A Project Report

On

The Marketing Strategies used by KPOs

across Gujarat

Submitted to:

Dr. Parag Sanghani

Submitted by:

Salin George
Ashish Vanar
(MBA 2006-08)

AES Post Graduate Institute of Business Management

Ahmedabad

AES Post Graduate Institute of Business Management

Ahmedabad

CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that Mr. Salin George and Mr. Ashish Vanar, students of MBA (200608) at AES Post Graduate Institute of Business Management, Ahmedabad have prepared a
Project Study Report on The Marketing Strategies used by KPOs across Gujarat in
partial fulfillment of two years full-time MBA Programme of Gujarat University. This
project work has been undertaken under the guidance of Dr. Parag Sanghani, core faculty
at AES Post Graduate Institute of Business Management, Ahmedabad.
This is also to ascertain that this project has been prepared only for the award of MBA
degree and has not been submitted for any other purpose.

Dr Parag Sanghani

Prof. Bijal Mehta

Dr. A.H. Kalro

Director I/c & Guide

Faculty Member & Co Guide

Director

Date:
Place:

LIST OF FIGURES
Fig. 1.1

Services offered by KPO.. 13

Fig. 2.1

Estimated growth of KPO Industry for 2003-2010... 27

Fig. 3.1

India as an outsourcing Hub.. 33

Fig. 5.1

Processes at Fortune InfoTech...68

Fig. 5.2

Services provided by Rishab Software.. 77

LIST OF TABLES
Table 4.1

SWOT Analysis of KPO 43

Table 6.1

Comparison on Basis of Sectors..86

Table 6.2

Benefits in India as compared to other nations.. 88

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Business Process Outsourcing is still a big opportunity in emerging
countries because it is cheaper and more efficient. But when the scale of work is
large enough, it makes sense for multinational corporations to set up captive centers
in emerging country rather than outsource to smaller country-owned companies. So,
it will be difficult for the small company to break in. At this point, the small
country-owned companies should leverage their own specialized skills to capture a
specialized market. It is being called Knowledge Process Outsourcing (hereafter
called: KPO) as opposed to BPO.
This practical aspect of this project is to analyze and study the various
marketing strategies used by KPOs and to identify what the value and the risk of
the KPO is in the outsourcing market. The primary functions of the project is to
identify a market segment, to articulate the value proposition through the services
they provide to define the structure of the firms value chain and the competitive
marketing strategy.

Market Segment: Purchasing drivers and demand have been increased

due to rapidly changing external environment, and the non core process
service area, which is especially required to have high degree of
difficulty, should be the main target segment, and the market segments
have been evaluated as attractive, but not as good as its good growth rate
due to poor industry structural attractiveness. So, highly specialized
services area is the main market segment with the high growth rate, but
KPO service providers should have outstanding competitiveness to
survive in the poor industry structure.

Value Proposition: The value innovation is stemmed from a combination

of creating new specialized services, raising service quality and
knowledgeable staff, instead of reducing cost competitiveness relatively
and eliminating the effect of economies of scale. So, the main factors to
differentiate would be unique serviceability of specialized knowledge
with more competitive cost.

Value Chain and Value Network: KPO service do not cover entire value
chain of corporate activities, instead KPO service providers only provide
service value with marketing and sales activity based on their human
resources. The source of competitiveness of KPO service providers in
the value chain is serviceability based on their human resource
management to deliver a value to customers.

Competitive Strategy: KPO service providers should maintain relative

low cost at least than customers, but do not have to make cost less than
other BPO service providers because they pursue different service
segments. Also, they should offer the highly specialized knowledge
services to gain differentiation competitiveness. So, KPO service
providers should have relative cost leadership than their customers by
utilizing highly educated, but low cost labor human resources from
emerging countries. The main competitive strategy for KPO service
providers should be focusing strategy.

The KPO industry is so attractive but highly competitive, the value

proposition is highly specialized knowledge services, the value chain and network
is focusing on service based on human resources, the competitive strategy is
focusing strategy on the highly specialized areas with differentiation as well as
relatively lower cost, and the revenue generation is providing the greater value for
client than the proposed price as well as value created by client.
Nevertheless, each of the elements is static and do not create value by
themselves. The values of the innovative KPOs are apparently created by flow of
business ecosystem, which the market segment is based on client demand and value
proposition is delivered to client with the favorable circle of revenue creation
mechanism throughout the value chain and the value network under the
differentiation and low cost strategy.

