Call Centre Offshoring To India: The Revenge of History?

Abstract This paper subjects claims of inexorable offshoring and cataclysmic UK call centre job loss to critical inquiry, and challenges the theoretical assumptions on which they rest. As the first academic study of the dynamics of call centre offshoring to India, this paper breaks new ground, presenting evidence from a two-year research project. Firstly, we analyse the current outsourcing practices, and interrogate the future intentions, of call centre firms operating in Scotland As a key region of call centre activity, Scotland provides a useful prism through which general trends can be evaluated Secondly, we provide a comprehensive review of developments in the Indian sector. Synthesising research findings from Scotland and India enables us to identify and analyse factors driving, facilitating and inhibiting call centre migration.

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