yesterday as figures showed sales of new cars had dropped by almost a third year on year. Only 313,912 cars were registered in March a 30.5% fall in sales from this time last year, figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) showed, prompting fresh calls for the government to pay motorists to trade in their old cars for new ones. The motor industry and lobby groups are hoping this months budget will include a scrappage scheme, under which car owners are given a financial incentive of about à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½2,000 to swap their old vehicle for a new greener model. Treasury officials have told the industry they are seriously considering including such a stimulus in the budget a fortnight tomorrow although ministers publicly insist that no decision has been taken. A scrappage scheme in Germany which offers car owners à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½2,500 (à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½2,263) for getting rid of any vehicle over nine years old has attracted more than half a million buyers, with sales soaring 40% there in March. The SMMT estimates that 280,000 Britons would take advantage of a similar programme over an 18-month period. This would cost around à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½560m, a figure the SMMT told the Guardian would involve a net cost of à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½150-160m. The rest of the money would come from the VAT charged on new cars. But green groups counselled against such a knee jerk response and said the money could be better used to fund sustainable transport solutions. Some environmental organisations fear funds could be diverted from existing pots of money set aside by the government for investment in green technologies, such as the à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½400m earmarked in the pre-budget report for an environmental transformation fund, which supports the development of new low-carbon energy and energy efficiency technologies in the UK. Pro-motoring lobbyists argue that if the government does not move quickly to boost the industry, further jobs would be lost and some manufacturers may transfer their business to other countries. In Whitehall, the debate is still swirling over the wisdom of adopting a scrappage scheme. Lord Mandelson, the business secretary, said in February that his department was examining the experience of other countries, notably Germany, to see whether it would work in Britain and carmakers were asked to produce costed proposals, but no decision has been made. David Cameron told the Guardian in January that the Tories were looking at the idea but he was yet to be convinced. In the meantime, demand for cars has crashed across the world, throwing the global industry into its biggest crisis and forcing American giants General Motors and Chrysler to the brink of bankruptcy. Manufacturers in the UK have also been hit, with factories such as Hondas plant at Swindon mothballed and thousands of jobs cut. Last months decline in sales follows falls of 30.9% in January 2009 and 21.9% in February. March, when new number plates are issued, is a key period for the industry and traditionally accounts for nearly a fifth of annual sales. If things do not improve, the SMMT is forecasting that only 1.72m new vehicles will be sold in 2009, compared with 2.13m in 2008. However, there was one bright note with the rise of the small car segment, where sales increased 84%, indicating a trend towards downsizing among consumers. The top three best-selling models were the Ford Fiesta, Vauxhall Corsa and Ford Focus. Yesterday SMMT chief executive, Paul Everitt, said: March new-car registrations are a barometer of confidence in the economy, from businesses and consumers alike. The fall in the market shows that the government needs to do more to boost confidence. A scrappage scheme will provide the incentive needed and the evidence is clear that schemes already implemented across Europe do work to increase demand. The UK is the only major European market not to implement a scheme. Edmund King, the president of the AA, said: The latest figures show the stark difference between a country with a scrappage scheme and one without. A vehicle-scrappage scheme has the potential to reduce emissions, reduce accidents and their severity whilst giving a boost to the UK motor industry. There are many benefits from getting older gross polluters off the road. But green groups counselled against introducing such a scheme. Peter Lipman, policy director at Sustrans, the sustainable transport charity, said it would be a really, really bad idea, wherever the money is coming from. There are so many better ways of spending government money if you are trying to deal with both the recession and climate change, he added. The RAC motoring strategist, Adrian Tink, said: The introduction of any car-scrappage scheme needs to be contingent on balancing the economic benefits with a concern for the environment. The scheme needs to be as much about getting old, high-polluting cars off the road as it is about stimulating car sales. The dire sales figures bode ill for the economic recovery because new car sales are seen as a key indicator of consumer confidence. When the UK went into recession in the early 1990s, new car registrations dropped for 27 successive months. At one point, sales that had reached an annual peak of 2.3million in the late-1980s dipped as low as 1.5million. IB Economics: Internal Assessment Commentary Car industry begs for budget boost from Alistair Darling The article Car industry begs for budget boost from Alistair Darling found on the web page of The Guardian discusses the effects of the current recession on the car industry, particularly in the UK. The article states according to the SMMT a 30 % fall in sales from the year before at the same time. In order to take a first step to solving the problem the motor industry hopes to impose the scrappage scheme.. The drop of demand for cars during the recession creates an example of the laws of demand and supply. Demand is the quantity of a good or a service that consumers are willing and able to purchase at a given price in a given time period. Supply is the willingness and ability of producers to produce a quantity of a good or service at a given price in a given time period. Consumers being aware of the recession will rather save their money than choose to spend it on luxury purchase. The fall in income due to the recession has, according to the laws of supply and demand and assuming that all other things stay equal (Ceterus Paribus), caused the fall of demand. Although the article doesnt state a percentage of the fall in income of the population, the income elasticity of demand for vehicles can be described as at least unitary if not elastic, the examples will make an attempt to prove this. Income elasticity of demand measures the proportionate response of quantity demanded to a proportionate change in income. The article gives two proves for that: First, the thought of the coming recession has already let people stop buying cars by 30.5% from one year to the other. People wont buy any luxury goods in bad times. And second, subsidising car buyers by about 2000à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ (scrappage scheme) will increase the purchases in a month by 40%. The fall in demand will also cause an excess supply even if the motor industry stops production directly. All car producers will hence have a massive amount of cars that are just not being bought because there is no demand. According to the rules of supply and demand, as demand falls, quantity supplied decreases as well. In this particular case, the quantity supplied decreases as well but probably not as much as it could to find a new equilibrium, the price at which supply equals demand. Why this is the case will be explained after the following The following graph will show how a fall in demand will cause the demand curve to shift to the left and therefore a fall in the quantity supplied of cars to find a new equilibrium. It can be seen that cars sales fell by nearly 25 % from 2008 to 2009 As stated above, this development is not quite that what happens in reality. According to the rules of unemployment, unemployment is a lagging factor and the demand for labour depends on the demand for, in this case, cars. That means that it begins to rise some time after the recession began. This is because of several reasons such as that firms want to keep skilled workers and will delay redundancies hoping that things might get better. Since firms want to keep skilled workers they would have to keep up the production to a certain extend. Of course production will decrease what will cause cyclical employment but to a certain extend production will be kept up to occupy the workers. The term cyclical unemployment can be defined as occurring when the economy is growing more slowly than estimated as the demand for labour is interdependent on the demand for goods and services. This situation cant be kept up for long because firms lose money spending more money on workers they try to keep than actually gaining through sales and go bankrupt if the recession doesnt end or if they are not being subsidized by the government. Hence the motor industry searches for ways of pushing demand. A possible solution could be the scrappage scheme which encourages motorists to swap their old cars against new ones by giving the buyer about 2000à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ directly. The effect of the scheme on the demand for cars can be seen on the following diagram: Demand rises again due to the encouragement and shifts the demand curve to the right again. Concluding one can say that the law of supply and demand is displayed in the real world. In the article Car industry begs for budget boost from Alistair darling it is clearly shown how recession can affect the demand for cars and how therefore demand for labour interdepends on demand for, in this case, cars. Furthermore it can also be stated that things like the scrappage scheme can encourage demand again.