The values and the risks of the KPO should be both considered, and then the
KPO can be established to be innovative and sustainable. So, the critical success
factors for the innovative KPOs are to maximize the values and to minimize the
risks for each elements of the business model. To maximize the values and to
minimize the risks successfully, both should be treated systemically using the right
measurement framework. Hence, the next issues are to strengthen the current
evaluation model to be more precise and to apply the model in the real company. It
will be the foundation of making more successful and solid KPO in the future.
The research was conducted using both primary and secondary sources. We
considered a total of about 15 service providers from cities across Gujarat. These
were organizations claiming to have or provide KPO services. However, we found
that only 8 service providers performed knowledge services operations, as per our
definition. The primary research covered 8 KPO service providers. The main areas
of information covered were size and scale of operations, number of resources,
locations, types of KPO services provided to clients, the various Marketing
Strategies used, the decision maker, problems while implementing the strategies
and future outlook.

INTRODUCTION

1.1

PROJECT OUTLINE

1.1.1

OBJECTIVE
To obtain an overview of the KPO industry in India with respect to:-

1.1.2

History, benefits, risks and challenges

Trends in outsourcing

Industry analysis

Comparative analysis of Marketing Strategies

Geographical and core competency analysis of KPO/BPO.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
In order to conduct the detailed comparative analysis of the Marketing
Strategies of the various KPO firms, a detailed research was conducted by
administering a questionnaire among the major KPO firms in Gujarat. A
representative number of firms were included as samples by way of convenient
sampling. The manager of these organizations were administered the questionnaire
and detailed inferences were made regarding the current Marketing Strategies
among the various firms.
Research Content
The study involved conducting a survey amongst major KPO in Gujarat.
The study was conducted in order to gauge the Marketing Strategies that are being
currently followed in the industry and also to prepare a comparative analysis of
these strategies based on different criteria such as geographical location and core
competency.

Research design
The research was conducted in two phases-qualitative and quantitative
phases.
The quantitative phase of the research was conducted by collecting
responses to a semi-structured questionnaire and the responses were collected from
the managers of major KPO companies in Gujarat. The questionnaire used is
attached as Annexure A. The main purpose of this questionnaire was to understand
the various Marketing Strategies and analyze on basis of geography and core
competency.
The qualitative phase was largely exploratory in nature and was conducted
by telephonic and in depth one to one interviews of managers of major KPO
companies. The interviews questions were generally related to the Marketing and
the commonly found trends and challenges of Marketing in KPO. The main purpose
for these interviews was to understand the current trends as well as the future
expected trends in KPO industry.
Sampling plan
The study included collecting data from major KPO companies. The
responses were collected from major companies and then a comparative analysis
was made to compare the various Marketing Strategies. These analyses were based
on the overall information available through the questionnaire.
The research sample was collected after analyzing the various KPO
companies that were more or less on the same levels in terms of employee strength,
revenue turnover and market presence.
Sources of data
The primary data was collected through responses to questionnaires and the
secondary data was obtained from relevant articles and editorials of magazines,
newspapers, journals and the World Wide Web.

1.1.3

FUTURE & SCOPE

The study includes a detailed introduction about outsourcing, off shoring,

KPO industry in India. It throws light with respect to the history, benefits,
risks and challenges faced by the Indian KPO sector in India.

The study also tries to understand and evaluate the changing trends in
outsourcing and it also tries to differentiate KPO firms from BPO firms.

The study includes detailed analysis of India as an outsourcing hub and it

also tries to bring out the advantages to Indian economy due to this industry.
The study tries to conduct a detailed SWOT analysis of the entire KPO
industry in India.

The study tries to conduct a detailed analysis on the Marketing Strategies

followed by various KPO firms across Gujarat. It also tries to bring out the
geographical comparisons amongst KPO firms on the basis of core
competencies as well as on the basis of the nature of services conducted.

The study tries to also give out details pertaining to the findings of the
Marketing Strategies through survey that was conducted among various
KPO firms in Gujarat.

1.1.4

LIMITATIONS

Limited time for the project.

Confidentiality of data.

Lack of clarity among the scope of activities of KPO/BPO firms.

Lack of availability of data.

Lack of responsiveness of the KPO personals.

Lack of awareness about the potentials of KPO industry.

1.2

OUTSOURCING
Outsourcing involves the transfer of the management and/or day-to-day
execution of an entire business function to an external service provider. The client
organization and the supplier enter into a contractual agreement that defines the
transferred services. Under the agreement the supplier acquires the means of
production in the form of a transfer of people, assets and other resources from the
client. The client agrees to procure the services from the supplier for the term of the
contract. Business segments typically outsourced include information technology,
human resources, facilities and real estate management, and accounting. Many
companies also outsource customer support and call center functions like
telemarketing, customer services, market research, manufacturing and engineering.
Multisourcing refers to large outsourcing agreements. Multisourcing is a
framework to enable different parts of the client business to be sourced from
different suppliers. This requires a governance model that communicates strategy,
clearly defines responsibility and has end-to-end integration.

