Abstract
ABSTRACTAfter observing the growth of the Indian and Filipino Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sectors, Kenyan policy-makers and managers made substantial investments in international internet infrastructure and BPO marketing campaigns. While observers continue to discuss the sector in terms of its international work opportunities, in recent years the sector has increasingly focused on contracts sourced from Kenyan and other East African clients. The government has also refocused efforts on attracting international BPO companies. This domestic turn signals both the difficulties of gaining access to overseas work due to the power of incumbents and the increasing use of the internet and ICT-enabled automation within Kenyan organisations. In effect, better connectivity has enabled a two-way globalisation of services: Kenyan BPO companies can access international work opportunities but connectivity has also contributed to the inflow of international business practices into Kenya. The conclusion examines what these shifts might entail for the sector and its workers in future.
Highlights
Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) can loosely be described as service work contracted out to a third party
Better connectivity has enabled a two-way globalisation of services: Kenyan BPO companies can access international work opportunities but connectivity has contributed to the inflow of international business practices into Kenya
The increasing geographical spread of BPO has resulted both from pressures to reduce costs and from desires by multinational companies (MNCs) to spread risk across markets (Kleibert, 2014)
Summary
Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) can loosely be described as service work contracted out to a third party. Few connected the deeper penetration of high speed internet nor the development of an exportoriented BPO sector with the potential for greater domestic outsourcing within Kenya itself (that is Kenyan BPO companies conducting work for other Kenyan companies). Fieldwork sought to uncover whether or not the arrival of fibre optic internet in 2009 had allowed managers of Kenyan BPO and ITES companies the opportunity to more effectively compete for international BPO contracts and work opportunities. We discuss whether increased domestic outsourcing is likely to increase forward and backward linkages between multinational BPO networks and Kenya’s own national economy, whether these linkages are likely to increase the potentials of disinvestment and relocation or instead increase the potential for economic upgrading within the Kenyan economy and whether or not the sector is likely to provide stable employment prospects for its workers. We draw on the experiences of India and the Philippines to understand these shifts
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