Issues with Offshore Call Centres

Issues with Offshore Call Centres Advancements in communications, software development and other technologies have enabled practically every type of business to expand its services to off-shore locations with the probable choices of countries where both the infrastructure and specific needs of the clients can easily be met. Examples of such services include but are not limited to call-centers, as also the subject of our present dissertation, back office operations, insurance claim processing, revenue accounting as well as web/digital development. Indeed one of the successful areas have the disciplines which involve information technology (IT) related services, making it a crucial element and part of a value chain for present day businesses.  These IT enabled services and business processes are generally sourcedfrom a location where the end-user are not located, hence the remoteprovision of such set of services. The concept behind this phenomenonis to deliver services from off-shore locations using the state of thea rt technologies in communication, also called data networks which mayinclude wireline or wireless. Thus, clients or customers are providedthe same set of services or business processes from workers or subsidiaries based in offshore locations. An example to this respect is that of serving the clients of a multinational in the United Kingdom,where as the individuals involved in serving these clients are located in far off region such as India. In such an environment, there is noneed for the British clients to know about the whereabouts of the individuals serving their particular needs, nor is it necessary for theworkers to divulge such information to the British clients. The gap between the clients and the workers in such a situation is fulfilledthrough the modern forms of communication software. These software enable a British caller for example to place a call to India, withoutrealizing that the call has actually been made to India and in responsean Indian worker will respond to the said query of the British callerrespectively. The objective behind the entire exercise of outsourcingand running an offshore facility by a business operating in the UnitedKingdom or the United States of America is truly economical. As theparent company has to spend only a fraction of the amount otherwiseneeded to run and operate the same set of services in their homecountry (UK or the United States of America). As the global businesses move ever closer to globalization and spreading their business wings in practically every corner of theglobe, outsourcing or setting up off-shore facilities has indeedemerged as one of the fastest and perhaps most successful modes ofaspects of a business value chain. Some of the primary reasons for the immense popularity of the outsourcing include increasing levels ofproductive through measures that are both cheap as well as efficient.Above, all where companies maintain their level of excellence in theservices and businesses processes offered to their clients, the phenomenon of outsourcing has added tremendously to their pool of revenues. One of the first aspects business seek in setting up an offshorefacility is the requisite level of skilled manpower, which is todayavailable in huge quantities in a number of third world countries. Thisskilled manpowers primary and basic requirements include individuals who can speak excellent English, are highly quality conscious, as wellas computer literate. These criteria are found in ample quantify incountries such as India, which has attained the status of being thenumber one choice for companies the world over. Another importantcriteria which business organizations in the Western countries seek arethe factor of cost, as also the largest and most important element inthe entire outsourcing decision. A brief comparison of the wages ofqualified personnel in the United Kingdom or for that matter in theUnited States of America with qualified personnel in India shows thatthere is a huge difference ranging from 70-80 percent. This hugedifference automatically calculates into a net savi ng of 50-60 percentfor the company based in United Kingdom or the United States ofAmerica. Then there is the aspect of customer service and delivery,which accounts for a major element in any business. This particularaspect has been more than emphasized by majority of the businessorganization with their headquarters and principle offices in thewestern countries. The maintenance of exceptional standards and qualityin both the deliveries of services and business processes ensures thatclients and customers alike remain content. It is these set of reasonsthat more than serve as potentials and viable options for setting upoff-shore facilities for products and services for companies, inparticular those with principle bases in the western countries. A briefsurvey of the Fortune 500 companies revealed that more than 200companies from this elite list had already set up their off-shorefacilities in a country where the availability of the above set offacilities had more than provided for their continued and progressivesuccess over the years. (Youndon, 2004) As reiterated in the above lines, the outsourcing phenomenon andsetting up of offshore facilities in a more economical and professionalenvironment is increasingly revolutionizing the entire mode of runningand operating businesses. This is not only in the United Kingdom, theUnited States of America, but in a number of countries of the Europe aswell. The majority of the focus is however limited to the countrieswhere English is the first language spoken, and where the entireclient/customer base is English speaking. It is precisely thiscriterion of the English language that both the United Kingdom andUnited States of America have found third world countries where Englishhas reached the standard and status equal to or nearly equal to thestandards found in the said western countries. The fact that Indiabecame a number one choice in approximately a decades time isprecisely the reason as Indian government and the public both havefocused on making their populations excel in the English langua ge, aswell as the various basic forms of computer literacy. Youdon, E., writing in his book Introduction to Outsourcing printedby Prentice Hall quotes studies carried out by an American surveygroup, Cutter Consortium notes that outsourcing has become amainstream phenomenon in the period between 2000 and 2004. The samesurvey also revealed that, unlike the dot.com bubble of the 1980s, thisphenomenon shown no signs of recession. On the contrary the high-techboom initiated by the outsourcing phenomena will more than likely takeon the shape of a permanent trend, one which will keep on increasingwith the passage of time.   (Youndon, 2004) The survey by Cutter Consortium also showed that the rising trends ofoutsourcing has led to extremely high levels of unemployment in thecomputer industry of the United States of America, and in additionthere has been a gradual shift of tens of thousands of IT related jobsto countries such as India, the Philippines, Russia, and China. Thus,one may note that though setting up of offshore businesses has led to atremendous boom for companies and organizations in the UK and theUnited States of America from every practical perspective. The sametrend has resulted in the rising levels of unemployment, particularlyin the US, as also mentioned in the preceding paragraphs. A brief into the not so recent history, say the decade of the 1990swould reveal that even the largest of multinational companies couldnever have imagined, and for some it was a radical thought to moveentire departments from hub of US cities to for example the city ofBanglore in India or to Moscow in Russia. However, the age-old conceptof savings and down-right economics led the path to seekinglower-paying employees, yet this was truly difficult as the advances intelecommunication technology and requisite levels of computer literacywas still a far-off dream for countries such as India and Russia. However, only a decade later, in 2002, there have been such tremendousdevelopments and rising levels of computer literacy, as well as commandover English language in the said countries. This has been combinedwith the simultaneous advances in technology, which duly raised thedemand for offshore facilities. The same offshore facilities has nowreached some 28 percent of the entire IT budget for Europe and theUnited States, a mark reached within two years from 2000 to 2002. Asalso confirmed by the findings of Forester Research in their 2002survey, the allocation of major IT budgets for offshore facilities willlikely increase by a significant percentage in the coming years. Asimilar survey carried out by Gartner Group showed that by year 2004,some 8 out of every 10 CIOs in American organizations had receivedorders to set-up a part, if not entire technology service department tooffshore facilities. The same studies also confirmed that 4 out 5companies would already have taken the step by t he end of year 2004. To name only some of the famous American names who have already set upshop in the different cities of India, Russia, Eastern Europe and Chinainclude computer giants such as IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Unisys6, andDell. Also included in the list of companies who have established callcenters in above said countries are a number of banks, firms based onthe New Yorks Wall Street, insurance companies, as well asmultinationals such as General Electric who serve their clients with atruly information-intensive network and IT departments. Credit-cardcompanies, consumer appliances companies as well as a number of otherindustries have also established offshore call centers. (Robinson andKalkota, 2004) The offshore facilities of business organization, irrespective of theirorigin in the United Kingdom or the United States of America haveattained the status of the principal phenomena, as also reiterated inthe above paragraphs. Majority of these who have set up shop asoffshore facilities are those involved in software development,maintenance, project management, and it is these particular segments ofIT industries that are earmarked to witness tremendous growth in thecoming decades. Unlike the dot-com bobble of the 1980s decade, thereare no signs that these phenomena of outsourcing, including callcenters will likely see a period of recession in the near future.However, there are questions put up by economic pundits, such as thelikelihood of leveling off, say at 10 15 percent or at a higher levelof 50 percent with the focus on overall employment within the sameindustries. The answers to such queries are the same, which is thecontinued growth and competition will remain and serve as the principletrigger for this spate of continued growth. Taking an insight view of the number of industries which haveestablished call centers in far off and remote regions/countries, itwould be evident that majority of them fall in the category ofknowledge based industries. The phrase of knowledge based industriesis coined precisely to make a distinction with other industries as callcenters are providing just this. They are providing services withstrong points in just two areas of expertise; first is their computerliteracy and second is their command of English language. Thus, one maynote that these two aspects are the core, and perhaps the pivotalreasons for the tremendous success of the call centers, aside from thecost factors for the parent companies based in the United Kingdom orthe United States of America. A brief on the US companies in search of setting up call centers asoffshore facilities shows that they are deemed as innovators in thisparticular phenomenon of outsourcing. In doing so, these companies takeinto account three principle aspects, which also serve as potentialconflicts with the consumers. One of the first aspects which assists these businesses is theeconomics and high speeds offered in the telecommunication and Internetfacilities for call centers, as compared to similar facilities say adecade ago. Examples to this effect include mortgage-approvaldepartment of a business which wishes to set up a call center facility,as the business would be least concerned whether it is a technologicalpioneer or not. Similarly such businesses need not worry about the highcosts incurred in advanced telecommunications which may otherwise wipeout any savings achieved from strategy of employing low wage employees.