1.2.1

PROCESS OF OUTSOURCING
Deciding to outsource
The decision to outsource is taken at a strategic level and normally requires
board approval. Outsourcing is the divestiture of a business function involving the
transfer of people and the sale of assets to the supplier. The process begins with the
client identifying what is to be outsourced and building a business case to justify the
decision. Only once a high level business case has been established for the scope of
services will a search begin to choose an outsourcing partner.
Supplier proposals
A Request for Proposal (RFP) is issued to the shortlist suppliers requesting a
proposal and a price.

Supplier competition
A competition is held where the client marks and scores the supplier
proposals. This may involve a number of face-to-face meetings to clarify the client
requirements and the supplier response. The suppliers will be qualified out until
only a few remain. This is known as down select in the industry. It is normal to go
into the due diligence stage with two suppliers to maintain the competition.
Following due diligence the suppliers submit a "best and final offer" (BAFO) for
the client to make the final down select decision to one supplier. It is not unusual
for two suppliers to go into competitive negotiations.
Negotiations
The negotiations take the original RFP, the supplier proposals, BAFO
submissions and convert these into the contractual agreement between the client and
the supplier. This stage finalizes the documentation and the final pricing structure.
Contract finalization
At the heart of every outsourcing deal is a contractual agreement that
defines how the client and the supplier will work together. This is a legally binding
document and is core to the governance of the relationship. There are three
significant dates that each party signs up to the contract signature date, the effective
date when the contract terms become active and a service commencement date
when the supplier will take over the services.
Transition
The transition will begin from the effective date and normally run until four
months after service commencement date. This is the process for the staff transfer
and the take-on of services.

Transformation
The Transformation is the execution of a set of projects to implement the
Service Level Agreement (SLA), to reduce the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) or
to implement new Services. Emphasis is on 'standardization' and 'centralization'.
Ongoing service delivery
This is the execution of the agreement and lasts for the term of the contract.
Termination or renewal
Near the end of the contract term a decision will be made to terminate or
renew the contract. Termination may involve taking back services (in sourcing) or
the transfer of services to another supplier..
1.2.2

REASONS FOR OUTSOURCING

Organizations that outsource are seeking to realize benefits or address the
following issues:
Cost savings
The lowering of the overall cost of the service to the business. This will
involve reducing the scope, defining quality levels, re-pricing, re-negotiation, cost
re-structuring. Access to lower cost economies through Offshoring called "labor
arbitrage" generated by the wage gap between industrialized and developing
nations.
Cost restructuring
Operating leverage is a measure that compares fixed costs to variable costs.
Outsourcing changes the balance of this ratio by offering a move from fixed to
variable cost and also by making variable costs more predictable.

Improve quality
Achieve a step change in quality through contracting out the service with a
new Service Level Agreement.
Knowledge
Access to intellectual property, wider experience and knowledge.
Contract
Services will be provided to a legally binding contract with financial
penalties and legal redress. This is not the case with internal services.
Operational expertise
Access to operational best practice that would be too difficult or time
consuming to develop in-house.
Reduce time to market
The acceleration of the development or production of a product through the
additional capability brought by the supplier.
Risk management
An approach to risk management for some types of risks is to partner with
an outsourcer who is better able to provide the mitigation.
Customer Pressure
Customers may see benefits in dealing with your company, but are not
happy with the performance of certain elements of the business, which they may not
see a solution to except through outsourcing.

1.3

OFFSHORING
Offshoring describes the relocation of business processes from one country
to another. This includes any business process such as production, manufacturing,
or services.
Offshoring can be seen in the context of either production Offshoring or
services Offshoring. After its accession to the WTO in 2001, China emerged as a
prominent destination for production Offshoring. After technical progress in
telecommunications improved the possibilities of trade in services, India became a
country leading in this domain though many parts of the world are now emerging as
offshore destinations.
The economic logic is to reduce costs. If some people can use some of their
skills more cheaply than others, those people have the comparative advantage. The
idea is that countries should freely trade the items that cost the least for them to
produce.
Outsourcing and Offshoring are used interchangeably in public discourse
despite important technical differences. Outsourcing involves contracting with a
supplier, which may or may not involve some degree of Offshoring. Offshoring is
the transfer of an organizational function to another country, regardless of whether
the work is outsourced or stays within the same corporation.
With increasing globalization of outsourcing companies, the distinction
between Outsourcing and Offshoring will become less clear over time. This is
evident in the increasing presence of Indian Outsourcing companies in the US and
UK. The globalization of Outsourcing operating models has resulted in new terms
such as Nearshoring and Rightshoring that reflect the changing mix of locations.
This is seen in the opening of offices and operations centers by Indian companies in
the U.S. and UK.