(Youndon, 2004) Second aspect which serves as a conflict between the businesses settingup call centers through outsourcing and their consumers the widespreadknowledge about the phenomena of call centers and outsourcing. Even ifone were to compare the increasing awareness and knowledge about callcenters with that of, for example a decade ago, it would be evidentthat little was known. For example call centers now include in theiragenda conferences held amongst the various call centers throughvideo-phone, or even video conferencing; the increase use and knowledgeof consultants for call centers who assist in such processes asselection of vendors, negotiation of contracts, and management ofadministrative and financial details. In this context, the overwhelmingwave of information at the disposal of these new breed of consultantsin the call center business may not necessarily guarantee the successof the respective call centers. However, they do enjoy an edge in areasof advice and guidance as compared to th eir counterparts in the ITarena (for example data entry operators/pioneers), say a decade ago. The third aspect which serves as the conflict between the businessesand their consumers over the call centers and outsourcing is theincreasing pressure to investigate into the affairs of the outsourcebusiness, or the call center in our case study. A decade ago, the casewas somewhat opposite, as there was little or no pressure toinvestigate the activities of the outsource businesses. One may notethat the decade of the 1990s was indeed a boom time for a number ofcompanies, and the general atmosphere was one of generous wages and asteady growth of employment. This trend was augmented by competition atthe global level, which also witnessed a steady growth of outsourcingbusiness the world over. Yet, the single most factors that perhapsserved to halt this growth was outgrowth and rising global demands forgoods and services, which outstripped supply. It would take a decade,when this rising demand of goods and services was be somewhat matchsupply, a phenomenon which we presently witness in e ntire outsourcingincluding call centers in the third world countries. Thus, present conditions on the call center arena the world over showthat supply is more than the demand for goods and services. It isprecisely this reasoning, that majority of the companies wishing to setup a call center now have a greater choice to select workers andregions where workers are least expensive. This is more commonlyobserved in the knowledge-based industries, which also includes thecall centers of India, Russia, Philippines, and China. As also a stateof conflict between the companies and their consumers, the first(businesses) are now more pressurized to cut back on costs due tofierce global competition, hence the search for ever more cheaperknowledge based labor force with less demanding working conditions andlow-paying employees respectively. The above section has briefly discussed the phenomenon and trends thathave become a mainstream for call centers, as also some of the businessperspectives from the point of those companies wishing to set up callcenters for economic reasons, competition, and growth of theirrespective organizations. However, the segment of consumers too is ever important and perhapscrucial element of a call center business. As it is the presence ofconsumers for whom the call centers emerge in the first instance.Since, majority of the consumers belong to countries where Englishlanguage is the first language, the emergence of call centers withEnglish language speaking employees is indeed a pre-requisite. The highwages prevalent as well as demanded by employees in the Englishspeaking countries including Canada, the United Kingdom, and the UnitedStates of America has forced large number of companies to outsourcetheir businesses, in part if not in whole to regions and countrieswhere is ample availability of less paying employees, yet havingcommand of the English language and are computer literate. For this theprobable choice falls on countries such India, the Philippine, theRussia and China. However, the standard and expertise of language orcomputer literacy are not the only factors, which make an ou tsourcingorganization successful. In this respect, the consumers as the principle beneficiaries of callcenters have a rightful demand to obtain services and products that areof optimal quality; a set of factors that has been somewhat left out bythe companies operating call centers in remote regions of the world. Aprime example to this effect can be observed from a complaint from agroup of consumers against call center operators and their employees,which duly resulted in a ruling from a court of public opinion with thefollowing wordings; You have no right to bother us and leave us dangling. And if we dobusiness with you, your word isnt good enough. You have to prove it. Though the above ruling is only a hint at the prevalent unease on thepart of consumers, yet this more than provides for call centeroperators and businesses to polish up their role in the provision ofgoods and services from offshore facilities, and through the use ofemployees with a little different accent, and perhaps little knowledgeon the actual complaint or command when calling up potential clients. The consumers at the end of call centers have also found strongfootings from both the laws and regulations, which have more, thanrestricted the activities of operators of, call centers. This can beobserved in the new set of US Federal regulations which place a limiton call abandonment rates, caller ID blocking, as well as demandinbound upsetting agents to ask consumers for their account IDs, andabove all to record those calls. A similar act favouring Th consumersis the Do-Not-Call or (DNC) registry which may become effective in thevery near future. The DNC is said to have a very strong support fromboth the US Congress as well as the US public. Though the registry hasyet to become fully effective and become a law, there are already morethan 50 million US phone subscribers who have filed for the DNCregistry. All these regulations and acts that are deemed to assistconsumers from the operators and businesses of call centers are perhapshuge hurdles from the perspective of the businesses. As theseregulations and laws, also termed as outbound rules will not onlyrestrict call center operations, but also serve to cost huge job lossesboth within the countries where call centers are operating, as well asthe offshore facilities which have been set to gain economic and othercrucial business advantages. A survey carried out by the American Teleservice Association (A.T.A.)revealed that the outbound rules could mean job losses to the tune ofsome 2 million individuals in the United States alone. As one of thefirst steps taken against the levy of such laws by the US government,legislators and public prosecutors, the A.T.A. has filed suits againstthe DNC regulations. Another aspect to be noted vis-a-vis the consumers at the end of callcenters is that the implementation of regulations and laws benefitingthe US consumers will have a direct affect on the US employees of callcenters, in turn forcing businesses to give importance and focus onoutsourcing and offshore facilities for call center businesses. Thus,even if and when there is a likely shift in the call centers, the joblosses for US employees will probably be effective even without suchlegislations. To satisfy the consumers, the call centers will thushave to comply with such regulations, even if these results in huge joblosses as also mentioned in the preceding paragraph. Yet another set of incentives and benefits for the consumers which alsoserve, as direct conflicts with the businesses are the marketingmethods employed by respective businesses. For example, businesses whenfaced with such strict measures and legislations as stated above mayturn to options such as direct mail, direct response, and inserts inpublications to prompt inbound calls, emails, and chat sessions. Inresponse to such changes in regulations and calls from publicofficials, the call centers at home will have to undergo and bringabout changes. These may include modifications in predictive dialersincluding their complete replacements, replacement of modern callrecording equipments and bring about changes in the mode of sellingfor both inbound and outbound agents, in turn positively affectivityand raising the standard of phone calls to consumers. The call centerson the other hand In contrast, the call centers operating in remote andfar-off locations with advantages in lower costs for both employees andinfrastructure will be least affected from such measures at homegrounds. In this context there are two particular regulations which directlyaffect the call center operations and which also serve as potentialconflicts with the businesses as well. The first is the TelemarketingSales Rule (TSR) which is administered by the US Federal TradeCommission (FTC). The second is the Telephone Consumer Protection Act(TCPA) which falls under the US Federal Communications Commission(FCC). Under the workings of both the FTC and the FCC, businesses are allowedto place calls to consumers who have given prior consent, and who haveenjoyed previous business relationships with the respective firms.There is also a time factor involved in such calls according to whichthere has to be a transaction within the last 18 months, and similarlya period of 90 days must have passed since the last inquiry was placed.On the other hand both these regulatory authorities and theirregulations become ineffective if and when a consumer refuses to accepta call, even if there was a business relationship in the recent past,and it is the obligation of the respective businesses to honor suchrefusals. The levy of and changes in the rules by both the TCPA and TSR havecalled for changes in the outbound calls for call center operations. Anexample to this respect include call abandonment rules, according towhich marketers have to connect live agents to place calls to theconcerned consumers, and this call has to have to duration of 4 ringsor a time limit of 15 seconds, and compliance of neither may result inabandonment of said call/s. A second rule of both the TCPA and TSR restricts the number of callsabandoned to just 3 percent, which are answered by live persons.However the TSR rules measure the same on a per day basis and a percampaign basis, while its sister authority, the TCPA measures the callover a months period. In compliance of such regulations and in response to the complaints ofthe consumers, the TCPA claims that no calls are abandoned if theresponse is in the form of voice messages within 2 seconds of receiptof a consumers call. Similarly the calls are not abandoned if theconsumer has previously consented to receive messages, includingexisting business relationships. (Read, 2004) Though outsourcing is being largely concentrated in areas of softwaredevelopment, maintenance, manufacturing, logistics, and adding thelatest area of knowledge based industries, one may note thatoutsourcing has perhaps been there for the last nearly 2 decades.However, the changes that have perhaps revolutionized the entire out-sourcing business, in particular the emergence of call centers includessuch disciplines as customer, transaction processing, finance andaccounting, human resources, desktop support and software development. The core reason, and perhaps the strongest factor to force theemergence of such huge numbers of call centers in remote regions of theworld such as India and China as prime examples are cost-cuttingstrategies by making earnings look all the more attractive. Included inthe cost-cutting strategies was the wages and salaries of theemployees, truly a major chunk of operating costs, which was dulyreplaced with employees hired at a fraction of what would otherwise bepayable for example within the United States of America or UnitedKingdom. This was amply found in the offshore labor, who were bothcomputer literate as well as well suited to serve the English speakingconsumers on the North American continent, and the United Kingdom. A brief comparison with other process-improvements innovationsincluding but not limited to Total Quality Management, Re-engineering,and Six Sigma, the offshore outsourcing too is predicted to facesomewhat similar consequences, and for arriving such a conclusion, itis only imperative that one studies the cycle of the above saidinnovations measures taken by business organizations. Included in this management drive innovation cycle are 4 principle steps, through each business organization has to undergo. The first is the slope of hype, and one may note that outsourcing, inparticular the emergence of call centers are passing through what maytermed as the honeymoon period, as also evident from the tremendoussuccesses achieved by majority of the organizations setting up callcenters. The duration of the hype period has witnessed a large numberof organizations somewhat copying or initiating projects based on thepresent forms of innovation. This is done to gain experience from thecurrent and ongoing process management techniques, without the need toinvest in experimenting. Another feature of such a tactic is a merepursuit of a competitor within the same industry. An example to thisrespect can be observed in the trends of e-commerce and e-business inthe later part of the 1990s decade. Thus, it was observed thatpractically every business organization was in pursuit of an e-commercestrategy, often without a detailed insight or logical reasons for doingso. A wave of e-commerce companies thus e merged offering best ofservices, and searching for a place in the market as a trustedadvisor in their endeavours to compete win offshore contracts. Suchcompanies were duly aided by venture capitalists that fueled the hypethrough a number of attractive financial instruments. The second principle of process management is that of despair, orrather the slope of despair. As the business enters the slope ofdespair, it is evidence that the honeymoon era, as also described inthe preceding paragraph has come to abrupt end. The offshore projectsinitiated in rather haste, including initiation or blindly following acompetitor with the same industry will witness a failure as noconsideration was given, nor any wieghtage given to the decision ofsetting up an offshore facility, or call center. The result of taking adecision in such haste is that promises to consumers remainunfulfilled, in turn triggering a possible backlash from within theorganization. Recent examples to this respect can be observed in thedecisions to call back and close shop decision taken by famous namessuch as Dell and Lehman Brothers. It is also observed that during thisslope of despair, a large number of organizations that are not seriousin operating offshore facilities would opt for closing down theiroffshore facilities. Further, such companies would either go for acomplete re-evaluation of their principle strategies, while those whoare truly serious in pursuing and benefiting from their offshore plans,continue to excel and strive to maximize their earnings from thetremendous set of advantages hidden in the operation of offshorebusinesses, including call centers. The third important aspect in the process management innovation measureis that of consolidation and assimilation. This step is immediatelyproceeded after that of despair where serious contenders stay on, andthose who step in the market without serious considerations eitherere-evaluate their strategies, or completely fall back and retreat totheir home grounds. The business of e-commerce witnessed similar trendsand behaviors. Having undergone the crucial step of consolidation, abusiness more often than not enters the slope of profit era. As alsoevidenced in majority of the businesses involved in e-commerce, mostorganization have today realized that e-commerce is not a merenecessity, rather a pre-requisite for their businesses. A similar spateof events awaits the offshore business, where call centers arepredicted to reach levels of extra-ordinary profits for their parentorganizations, a likelihood prediction for the end of the presentdecade. The study of the above 4 principle aspects of process managementinnovations shows, as also evident from recent corporate history, thatit is the home countrys economy, which by and large dictates thesuccess or failure of a corporate strategy. Thus, if economy is movingtowards recovery, not only will other businesses suffer, but theoffshore business including call centers will too face the same fate.Similarly, if the home economy is failure, and is continuouslywitnessing a fall, offshore outsourcing as well as all other businesseswill bound to see an acceleration and growth with significant profitmargins who can sustain the ups and falls of offshore businesses.However, there are more than likely chances for the IT sector, inparticular the knowledge based industries which include the callcenters will witness a similar migration as has happened with themanufacturing from the North American and European continents to moveto the Pacific Rim countries. (Gore, 2003) The above section of the dissertation has briefly discussed some of theaspects of offshore call centers including the businesses as well asthe consumers and the conflicts between them. The above section hasprimarily focused on the US businesses as they enjoy the single largestsegment of the global offshore call centers. The is followed by UnitedKingdom enjoying a second place, and which will constitute thefollowing section of our dissertation. The following part will thustake into account a brief history of outsourcing, and move on todiscuss businesses and consumers from the European perspective, with aparticular attention on the implications on the British businesses,British consumers, and the British job markets with respect to callcenters. Having briefly touched the US perspective of outsourcing businesses,the following section discusses the businesses, consumers and theirconflicts from a British point of view. A survey carried by M/s Outsourcing Insight Ltd., Harvard, M., showedthat the year 2000 was a record period for Britain as it witnessed theemergence of some 35,000 call center related jobs, and establishment ofsome 88 call centers. This tremendous growth pattern in the outsourcing business in theUnited Kingdom proved a number of points. For example, it showed that arecord number of businesses had chosen to shift and expand towardsoutsourcing. It also proved that the consumers had a wider choice. Itwas also evident that each call center was offering a more diverse setof services, a more specialized version and an ever-competitiveenvironment to offer for their customers. (Harvard, 2000) However, with the tremendous growth pattern viewed in the expansion ofcall centers, British businesses also realized that there was a crucialneed for an approach that would provide for needed end results andoptimization of their outsourcing objectives. For example, theselection of an outsourcing partner was one such area, which requiredneeded diligence and an equally cautious approach. It was largelyobserved that in their endeavours to increase their market share andcompete in their respective industries, majority of the Britishbusinesses failed to recognize that competition and offering truly highstandards of services and products called for an equally high standardsof capabilities and services. This was only possible in the appropriateselection of an outsourcing partner who fulfil Issues with Offshore Call Centres Issues with Offshore Call Centres Advancements in communications, software development and other technologies have enabled practically every type of business to expand its services to off-shore locations with the probable choices of countries where both the infrastructure and specific needs of the clients can easily be met. Examples of such services include but are not limited to call-centers, as also the subject of our present dissertation, back office operations, insurance claim processing, revenue accounting as well as web/digital development. Indeed one of the successful areas have the disciplines which involve information technology (IT) related services, making it a crucial element and part of a value chain for present day businesses.  These IT enabled services and business processes are generally sourcedfrom a location where the end-user are not located, hence the remoteprovision of such set of services. The concept behind this phenomenonis to deliver services from off-shore locations using the state of thea rt technologies in communication, also called data networks which mayinclude wireline or wireless. Thus, clients or customers are providedthe same set of services or business processes from workers or subsidiaries based in offshore locations. An example to this respect is that of serving the clients of a multinational in the United Kingdom,where as the individuals involved in serving these clients are located in far off region such as India. In such an environment, there is noneed for the British clients to know about the whereabouts of the individuals serving their particular needs, nor is it necessary for theworkers to divulge such information to the British clients. The gap between the clients and the workers in such a situation is fulfilledthrough the modern forms of communication software. These software enable a British caller for example to place a call to India, withoutrealizing that the call has actually been made to India and in responsean Indian worker will respond to the said query of the British callerrespectively. The objective behind the entire exercise of outsourcingand running an offshore facility by a business operating in the UnitedKingdom or the United States of America is truly economical. As theparent company has to spend only a fraction of the amount otherwiseneeded to run and operate the same set of services in their homecountry (UK or the United States of America). As the global businesses move ever closer to globalization and spreading their business wings in practically every corner of theglobe, outsourcing or setting up off-shore facilities has indeedemerged as one of the fastest and perhaps most successful modes ofaspects of a business value chain. Some of the primary reasons for the immense popularity of the outsourcing include increasing levels ofproductive through measures that are both cheap as well as efficient.Above, all where companies maintain their level of excellence in theservices and businesses processes offered to their clients, the phenomenon of outsourcing has added tremendously to their pool of revenues. One of the first aspects business seek in setting up an offshorefacility is the requisite level of skilled manpower, which is todayavailable in huge quantities in a number of third world countries. Thisskilled manpowers primary and basic requirements include individuals who can speak excellent English, are highly quality conscious, as wellas computer literate. These criteria are found in ample quantify incountries such as India, which has attained the status of being thenumber one choice for companies the world over. Another importantcriteria which business organizations in the Western countries seek arethe factor of cost, as also the largest and most important element inthe entire outsourcing decision. A brief comparison of the wages ofqualified personnel in the United Kingdom or for that matter in theUnited States of America with qualified personnel in India shows thatthere is a huge difference ranging from 70-80 percent. This hugedifference automatically calculates into a net savi ng of 50-60 percentfor the company based in United Kingdom or the United States ofAmerica. Then there is the aspect of customer service and delivery,which accounts for a major element in any business. This particularaspect has been more than emphasized by majority of the businessorganization with their headquarters and principle offices in thewestern countries. The maintenance of exceptional standards and qualityin both the deliveries of services and business processes ensures thatclients and customers alike remain content. It is these set of reasonsthat more than serve as potentials and viable options for setting upoff-shore facilities for products and services for companies, inparticular those with principle bases in the western countries. A briefsurvey of the Fortune 500 companies revealed that more than 200companies from this elite list had already set up their off-shorefacilities in a country where the availability of the above set offacilities had more than provided for their continued and progressivesuccess over the years. (Youndon, 2004) As reiterated in the above lines, the outsourcing phenomenon andsetting up of offshore facilities in a more economical and professionalenvironment is increasingly revolutionizing the entire mode of runningand operating businesses. This is not only in the United Kingdom, theUnited States of America, but in a number of countries of the Europe aswell. The majority of the focus is however limited to the countrieswhere English is the first language spoken, and where the entireclient/customer base is English speaking. It is precisely thiscriterion of the English language that both the United Kingdom andUnited States of America have found third world countries where Englishhas reached the standard and status equal to or nearly equal to thestandards found in the said western countries. The fact that Indiabecame a number one choice in approximately a decades time isprecisely the reason as Indian government and the public both havefocused on making their populations excel in the English langua ge, aswell as the various basic forms of computer literacy. Youdon, E., writing in his book Introduction to Outsourcing printedby Prentice Hall quotes studies carried out by an American surveygroup, Cutter Consortium notes that outsourcing has become amainstream phenomenon in the period between 2000 and 2004. The samesurvey also revealed that, unlike the dot.com bubble of the 1980s, thisphenomenon shown no signs of recession. On the contrary the high-techboom initiated by the outsourcing phenomena will more than likely takeon the shape of a permanent trend, one which will keep on increasingwith the passage of time.   (Youndon, 2004) The survey by Cutter Consortium also showed that the rising trends ofoutsourcing has led to extremely high levels of unemployment in thecomputer industry of the United States of America, and in additionthere has been a gradual shift of tens of thousands of IT related jobsto countries such as India, the Philippines, Russia, and China. Thus,one may note that though setting up of offshore businesses has led to atremendous boom for companies and organizations in the UK and theUnited States of America from every practical perspective. The sametrend has resulted in the rising levels of unemployment, particularlyin the US, as also mentioned in the preceding paragraphs. A brief into the not so recent history, say the decade of the 1990swould reveal that even the largest of multinational companies couldnever have imagined, and for some it was a radical thought to moveentire departments from hub of US cities to for example the city ofBanglore in India or to Moscow in Russia. However, the age-old conceptof savings and down-right economics led the path to seekinglower-paying employees, yet this was truly difficult as the advances intelecommunication technology and requisite levels of computer literacywas still a far-off dream for countries such as India and Russia. However, only a decade later, in 2002, there have been such tremendousdevelopments and rising levels of computer literacy, as well as commandover English language in the said countries. This has been combinedwith the simultaneous advances in technology, which duly raised thedemand for offshore facilities. The same offshore facilities has nowreached some 28 percent of the entire IT budget for Europe and theUnited States, a mark reached within two years from 2000 to 2002. Asalso confirmed by the findings of Forester Research in their 2002survey, the allocation of major IT budgets for offshore facilities willlikely increase by a significant percentage in the coming years. Asimilar survey carried out by Gartner Group showed that by year 2004,some 8 out of every 10 CIOs in American organizations had receivedorders to set-up a part, if not entire technology service department tooffshore facilities. The same studies also confirmed that 4 out 5companies would already have taken the step by t he end of year 2004. To name only some of the famous American names who have already set upshop in the different cities of India, Russia, Eastern Europe and Chinainclude computer giants such as IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Unisys6, andDell. Also included in the list of companies who have established callcenters in above said countries are a number of banks, firms based onthe New Yorks Wall Street, insurance companies, as well asmultinationals such as General Electric who serve their clients with atruly information-intensive network and IT departments. Credit-cardcompanies, consumer appliances companies