1.4

KNOWLEDGE PROCESS OUTSOURCING

The emerging Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) is the process where
businesses outsource high end knowledge or judgment services such as investment
banking research, sales and marketing research, IP/patent research, R&D, legal
research and case writing and even animation design. A provider must have an
educated, skilled work force able to think independently and provoke their own free
thought behind any research criteria. KPO involves a high degree of execution risk
as providers look to create and combine complex levels of process, technology, and
services. The business processes will require domain expertise and high-end talent
such as MBAs, engineers, doctors, lawyers, accountants and other highly skilled
professionals. KPO will move outsourcing up the value chain from simply
executing commodity processes to carrying out processes with advanced analytical
and technical skills and more decision making. Though knowledge outsourcing is in
no way a new concept as law firms, doctors and businesses have long outsourced
low-end knowledge work, the off-shoring of knowledge for these processes are
being leveraged. Places such as India, China, Russia and Israel have the necessary
resources to provide these services. The total KPO market is not to be confused
with important functions and resources which KPO depend on such as Electronic
Document Discovery (EDD) market which itself is over $1 billion just in the US
alone.
The Market
The KPO market is currently estimated anywhere from $1-3 billion and is
expected to reach USD 17 billion by 2010, of which USD 12 billion would be
outsourced to India according to eValueserve one of the incumbents in the space.
They estimated that India will capture more than 70 percent of the KPO sector by
2010. Low-end outsourcing services have an expected Cumulative Annual Growth
Rate (CAGR) of 26% by 2010. In contrast, the global KPO market is poised for an
expected CAGR of 46% by 2010.

There is no market study productivity in terms of people. As with the BPO

matrix where success can be measured in the number of bodies employed, no KPO
company can measure success in the number of employees but rather by revenues.
In the US, there is a shortage of talent able to provide the breath of KPO
services. The necessary resources which will fuel this market may be predominantly
found in India. There is more supply there of talent which will posses all the
necessary requirements to service a KPO user than most anywhere else. The KPO
providers can find the data, create the data, analyze the data, manipulate the data,
provide relationships between the data - they cannot tell you what the data means in
specific terms of one's business. That is for the customer to put into perspective for
themselves. To differentiate out from the data what is important to their particular
market. It is highly focused and designed support, not all the answers necessarily.
Buyers
The users of KPO services are market research and consulting firms,
investment banks and financial services groups, life-sciences companies, and law
firms and legal departments of large companies. These services will migrate down
to the small and medium sized businesses as the market matures.

Service Offerings
Fig 1.1 Services offered by KPO

KPO services are primarily focused within intellectual property research,

R&D in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, data mining, and a range of analytical
services such as equity research and financial modeling.
For example, contract research organizations (CRO's) are being widely
used by pharmaceutical companies. Destinations such as India and China offer
significant cost advantages, often as much as 40% to 60%. Many leading pharma
companies have partnered with or set up captive drug discovery centers at low-cost
The patent application process can generate savings of up to 50% by
outsourcing to an offshore KPO organization. The drafting and searches are done by
a professional in India and then forwarded on to be reviewed and filed by a US
patent attorney. Markets like Russia, India and China are well suited for analytics
because of the large access to skilled engineers and PhD's at much lower costs. The
cost arbitrage from a PhD in the US and India can range from $60,000 to $80,000.

To put things into perspective and provide a narrower view of the

components of KPO, look at MarketRX. This company only works within the lifesciences markets and provides information to sales and marketing units through
highly sophisticated analytics and research. Jaswinder Chadha, CEO of MarketRX,
says that over $13 billion a year is spent by life-sciences sales and marketing
departments. Life-sciences groups spend $3 billion on just buying data. If you
spend $3 billion on buying data, what are going to do with it? A life-sciences
company, large or small, would need to outsource to a highly sophisticated group
which could help them make sense of it, maximize it in a timely manner and put it
to better use. Given this perspective, the numbers being provided on the overall
KPO market may be highly understated says Jaswinder. If you take a global
perspective, the world is generating so much data. The people who have made
money are the people who actually help collect, store, and search for that data.
1.4.1 HISTORY
Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) has evolved from the success of the
Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) model. KPO as an idea was initiated in early
1987 when McKinsey set up a knowledge center in India. KPO saw true acceptance
in the year 2000 when companies like GE, Frost & Sullivan, Gartner and Office
Tiger established captive research and analytics, and third-party knowledge services
from offshore facilities in India. The five years from 2000 to 2005 were the growth
years for KPO during which niche service providers like Evalueserve, including
large consulting and investment banks, established offshore knowledge centers.
But, India has its share of challenges; its reputation of being a low-cost
destination, high attrition rates in the industry and an unstable political climate.
RocSearch, a global research support services company, expects the market in India
to scale down from USD 12 billion to USD 5 billion, and employment levels to
drop from 250,000 to 100,000.