as well as a number of otherindustries have also established offshore call centers. (Robinson andKalkota, 2004) The offshore facilities of business organization, irrespective of theirorigin in the United Kingdom or the United States of America haveattained the status of the principal phenomena, as also reiterated inthe above paragraphs. Majority of these who have set up shop asoffshore facilities are those involved in software development,maintenance, project management, and it is these particular segments ofIT industries that are earmarked to witness tremendous growth in thecoming decades. Unlike the dot-com bobble of the 1980s decade, thereare no signs that these phenomena of outsourcing, including callcenters will likely see a period of recession in the near future.However, there are questions put up by economic pundits, such as thelikelihood of leveling off, say at 10 15 percent or at a higher levelof 50 percent with the focus on overall employment within the sameindustries. The answers to such queries are the same, which is thecontinued growth and competition will remain and serve as the principletrigger for this spate of continued growth. Taking an insight view of the number of industries which haveestablished call centers in far off and remote regions/countries, itwould be evident that majority of them fall in the category ofknowledge based industries. The phrase of knowledge based industriesis coined precisely to make a distinction with other industries as callcenters are providing just this. They are providing services withstrong points in just two areas of expertise; first is their computerliteracy and second is their command of English language. Thus, one maynote that these two aspects are the core, and perhaps the pivotalreasons for the tremendous success of the call centers, aside from thecost factors for the parent companies based in the United Kingdom orthe United States of America. A brief on the US companies in search of setting up call centers asoffshore facilities shows that they are deemed as innovators in thisparticular phenomenon of outsourcing. In doing so, these companies takeinto account three principle aspects, which also serve as potentialconflicts with the consumers. One of the first aspects which assists these businesses is theeconomics and high speeds offered in the telecommunication and Internetfacilities for call centers, as compared to similar facilities say adecade ago. Examples to this effect include mortgage-approvaldepartment of a business which wishes to set up a call center facility,as the business would be least concerned whether it is a technologicalpioneer or not. Similarly such businesses need not worry about the highcosts incurred in advanced telecommunications which may otherwise wipeout any savings achieved from strategy of employing low wage employees.(Youndon, 2004) Second aspect which serves as a conflict between the businesses settingup call centers through outsourcing and their consumers the widespreadknowledge about the phenomena of call centers and outsourcing. Even ifone were to compare the increasing awareness and knowledge about callcenters with that of, for example a decade ago, it would be evidentthat little was known. For example call centers now include in theiragenda conferences held amongst the various call centers throughvideo-phone, or even video conferencing; the increase use and knowledgeof consultants for call centers who assist in such processes asselection of vendors, negotiation of contracts, and management ofadministrative and financial details. In this context, the overwhelmingwave of information at the disposal of these new breed of consultantsin the call center business may not necessarily guarantee the successof the respective call centers. However, they do enjoy an edge in areasof advice and guidance as compared to th eir counterparts in the ITarena (for example data entry operators/pioneers), say a decade ago. The third aspect which serves as the conflict between the businessesand their consumers over the call centers and outsourcing is theincreasing pressure to investigate into the affairs of the outsourcebusiness, or the call center in our case study. A decade ago, the casewas somewhat opposite, as there was little or no pressure toinvestigate the activities of the outsource businesses. One may notethat the decade of the 1990s was indeed a boom time for a number ofcompanies, and the general atmosphere was one of generous wages and asteady growth of employment. This trend was augmented by competition atthe global level, which also witnessed a steady growth of outsourcingbusiness the world over. Yet, the single most factors that perhapsserved to halt this growth was outgrowth and rising global demands forgoods and services, which outstripped supply. It would take a decade,when this rising demand of goods and services was be somewhat matchsupply, a phenomenon which we presently witness in e ntire outsourcingincluding call centers in the third world countries. Thus, present conditions on the call center arena the world over showthat supply is more than the demand for goods and services. It isprecisely this reasoning, that majority of the companies wishing to setup a call center now have a greater choice to select workers andregions where workers are least expensive. This is more commonlyobserved in the knowledge-based industries, which also includes thecall centers of India, Russia, Philippines, and China. As also a stateof conflict between the companies and their consumers, the first(businesses) are now more pressurized to cut back on costs due tofierce global competition, hence the search for ever more cheaperknowledge based labor force with less demanding working conditions andlow-paying employees respectively. The above section has briefly discussed the phenomenon and trends thathave become a mainstream for call centers, as also some of the businessperspectives from the point of those companies wishing to set up callcenters for economic reasons, competition, and growth of theirrespective organizations. However, the segment of consumers too is ever important and perhapscrucial element of a call center business. As it is the presence ofconsumers for whom the call centers emerge in the first instance.Since, majority of the consumers belong to countries where Englishlanguage is the first language, the emergence of call centers withEnglish language speaking employees is indeed a pre-requisite. The highwages prevalent as well as demanded by employees in the Englishspeaking countries including Canada, the United Kingdom, and the UnitedStates of America has forced large number of companies to outsourcetheir businesses, in part if not in whole to regions and countrieswhere is ample availability of less paying employees, yet havingcommand of the English language and are computer literate. For this theprobable choice falls on countries such India, the Philippine, theRussia and China. However, the standard and expertise of language orcomputer literacy are not the only factors, which make an ou tsourcingorganization successful. In this respect, the consumers as the principle beneficiaries of callcenters have a rightful demand to obtain services and products that areof optimal quality; a set of factors that has been somewhat left out bythe companies operating call centers in remote regions of the world. Aprime example to this effect can be observed from a complaint from agroup of consumers against call center operators and their employees,which duly resulted in a ruling from a court of public opinion with thefollowing wordings; You have no right to bother us and leave us dangling. And if we dobusiness with you, your word isnt good enough. You have to prove it. Though the above ruling is only a hint at the prevalent unease on thepart of consumers, yet this more than provides for call centeroperators and businesses to polish up their role in the provision ofgoods and services from offshore facilities, and through the use ofemployees with a little different accent, and perhaps little knowledgeon the actual complaint or command when calling up potential clients. The consumers at the end of call centers have also found strongfootings from both the laws and regulations, which have more, thanrestricted the activities of operators of, call centers. This can beobserved in the new set of US Federal regulations which place a limiton call abandonment rates, caller ID blocking, as well as demandinbound upsetting agents to ask consumers for their account IDs, andabove all to record those calls. A similar act favouring Th consumersis the Do-Not-Call or (DNC) registry which may become effective in thevery near future. The DNC is said to have a very strong support fromboth the US Congress as well as the US public. Though the registry hasyet to become fully effective and become a law, there are already morethan 50 million US phone subscribers who have filed for the DNCregistry. All these regulations and acts that are deemed to assistconsumers from the operators and businesses of call centers are perhapshuge hurdles from the perspective of the businesses. As theseregulations and laws, also termed as outbound rules will not onlyrestrict call center operations, but also serve to cost huge job lossesboth within the countries where call centers are operating, as well asthe offshore facilities which have been set to gain economic and othercrucial business advantages. A survey carried out by the American Teleservice Association (A.T.A.)revealed that the outbound rules could mean job losses to the tune ofsome 2 million individuals in the United States alone. As one of thefirst steps taken against the levy of such laws by the US government,legislators and public prosecutors, the A.T.A. has filed suits againstthe DNC regulations. Another aspect to be noted vis-a-vis the consumers at the end of callcenters is that the implementation of regulations and laws benefitingthe US consumers will have a direct affect on the US employees of callcenters, in turn forcing businesses to give importance and focus onoutsourcing and offshore facilities for call center businesses. Thus,even if and when there is a likely shift in the call centers, the joblosses for US employees will probably be effective even without suchlegislations. To satisfy the consumers, the call centers will thushave to comply with such regulations, even if these results in huge joblosses as also mentioned in the preceding paragraph. Yet another set of incentives and benefits for the consumers which alsoserve, as direct conflicts with the businesses are the marketingmethods employed by respective businesses. For example, businesses whenfaced with such strict measures and legislations as stated above mayturn to options such as direct mail, direct response, and inserts inpublications to prompt inbound calls, emails, and chat sessions. Inresponse to such changes in regulations and calls from publicofficials, the call centers at home will have to undergo and bringabout changes. These may include modifications in predictive dialersincluding their complete replacements, replacement of modern callrecording equipments and bring about changes in the mode of sellingfor both inbound and outbound agents, in turn positively affectivityand raising the standard of phone calls to consumers. The call centerson the other hand In contrast, the call centers operating in remote andfar-off locations with advantages in lower costs for both employees andinfrastructure will be least affected from such measures at homegrounds. In this context there are two particular regulations which directlyaffect the call center operations and which also serve as potentialconflicts with the businesses as well. The first is the TelemarketingSales Rule (TSR) which is administered by the US Federal TradeCommission (FTC). The second is the Telephone Consumer Protection Act(TCPA) which falls under the US Federal Communications Commission(FCC). Under the workings of both the FTC and the FCC, businesses are allowedto place calls to consumers who have given prior consent, and who haveenjoyed previous business relationships with the respective firms.There is also a time factor involved in such calls according to whichthere has to be a transaction within the last 18 months, and similarlya period of 90 days must have passed since the last inquiry was placed.On the other hand both these regulatory authorities and theirregulations become ineffective if and when a consumer refuses to accepta call, even if there was a business relationship in the recent past,and it is the obligation of the respective businesses to honor suchrefusals. The levy of and changes in the rules by both the TCPA and TSR havecalled for changes in the outbound calls for call center operations. Anexample to this respect include call abandonment rules, according towhich marketers have to connect live agents to place calls to theconcerned consumers, and this call has to have to duration of 4 ringsor a time limit of 15 seconds, and compliance of neither may result inabandonment of said call/s. A second rule of both the TCPA and TSR restricts the number of callsabandoned to just 3 percent, which are answered by live persons.However the TSR rules measure the same on a per day basis and a percampaign basis, while its sister authority, the TCPA measures the callover a months period. In compliance of such regulations and in response to the complaints ofthe consumers, the TCPA claims that no calls are abandoned if theresponse is in the form of voice messages within 2 seconds of receiptof a consumers call. Similarly the calls are not abandoned if theconsumer has previously consented to receive messages, includingexisting business relationships. (Read, 2004) Though outsourcing is being largely concentrated in areas of softwaredevelopment, maintenance, manufacturing, logistics, and adding thelatest area of knowledge based industries, one may note thatoutsourcing has perhaps been there for the last nearly 2 decades.However, the changes that have perhaps revolutionized the entire out-sourcing business, in particular the emergence of call centers includessuch disciplines as customer, transaction processing, finance andaccounting, human resources, desktop support and software development. The core reason, and perhaps the strongest factor to force theemergence of such huge numbers of call centers in remote regions of theworld such as India and China as prime examples are cost-cuttingstrategies by making earnings look all the more attractive. Included inthe cost-cutting strategies was the wages and salaries of theemployees, truly a major chunk of operating costs, which was dulyreplaced with employees hired at a fraction of what would otherwise bepayable for example within the United States of America or UnitedKingdom. This was amply found in the offshore labor, who were bothcomputer literate as well as well suited to serve the English speakingconsumers on the North American continent, and the United Kingdom. A brief comparison with other process-improvements innovationsincluding but not limited to Total Quality Management, Re-engineering,and Six Sigma, the offshore outsourcing too is predicted to facesomewhat similar consequences, and for arriving such a conclusion, itis only imperative that one studies the cycle of the above saidinnovations measures taken by business organizations. Included in this management drive innovation cycle are 4 principle steps, through each business organization has to undergo. The first is the slope of hype, and one may note that outsourcing, inparticular the emergence of call centers are passing through what maytermed as the honeymoon period, as also evident from the tremendoussuccesses achieved by majority of the organizations setting up callcenters. The duration of the hype period has witnessed a large numberof organizations somewhat copying or initiating projects based on thepresent forms of innovation. This is done to gain experience from thecurrent and ongoing process management techniques, without the need toinvest in experimenting. Another feature of such a tactic is a merepursuit of a competitor within the same industry. An example to thisrespect can be observed in the trends of e-commerce and e-business inthe later part of the 1990s decade. Thus, it was observed thatpractically every business organization was in pursuit of an e-commercestrategy, often without a detailed insight or logical reasons for doingso. A wave of e-commerce companies thus e merged offering best ofservices, and searching for a place in the market as a trustedadvisor in their endeavours to compete win offshore contracts. Suchcompanies were duly aided by venture capitalists that fueled the hypethrough a number of attractive financial instruments. The second principle of process management is that of despair, orrather the slope of despair. As the business enters the slope ofdespair, it is evidence that the honeymoon era, as also described inthe preceding paragraph has come to abrupt end. The offshore projectsinitiated in rather haste, including initiation or blindly following acompetitor with the same industry will witness a failure as noconsideration was given, nor any wieghtage given to the decision ofsetting up an offshore facility, or call center. The result of taking adecision in such haste is that promises to consumers remainunfulfilled, in turn triggering a possible backlash from within theorganization. Recent examples to this respect can be observed in thedecisions to call back and close shop decision taken by famous namessuch as Dell and Lehman Brothers. It is also observed that during thisslope of despair, a large number of organizations that are not seriousin operating offshore facilities would opt for closing down theiroffshore facilities. Further, such companies would either go for acomplete re-evaluation of their principle strategies, while those whoare truly serious in pursuing and benefiting from their offshore plans,continue to excel and strive to maximize their earnings from thetremendous set of advantages hidden in the operation of offshorebusinesses, including call centers. The third important aspect in the process management innovation measureis that of consolidation and assimilation. This step is immediatelyproceeded after that of despair where serious contenders stay on, andthose who step in the market without serious considerations eitherere-evaluate their strategies, or completely fall back and retreat totheir home grounds. The business of e-commerce witnessed similar trendsand behaviors. Having undergone the crucial step of consolidation, abusiness more often than not enters the slope of profit era. As alsoevidenced in majority of the businesses involved in e-commerce, mostorganization have today realized that e-commerce is not a merenecessity, rather a pre-requisite for their businesses. A similar spateof events awaits the offshore business, where call centers arepredicted to reach levels of extra-ordinary profits for their parentorganizations, a likelihood prediction for the end of the presentdecade. The study of the above 4 principle aspects of process managementinnovations shows, as also evident from recent corporate history, thatit is the home countrys economy, which by and large dictates thesuccess or failure of a corporate strategy. Thus, if economy is movingtowards recovery, not only will other businesses suffer, but theoffshore business including call centers will too face the same fate.Similarly, if the home economy is failure, and is continuouslywitnessing a fall, offshore outsourcing as well as all other businesseswill bound to see an acceleration and growth with significant profitmargins who can sustain the ups and falls of offshore businesses.However, there are more than likely chances for the IT sector, inparticular the knowledge based industries which include the callcenters will witness a similar migration as has happened with themanufacturing from the North American and European continents to moveto the Pacific Rim countries. (Gore, 2003) The above section of the dissertation has briefly discussed some of theaspects of offshore call centers including the businesses as well asthe consumers and the conflicts between them. The above section hasprimarily focused on the US businesses as they enjoy the single largestsegment of the global offshore call centers. The is followed by UnitedKingdom enjoying a second place, and which will constitute thefollowing section of our dissertation. The following part will thustake into account a brief history of outsourcing, and move on todiscuss businesses and consumers from the European perspective, with aparticular attention on the implications on the British businesses,British consumers, and the British job markets with respect to callcenters. Having briefly touched the US perspective of outsourcing businesses,the following section discusses the businesses, consumers and theirconflicts from a British point of view. A survey carried by M/s Outsourcing Insight Ltd., Harvard, M., showedthat the year 2000 was a record period for Britain as it witnessed theemergence of some 35,000 call center related jobs, and establishment ofsome 88 call centers. This tremendous growth pattern in the outsourcing business in theUnited Kingdom proved a number of points. For example, it showed that arecord number of businesses had chosen to shift and expand towardsoutsourcing. It also proved that the consumers had a wider choice. Itwas also evident that each call center was offering a more diverse setof services, a more specialized version and an ever-competitiveenvironment to offer for their customers. (Harvard, 2000) However, with the tremendous growth pattern viewed in the expansion ofcall centers, British businesses also realized that there was a crucialneed for an approach that would provide for needed end results andoptimization of their outsourcing objectives. For example, theselection of an outsourcing partner was one such area, which requiredneeded diligence and an equally cautious approach. It was largelyobserved that in their endeavours to increase their market share andcompete in their respective industries, majority of the Britishbusinesses failed to recognize that competition and offering truly highstandards of services and products called for an equally high standardsof capabilities and services. This was only possible in the appropriateselection of an outsourcing partner who fulfil

Considerations of Individuality in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Autis

Considerations of Individuality in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Autism There is no standard ‘type’ or ‘typical’ person with autism. Parents may hear more than one label applied to the same child: autistic-like, learning disabled with autistic tendencies, high functioning or low functioning autism. These labels don’t describe differences between children as much as they indicate differences between professionals’ training, vocabulary and exposure to autism (1) In my first web paper I considered Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and questioned whether its’ symptoms and underlying neurobiology should be considered a disorder, or rather simply a difference among humans’ nervous systems. In a further exploration of the idea of individuality within a diagnostically defined disorder, I have researched autism. By definition, autistic individuals present symptoms with varying degrees of severity. It is therefore considered a spectrum disorder, meaning that its’ â€Å"symptoms and characteristics can present themselves in a wide variety of combinations, from mild to severe (1).† A diagnosis of autism can result from any combination of its defined behaviors. In addition to this, there is a host of related disorders, in which some but not all symptoms of autism are present. These include Asperger Syndrome, Fragile X Syndrome, Rett Syndrome and Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (PDDNOS) (4)(2) . Because of its characteristic breadth, autism is a good example of the implications of being seen as an individual within a group possessing a defined disorder. Current professional opinion stresses the importance of accurately assessing differences in neurological deficits, even if they present similar autistic sympt... ...ninds.nih.gov/HEALTHINFO/DISORDER/AUTISM/autism.htm 3)paper by Dena Bodian from Neurobiology and Behavior 1998 http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro98/202s98-paper1/Bodian.htm%20l 4)Overview of Autism by Stephen Edelson, Ph. D., at the Center for the Study of Autism http://www.brainnet.org/autism.htm 5)Autism? What is it? http://users.planetc.com/new.html 6)Stereotypic (Self-stimulatory) Behavior by Stpehen M. Edelson http://www.autsim.org/stim.html 7)The Cerebellum and Autism by Stephen M. Edelson http://www.autism.org/cerebel.html 8)Genetics and Autism by Stephen M. Edelson http://www.autism.org/genetics.html 9)Autism and the Limbic System by Stephen M. Edelson http://www.autism.org/limbic.html Other Resources: 10)†The Child with Special Needs"by Stanley I. Greenspan and Serena Wieder. Massachusetts: Perseus Books, 1998. Considerations of Individuality in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Autis Considerations of Individuality in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Autism There is no standard ‘type’ or ‘typical’ person with autism. Parents may hear more than one label applied to the same child: autistic-like, learning disabled with autistic tendencies, high functioning or low functioning autism. These labels don’t describe differences between children as much as they indicate differences between professionals’ training, vocabulary and exposure to autism (1) In my first web paper I considered Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and questioned whether its’ symptoms and underlying neurobiology should be considered a disorder, or rather simply a difference among humans’ nervous systems. In a further exploration of the idea of individuality within a diagnostically defined disorder, I have researched autism. By definition, autistic individuals present symptoms with varying degrees of severity. It is therefore considered a spectrum disorder, meaning that its’ â€Å"symptoms and characteristics can present themselves in a wide variety of combinations, from mild to severe (1).† A diagnosis of autism can result from any combination of its defined behaviors. In addition to this, there is a host of related disorders, in which some but not all symptoms of autism are present. These include Asperger Syndrome, Fragile X Syndrome, Rett Syndrome and Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (PDDNOS) (4)(2) . Because of its characteristic breadth, autism is a good example of the implications of being seen as an individual within a group possessing a defined disorder. Current professional opinion stresses the importance of accurately assessing differences in neurological deficits, even if they present similar autistic sympt... ...ninds.nih.gov/HEALTHINFO/DISORDER/AUTISM/autism.htm 3)paper by Dena Bodian from Neurobiology and Behavior 1998 http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro98/202s98-paper1/Bodian.htm%20l 4)Overview of Autism by Stephen Edelson, Ph. D., at the Center for the Study of Autism http://www.brainnet.org/autism.htm 5)Autism? What is it? http://users.planetc.com/new.html 6)Stereotypic (Self-stimulatory) Behavior by Stpehen M. Edelson http://www.autsim.org/stim.html 7)The Cerebellum and Autism by Stephen M. Edelson http://www.autism.org/cerebel.html 8)Genetics and Autism by Stephen M. Edelson http://www.autism.org/genetics.html 9)Autism and the Limbic System by Stephen M. Edelson http://www.autism.org/limbic.html Other Resources: 10)†The Child with Special Needs"by Stanley I. Greenspan and Serena Wieder. Massachusetts: Perseus Books, 1998.