But, on a positive note, India is adding more than three million graduates
and professional degree and diploma holders annually. Home to the worlds second
largest reservoir of engineers and scientists, and the second largest pool of IT
manpower, India does possess a distinct competitive edge. To further catalyze the
growth in KPO, India should focus on developing a talent pool to manage this
expected growth. The future of KPO in India depends not only on how India moves
up the value chain in terms of services and offerings but also on how India can
retain its competitive advantage of cost arbitrage, pool of knowledge professionals,
and quality of deliverables. India is a proven success story in ITO and BPO; KPO is
one in the making.
India is one of the most preferred destinations for KPO because of its
competitive edge in terms of a large English speaking labor pool, inherent domain
expertise due to a large and developed domestic services industry, knowledge and
application of internationally accepted quality standards and processes; in addition
to it having the first mover advantage with a well-established vendor base. But
other geographies like Brazil, Israel, Ireland, Philippines and China are fast gearing
up their education delivery mechanisms to eat a share of this $12 billion market by
2010.
1.4.2

BENEFITS
The benefits gained by KPO users are more than just cost savings. As with
BPO, KPO users save time and are able to gain more operational efficiencies by
focusing on core business activities while having access to a breadth of skills and
technology.
Given the large number of engineers, doctors, lawyers, accountants, and
scientists in India, they have the ability to generate KPO services worth USD 12bn
by FY 2010 instead of USD 720mn that it provided in FY 2003 as eValueserve
estimates. This would represent a cumulative annual growth rate of approximately
50% and 250,000 such professionals would be hired by Indian KPO providers by
FY 2010, which would therefore provide direct employment worth 300,000 people.

1.4.3

RISKS & CHALLENGES

There are various risks and challenges around providing KPO services,
specifically offshore. Major on this list is the security and confidentiality of data,
customer information and proprietary IP. The regulatory environment may cause
certain information to stay with the Company. However, multi-national companies
may develop or buy their own captive in an offshore location to eliminate these
risks and leverage the advantages of the location.
As well, executing KPO projects is not easy and requires a professional
services culture rather than a BPO culture. Processes executed within the KPO
domain require higher quality standards because the stakes for the clients are high.
Furthermore, the clients are likely to have apprehension about the quality of the
services delivered (especially by low-cost destinations) and these may be difficult to
alleviate.
Other countries like China and South Korea, however, have progressed
much faster. South Korea and China received private sector contribution to the tune
of 60-65% of the total outlay for R&D. Public-Private-Partnership in R&D support
in S. Korea and China is significant. In India, private sector contribution to overall
R&D outlay is only to the tune of 25% of the total outlay. The number of scientists
per thousand populations in China is about 6 times that of India. Therefore, China
may have higher quantum of papers but India does not suffer from quality
shortfalls.

LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1

CHANGING TRENDS IN OUTSOURCING

Embracing technology as a driving force, knowledge and transaction
outsourcing is changing the way businesses conduct themselves in the global
marketplace.
After analyzing the challenges and the importance of strategic thinking in
knowledge-intensive industries it is now time to show some future trends and
strategies. Companies are acting in more and more turbulent markets and are forced
to react ever faster given the opportunities and risks they face. Global competition
is becoming stronger and innovation cycles and product lifecycles are growing ever
shorter. At the same time, a greater diversity of products is flooding the market,
with much faster delivery times than even two years ago. Here are some of the
major trends that most of the companies will face in the next five to ten years:

They will have to further cut costs, especially by transforming fixed costs
into variable costs through resource reallocation.

Continuously examine the external environment for new opportunities to

grow and develop their business. This can be done through Research &
Development and global expansion through mergers and acquisitions.

They will have to be more reactive and adapt to market changes and this
also includes the internal environment. Market challenges require changes
and adjustments within the corporate structure. They will have to create
smaller entrepreneurial units to increase flexibility and the reaction speed to
these changes.
One of key factors to achieve these goals is the implementation of

knowledge outsourcing in the overall corporate strategy. But even the best
outsourcing strategy is worthless if it is not communicated to the service vendor
adequately. Only if both partners understand the outsourcing of knowledgeintensive processes as a strategic tool can both of them benefit, and only then can it
provide all of the success factors mentioned above. But even if the executives know
about the importance of outsourcing, they might not know how to do it best.

According to Corbett (2005), there are some good ways to improve the outsourcing
success rate:

Training
It is important to know what, where and how to outsource. This should be
the subject of internal and external analysis, and training sessions should be
conducted with outsourcing experts who have a deep understanding of the industry
and who know how to create and manage outsourcing relationships.

Standard Certificates
One way to verify the reliability of outsourcing vendors is professional
certification based on recognized industry standards. Standards for outsourcing
professionals, such as those being developed by the International Association of
Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP) and the Outsourcing Standards Board (OSB) will
bring better skills and more professionalism to the knowledge outsourcing industry.
Standards for security quality, scope definition, financial analysis, contracting,
pricing, negotiating, contract management, and dispute resolution will help both
sides to set up their outsourcing business.

Goal Orientation
It is very important to find evaluation criteria in order to be able to improve
the outsourcing strategy based on facts and not on opinions. Although it is so
important, very little work has been done to establish a benchmarking system for
high-performance outsourcing outcomes and to identify the processes that lead to
superior results. Here it is up to the partners to find individual criteria to determine
the success of the outsourcing process.

Challenge the Providers

It is no longer good enough to offer customers a better, faster, cheaper
solution for something that they are already doing today. If providers want to
convince customers to change their outsourcing strategy (from project-orientated to
process-orientated), they must work with their clients to keep developing and
implementing new solutions well ahead of their customers needs. This implies that
the KPO-providers have to develop deep domain expertise and know-how and
invest in R&D just like any other industry if they are to continue to out
innovate and out-perform their customers.

Technology
Technology helps to improve the flow of information and managements
control. Tools such as knowledge- and project management help companies to
improve their outsourcing ROI in three different ways:

They avoid duplication of services and billing errors.

They increase the quality of outsourcing processes.

They reduce the management costs that tend to grow exponentially as the
amount of outsourcing activities increases. Using technology to link all of
the companys internal and external people and processes will enable
companies to build and manage the strategic outsourcing partnership much
more efficient.

Governance and Management

Long-term orientated outsourcing programs require governance and
ongoing management to ensure success. Governance ensures that the client and the
supplier understand the what, when and how of outsourcing, along with the role
each partner plays. One way to solve this conflict is to determine a process
framework. On-going Management ensures that return on investment does not just
come from labor arbitrage solely, but also from improved productivity. As already
suggested, this task can be managed by the outsourcing management office. The
most successful outsourcers invest 5-8% of the contract value in governance and
on-going management. This investment ensures that the value of costs, productivity,
quality and speed are captured now and in the future.

KPO (knowledge process outsourcing) allows organizations to do fairly

complex operations and get the benefit of time to market.
KPO services are much more research and analytical intensive. Unlike
traditional outsourcing, KPO focuses on research for front-office type activities
such as financial planning, credit, quantitative and fixed-income research.
This is where KPO differs from traditional outsourcing and is driving the
outsourcing business to higher levels of technology. BPO focuses on back-office
tasks such as customer service (call centers), financial and accounting services.
KPO, simply put, is BPO but at a higher level in the intellectual value chain.
The crux of KPO is to provide value to the client primarily in business critical and
strategic decision making processes. The constantly higher need for flexibility,
drastic reduction in time required to 'go to the market,' increased competition in the
global arena, and of course, cost pressures have all been the driving forces of KPO.
The healthcare, pharmaceutical, biotechnology and intellectual-property
rights industries achieve greater efficiency through the use of KPO. In comparison
to the industries touched by BPO, those working in the KPO field typically require
a

higher

level

of

education

to

complete

these

more

difficult

tasks.

Another area to benefit from the Offshoring boom is with firms who use
patents. George Sawyer, client executive for Evalueserve predicted a shortage of
U.S. patent attorneys would face technology companies. This is due to the rise in
research-and-development facilities in places such as China and India, he added.
According to a recent article by Evalueserve, approximately 30,000
attorneys and agents are registered with the United States Patent and Trademark
Office. This number will need to rise to more than 38,000 by 2010 in order to keep
pace with increased demand brought on by research-and-development facilities
outsourced to India.