The Bill of Rights: Americas Last Defense Against the Federal Suffocat

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Is our Bill of Rights necessary? Does it put a limit on our government, or on our liberty? Do these ten amendments hold the same meaning today as they did two-hundred and fourteen years ago? Are they now or have they ever been relevant? These questions were debated by our nation’s founding fathers in the eighteenth century and continue to be debated by the historians, academics, and political scientists today. Over the course of the last two centuries, its meaning has been twisted and stretched by the interpretation and misinterpretation of our legislature and, most of all, by the Supreme Court wielding its power of judicial review. It is my belief that these rights were and are absolutely essential to maintaining any liberty in this country; however, I also believe they have placed a limit on our liberties in that the government has come to restrict many rights that are not expressly declared in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Perhaps, it is nece ssary to convene a convention dedicated to defining and expanding the protected rights and to put these revisions to the people through normal amendment processes requiring ratification by three-quarters of the states.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To begin, we need to understand what a â€Å"bill of rights† is and where it comes from. Bills, or lists, of rights litter American colonial history, from the Declaration of Rights issued to the British parliament in response to the Stamp Act of 1765, which led to the repeal of that act, to those found in state governments such as Virginia and Delaware during the earliest days of the new nation. These lists were written in response to years of oppression suffered by the colonists at the hands of a tyrannical British government. They outlined certain individual rights that were held to be above government regulation by the philosophy of the time. Though the first ten amendments do not constitute the first list of rights ever devised, they are the first list incorporated into a national constitution.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The founders developed two contradicting viewpoints on this subject, which threatened to bring the process of ratification to a standstill. In his letters, Federalist 84 and Federalist 85, Alexander Hamilton, writing as â€Å"Publius†, summarized the federalist argument against the bill of rights. He presented what I f... ...oncerns, their philosophies are outdated. Perhaps our constitution is inadequate. If this is so, should we not change it rather than allow the justices of the Supreme Court to decide what it means as they see fit for the current political, social, or economic climate? It took an entire nation to decide the wording of our present constitution. Is it fair to leave its interpretation in the hands of only nine men and women? Does it make sense to allow them to decide that terms which are written as absolutes could, in some cases, be conditional? I propose a simple solution to the problem. We, the people of this nation, need to decide what we want our Constitution to say. Then, we need to rephrase the wording so that it cannot be misinterpreted. This would require amending the amendments that are already in place with more specific language. This could restore the effectiveness of the Bill of Rights and put it back in its rightful place, above the national government. Until that time, the only way the Bill of Rights will continue to provide shelter from government intrusion is to take it at face value and to quit trying to establish conditions under which it doesn’t mean what it says. The Bill of Rights: Americas Last Defense Against the Federal Suffocat   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Is our Bill of Rights necessary? Does it put a limit on our government, or on our liberty? Do these ten amendments hold the same meaning today as they did two-hundred and fourteen years ago? Are they now or have they ever been relevant? These questions were debated by our nation’s founding fathers in the eighteenth century and continue to be debated by the historians, academics, and political scientists today. Over the course of the last two centuries, its meaning has been twisted and stretched by the interpretation and misinterpretation of our legislature and, most of all, by the Supreme Court wielding its power of judicial review. It is my belief that these rights were and are absolutely essential to maintaining any liberty in this country; however, I also believe they have placed a limit on our liberties in that the government has come to restrict many rights that are not expressly declared in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Perhaps, it is nece ssary to convene a convention dedicated to defining and expanding the protected rights and to put these revisions to the people through normal amendment processes requiring ratification by three-quarters of the states.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To begin, we need to understand what a â€Å"bill of rights† is and where it comes from. Bills, or lists, of rights litter American colonial history, from the Declaration of Rights issued to the British parliament in response to the Stamp Act of 1765, which led to the repeal of that act, to those found in state governments such as Virginia and Delaware during the earliest days of the new nation. These lists were written in response to years of oppression suffered by the colonists at the hands of a tyrannical British government. They outlined certain individual rights that were held to be above government regulation by the philosophy of the time. Though the first ten amendments do not constitute the first list of rights ever devised, they are the first list incorporated into a national constitution.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The founders developed two contradicting viewpoints on this subject, which threatened to bring the process of ratification to a standstill. In his letters, Federalist 84 and Federalist 85, Alexander Hamilton, writing as â€Å"Publius†, summarized the federalist argument against the bill of rights. He presented what I f... ...oncerns, their philosophies are outdated. Perhaps our constitution is inadequate. If this is so, should we not change it rather than allow the justices of the Supreme Court to decide what it means as they see fit for the current political, social, or economic climate? It took an entire nation to decide the wording of our present constitution. Is it fair to leave its interpretation in the hands of only nine men and women? Does it make sense to allow them to decide that terms which are written as absolutes could, in some cases, be conditional? I propose a simple solution to the problem. We, the people of this nation, need to decide what we want our Constitution to say. Then, we need to rephrase the wording so that it cannot be misinterpreted. This would require amending the amendments that are already in place with more specific language. This could restore the effectiveness of the Bill of Rights and put it back in its rightful place, above the national government. Until that time, the only way the Bill of Rights will continue to provide shelter from government intrusion is to take it at face value and to quit trying to establish conditions under which it doesn’t mean what it says.

For Some Odd & Strange Reason :: Essays Papers

For Some Odd & Strange Reason It was a cold and blistering December morning on the campus of SUNY Brockport. Waking up and going to class on these dreadful mornings are a students worst nightmare. But for some odd and strange reason, something possessed me to get up early and retrieve a hot cup of java from the college coffee shop, Jitterbugs. Getting coffee was a regular occurrence for me every Monday afternoon after my classes were finished for the day. But for some odd and strange reason, be it the cold weather, the thought of a steamy cup of Joe or perhaps the dire need for caffeine, I managed to pull myself out of bed and go to Jitterbugs. Now because I am an afternoon regular at the coffee shop, I thought I knew everyone who worked there. Maybe not by their name but by their face, personality and their ability to make select coffee specialties like the double mocha latte with just a bit of foam. But when I walked in the door, something new hit me other than the smell of fresh Co lombian coffee at eight o’clock in the morning. The first thing I saw when I walked into the shop was this young attractive girl working behind the counter that I had never seen or spoken to before. For the first time in my life I actually felt attracted to someone that I didn’t know. She was about 5’8’’ with a nice figure; blue eyes and light brown hair that she had taken up while she worked but showed her beautiful face and smile perfectly. When I got up to the counter to order my hot beverage, for some odd and strange reason, my mind went blank. This had never happened to me before when ordering a cup of coffee. After about a minute of silence that felt like an eternity, I finally spoke my first words to the java goddess. Now me being a coffee connoisseur, I figured maybe I should order something nice yet tasty.