2008 And Beyond

2008 likely to put even more spotlight on the KPO sector in the Indian IT
industry. Indian IT industry has to deal with rising rupee, falling margins and
zooming salaries and more in the coming year so the focus on niche areas that can
create value will attract even more notice. The Rupee has appreciated almost 11%
in last twelve months and experts believe that it might appreciate more in coming
period though not as steeply. US economy is slowing and with upcoming
presidential elections, new business might slow down.
With this background, the leading trends in KPO industry are likely to be:
Increase in number of KPO players
KPO services are more attractive to the companies because they consist of
high end work with better rates. Due to the attractive margins, there would number
of new KPO start ups. Also traditional IT majors and BPO companies will focus
increasingly on KPO sector.
Acquisitions
With larger companies looking to expand into the KPO sector, they will be
keen to acquire already existing niche players rather then start their own practise
from scratch. Also we might see number of KPO companies listing on stock
markets to create war chests and acquire other players.
Higher wages
KPO industry is necessarily skill dependent one where resources with higher
education are a requirement. Most of the KPO companies are in expansion mode.
Value notes research reports that vendors are confident on the top line growth so the
resource crunch is likely to get even worse. Due to the limited resource pool
availability, wages in the industry are likely to increase more rapidly then overall IT
sector.

Expansion into higher end services

As all the companies will try and manage their services portfolio toward
higher value and margin business, more services that fall under KPO classification
will be offered.
Among the KPO sectors, Legal and Business Analytics, Equity research,
Clinical trials analysis, Drug discovery, Pharma research, will be more prominently
featured but the overall portfolio of services will keep on growing.
The views are based on a look through the end of 2010 concentrating
primarily on demand trends today, with thoughts on provider trends in a later post.
With those parameters in mind, here are the top six issues to watch in services
sourcing in the months ahead.

A desire to address the global dimension of the business strategy i.e., the
land of tomorrows customer:

More companies are talking about

outsourcing and Offshoring -- almost interchangeably -- as part of an overall

globalization agenda. Cost savings still matter, of course, but the desire to
participate in emerging new economies is also gaining import.

A growing preference for selecting sourcing alternatives within the context

of a multi-year strategic agenda. Were already seeing fewer acts of
desperation in the sourcing initiatives being launched. To many of us, this
implies that the low-hanging fruit of labor-based sourcing has been
harvested. Companies are now looking for more partnership-minded
relationships.

A push to evaluate sourcing options through the 3C paradigm; total value

orientation. Ill write more about the 3C Framework for Sourcing in a
coming post, but suffice to say its the balanced consideration of
costs/capability/capacity.

The prior overemphasis on near-term cost

reduction is giving way to a new equilibrium. Providers that won under the
former rules may not be positioned for the future orientation toward total
value.

Assessment of existing service delivery relationships for alignment with

strategic direction i.e., not a tactical move. Many of our clients tell us that
they have awoken to find a veritable nest of service provider contracts
existing within their companies. It seems that each business unit and
corporate function has two to three different providers doing work for them.
A serious rationalization is in the offing for the coming quarters, with a
weeding out of the cost-only providers for those that align with the strategic
direction of the client.

Considering outsourcing options for all technology-enabled, peopleintensive work processes i.e., go big and fast. Looking hard at work and
asking whether activities couldnt benefit from scale and automation. Were
seeing wall-to-wall reviews of work processes and serious scrutiny of the
efficiency of the delivery models. There is no slowdown in the consideration
of sourcing alternatives.

Looking at the role and value of captive offshore operations. Captive centers
are showing great value, and we see expansion plans being deployed for
those operations in the coming quarters. While the make-versus-buy
decision is complex, were sensing a continued desire to move knowledgebased work to locations that offer lower costs and greater capacity, with
equal or better capability. Look for a continued desire of some larger
conglomerates to monetize their captive operations, but those will be a
handful, at best.
As the Knowledge Process Outsourcing industry is in its nascent stages it is

very hard to predict how this new trend will evolve. But if this outsourcing
discipline is to continue to grow over the next five to ten years as it has over the
past five, organizations need to produce better results with greater regularity and at
lower costs. To achieve this it will take a stronger consideration of knowledge
outsourcing on the strategic level across the global community of outsourcing
professionals, customers, providers and advisors alike.With the internet boom as
well as due to the globalization the world today has become an open market. In this
competitive era companies are competing with no only with the domestic players
but nowadays it is competing with players across the globe. Such an extended level

of competitiveness has caused the firms to concentrate effectively on the efficiency

and effectiveness. With a few firms exploring the benefits of outsourcing the
various small and routine activities to developing countries like India, China etc
companies today across the globe have adopted the philosophy which believes in
perform those activities which you do the best and outsource the rest. As a result the
wave of outsourcing began.