India’s Nuclear Policy

The relationship between International Nuclear Regimes and developing nations is a matter of passionate debate. Debate is in process on certain issues like nuclear policy, on grand strategies, on basic political values etc. It is a debate with implications for our individual and collective existence and raises fundamental question about political preferences, approaches and pathways ahead. The end of World War II and use of nuclear bomb presented US with new kind of strategic dilemma. How could a potentially apocalyptic technology once discovered, permanently be kept out of the hands of competitors and in March 1963, President J. F. Kennedy warned the Americans public that 15-25 states would come to posses nuclear weapons by 1970. (Spector,Sanfrancisco,1990) Currently 09 states have successfully detonated nuclear weapons of which 05 are called Nuclear Weapon States- US, Russia, U. K, France, China and rest are India, Pakistan, North Korea, and Israel. The prediction of President Kennedy did not come to pass is not because of lack of technological know how but rather several states that could have developed nuclear weapon program chose not to do so and signed NPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) as non- nuclear weapon states. It is the most questionable treaty by International Nuclear Regime and posses direct criticism from developing nations. The discrimination is inherent in NPT as it allows some state to have nuclear weapons while others not and it is sidestepped by the inclusion of Article VI. It represents a diplomatic victory in the cold war era; success was almost destined from the outset due to simple strategic dynamic: nuclear armed states, as they didn’t want to nullify their strategic advantage by allowing competitors to acquire nuclear weapons. http://www. ippnw. org/Resourcelibrary/Treaties Brief. Pdf) CTBT banns all nuclear explosions, whether they take place in atmosphere or underground the earth. It was negotiated in Geneva between 1994 and 1996. The treaty has not come into force. Without the support from key players like US, China, DPRK, Egypt, to a lesser degree India etc. , it faces an uncertain future. India-Pak largely owing to their low-level nuclear arms race, have not signed the treaty. Though a lot of external pressure is constantly been made for it. (http://www. ocstoc. com/docs/5313084/CTBTO-Fact-Sheet-CTBT-Comprehensive-Nucl earTeat-Ban-Treaty) FMCT- Fissile Material Cut off Treaty similarly bans the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices. Again it has faced similar results as of earlier treaties. There has been a nuclear non-proliferation regime since 1957, but its future is in doubt. Increasingly bilateral influences on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) programs indicate retrenchment from cooperative multilateral behavior. Restrictions on technology transfer, undertaken in efforts to prevent the creation of the unit veto-system have impelled developing countries to break out of the collaborative framework of the regime and pursue autarchic strategies. As far as norms like universality is concerned the developing countries mistrust proposed universal institutions because of disparities in power maintaing advantages for the developed states even under ostensibly universal rules. Also the developing states countering to the International Nuclear Regimes are reluctant to accept sovereignty costs without symbolic and material compensations. Brito, New York, 1983) The Nuclear suppliers states have historically been able to monopolize the supply of materials facilities and technology, because they have the leverage of monopoly suppliers, they have been able to make demands on other states that can’t be ignored. The developing states have had little of the power within the regime enjoyed by the nuclear suppliers. (Schiff, New Jersey, 1984) Along with these the other treaties and groups like outer space treaty, Sea bed treaty, London Group, Australia Group etc. hich form the international nuclear regime are known for their discriminatory policies especially for the concern of developing nations. So it becomes necessary to study their role in making of nuclear policy of India. The Indian Nuclear Program was started in mid-1940s as India gained independence from centuries of British rule, and after the use of atomic weapons against Japan by U. S. both these legacies have had an impact on Indian leaders. In 1948 the Atomic Energy Act was set up. Under it the Department of Atomic Energy was created in 1954. (http://www. world-nuclear. org/info/inf53. tml) Obduracy of Nuclear powers of the world compelled India to go nuclear. Legitimization of nuclear weapons by international community also contributed towards India going nuclear. Rising trends of intervention by the industrialized nations in the domestic affairs of developi ng nations, among which India is also one, also compelled India to direct its nuclear resources towards nuclear weapons. It was necessary for India to protect the autonomy of decision making in the developmental process in strategic matter which are inalienable democratic rights of one sixth of the global population residing in India. From the beginning, the Indian nuclear programme was ambitious, India developed facilities for mining Uranium, fabricating fuel, manufacturing heavy water, and reprocessing spent fuel etc. the program never lost sight of the military uses of atomic energy. During 1950s Homi Bhabha, the chief architect of nuclear program, was greatly interested in developing the technology for peaceful nuclear explosions, an interest that culminated ultimately in the 1974 nuclear test at Pokhran. Yet India was a champion of NAM. Even as its nuclear program was growing, India was at the forefront of several disarmament proposals including CTBT, originally suggested by Nehru in 1954. (Rajain, New Delhi, 2005) National Security considerations -During the negotiations of Nuclear NPT in 1967, India argued against the discriminatory aspect and called it nuclear colonialism. During the course of the CTBT negotiations, there was a crucial change in the Indian stance. As Salman Hyder said â€Å"We don’t believe that the acquisition of nuclear weapon is essential for our national security and we have followed a conscious decision in this regard†. This was completely in line with the traditional Indian view point of not using nuclear weapon for military uses. But on 20-June-1996 when the Indian Ambassador to the Conference on Disarmament, Arundhati Ghose, rejected the CTBT in the present form, she said that the CTBT was not in Indian security interests and our national security considerations have become a key factor in our decision making. This was a marked shift in Indian nuclear policy making. (Peimani, New Delhi, 2000) Domestic Trends- These shifts towards global disarmament and its increasingly strident criticism of any step by step measures towards nuclear disarmament influenced by domestic or internal trends on forces. Ever since the early 1960s, hawkish sections of the Indian policy making community have argued in the domestic media in favor of building a nuclear arsenal. The 1974 nuclear tests is in part, a display of their influences. The last few governments in India have been relatively weak and unstable, all formed by coalitions of various parties with different agendas. Hence there came a little slowdown in the the nuclear policy making as parties from the left-Marxist views turned out to be an obstacle dealing with the issue at international level and many other factors also pressurized the relatively weak governments. But governments managed to follow consistent opposition to any restraints on Indian nuclear and missile program. (http://www. meadv. gov. in/govt/inducld. html) In reality however, Indian leaders including Rajiv Gandhi, V. P. Singh, Atal Bihari Vajpayee- did the bare minimum to operationalize and institutionalize the nuclear option. Also the nuclear weapons are seen by political leaders essentially as a way to enhance their domestic standing and their nation’s international status. PM Indira Gandhi’s decision to give green light to 1974 PNE was domestic politics. Similarly after series of tests in May 1998, Home Minister L. K. Advani felt compelled to issue a nuclear threat to Pakistan. While China is cited as the motivation behind India’s Nuclear Weapons Programme, but that is irrelevant to most of the Indians for whom Pakistan is a bigger threat. Similar nuclear nationalism is also evident in the actions of Indian leaders at International level. The crossover of the external pressure into the domestic political arena was evident during CTBT negotiations. Both P. VNarsimha Rao and H. D. Deve Gowda governments showed unvandering support towards India’s strategic enclave (and opposition to CTBT). But on the other hand there was perception that after 1999 the doors would be closed to enhance India’s nuclear status so much so that Former PM I. K Gujral a nuclear dove admitted that had he continued in office until Sep. 999, the pressure to test would have been difficult to resist. But in spite of weak coalition government Indian hawks managed pressure imposed by the NWS and particularly USA. Also the economic liberalization program has contributed in an indirect way to the campaign. Hand in hand with the 5-10% increase in the Indian economy has been the rise of Indian elite group who insisted to make India a powerful nation. (Sidhu, NewDelhi, 2004). India has proved that it is capable of playing hard ball with the great powers and the time has come for the west especially USA to recognize India’s nuclear status. And was done also as Nuclear deal with US, Russia, France, Canada, Kazakhstan, Mongolia etc. Till December 2008 Russia’s Rosatom and French- Areva had contracted to supply Uranium. Where as January 2009- Kazatomprom signed a MoU for supplying 300tones Uranium in 2010-11. September 2009 Uranium supply agreement with Mongolia and Namibia. March 2010 Russia offered India stake in its Sakha Republic and agreed on a Joint Venture with ARMZ uranium holding. In July 2010 the Minster of Science and technology reported that India had received 868tU from France, Russia and Kazakhstan. http://www. meadv. gov. in/govt/inducld. html) Following the 2005 agreement between US and Indian heads of state on nuclear energy cooperation, UK indicated its strong support for great cooperation and France- Canada moved in similar direction. US department of commerce, the UK and Canada relaxed control on exports of technology to Indian staying under guidelines of NSG. In October 2008 US-Congress passed the bill allowing civil nuclear trade with India and also a nuclear trade agreement was signed with France. Erckel, London, 2008) As of now India has total 19 operating nuclear power reactors other than this 04 are under construction 39- are planned or firmly proposed. 05 new Nuclear Energy Parks under construction Uranium resources 54000 tones uranium is reasonably assured resources 2350 tones uranium estimated additional in situ. (http://www. world-nuclear. org/info/info80. html) All this proves India to be a big Nuclear State with accelerated growth in the nuclear sector. Also it becomes important to look into the matter that how in spite of not signing any disarmament or nuclear non-proliferation agreement and keeping a strong standing position against all the external pressures exerted by big powers, how India managed to officially mark its presences in the nuclear club. As doing various nuclear trade agreements with countries like US, France, Canada, Russia etc. in itself position India to be a nuclear weapon state which earlier these countries were not willing to agree with. The status of India as the head of developing countries against the International nuclear regime is also the matter to be studied in order understand Indian Nuclear Policy. The dramatic changes from a nuclear dove to a nuclear hawk behavior in the Indian policy making with regard to nuclear issues is another point to be studied. And the fundamental change in the domestic politics from single party government to coalition has also marked great influence in the nuclear policy making.