During earlier years outsourcing was mainly limited to outsourcing the

routine activities so as to reduce the time and effort spent on such less critical
activities. These activities were exported to countries such as India, China etc where
the labour costs involved in performing such routine activities were extremely low
and also labour was available at cheap rates and that too in abundance. Hence
companies used to outsource such activities to these countries and used to focus
only on their core competency. For the countries that were involved in providing
these outsourcing activities was due to the reason that they could earn foreign
currency as well as large part of its workforce could get employment.
As the time passed by companies realized the unexplored knowledge
potential in such countries that were till date referred to as outsourcing hubs. These
companies then in order to explore this huge talent base that was available to
competitive labour rates decided to outsource its research and analytical based
work. These works that were outsourced were a step ahead than the business
processes that used to be outsourced earlier. In this new outsourced work the level
of skill required was higher than the BPO business and also the amount of the
research and analysis that need to be conducted required the help of professionals
such as doctors, MBAs, lawyers, engineers etc. Since these developing countries
have a pool of talent which is equally able and is now available at a rate which is far
low than that which has to be paid to an employee of a developed countries. So in
order to take advantage of the low cost, talented labour pool the companies have
started to establish their own outsourcing hubs in such countries. Also outsourcing
such activities helps the companies not only to reduce its costs but also helps them

to have better efficiency and the work can be carried out 24*7. Overall, KPO looks
poised to take over as the most attractive sector in Indian IT industry in 2008.

2.2

KPO v/s BPO

India has the potential o emerge as a major KPO player in the global arena
by leveraging the intellectual capital and the power of the internet to offer quality
research at value prices. According to Evalueserve study, the current market size of
KPO business globally estimated at US $ 1.2 billion may rise to a staggering US $
17 billion by 2010. Indias earning potential could be US$ 12 billion (70%).
Fig. 2.1 Estimated growth of KPO Sector for 2003-2010

The dividing line between KPO and BPO is still very faded; some experts
say that KPO is not different from BPO. It is only a kind of BPO. Broadly, KPO is a
subset of BPO. It just occupies the higher end of the BPO spectrum.
In fact, KPO owes its existence to BPO. It is its natural progression. After
reaping the benefits of outsourcing low-end processes to India, foreign companies
are now trying their hands at outsourcing high-end processes to the country.

KPO is the next step in the outsourcing pyramid. For instance, in a financial
service BPO, data entry of invoices has been around for some time. But given the
value-for-money Indian BPOs have shown, international companies are thinking;
why not broaden the scope to include financial analysis?
In BPOs there is a pre-defined way to solve a problem. BPOs will
normally include transaction processing, setting up a bank account, selling an
insurance policy, technical support, voice and email-based support.
The myth that Indian companies can only provide "software coolies" is soon
changing to the reality of Indian companies being capable of almost anything, even
rocket science!
India has a large pool of knowledge workers in various sectors ranging from
Pharmacy, Medicine, Law, Biotechnology, Education & Training, Engineering,
Analytics, Design & Animation, Research & Development, Paralegal Content and
even Intelligence services that can be put to use in a KPO.
Low-end outsourcing services have an expected Cumulative Annual Growth
Rate (CAGR) of 26% by 2010. In contrast, the global KPO market is poised for an
expected CAGR of 46% by 2010. The following figure demonstrates the expected
growth in the BPO and KPO markets over the next seven years.
Its very evident from the about discussion that the KPOs are the next big
thing about to happen in India.
But the way to becoming a strong KPO power is not very smooth. KPO
delivers high value to organizations by providing domain-based processes and
business expertise rather than just process expertise.

These processes demand advanced analytical and specialized skill of

knowledge workers that have domain experience to their credit. Therefore
outsourcing of knowledge processes face more challenges than BPO (Business
Process Outsourcing).
Some of the challenges involved in KPO will be maintaining higher quality
standards, investment in KPO infrastructure, the lack of talent pool, requirement of
higher level of control, confidentiality and enhanced risk management.
Comparing these challenges with the Indian IT and ITES service providers,
it is not surprising that India has been ranked the most preferred KPO destination
owing to the country's large talent pool, quality IT training, friendly government
policies and low labor costs.
There are a number of notable differences between KPO and BPO. The six
elements that separate these two processes are focus, process, specialization, driving
force, activities, and client contacts.
BPO has a process which is much simpler than KPO. While BPO places an
emphasis on low level processes, KPO places an emphasis on high level processes
such as patent filing, investment research, and legal issues. When it comes to focus,
KPO focuses on the application of knowledge rather than processes. The
differences in specialization between are primary connected to their domains.
Most BPO workers do not need to have a large amount of knowledge in any
specific areas. The primary requirements for BPO workers are a high command of
the English language and simple computer skills.

In contrast, KPO workers are expected to specialize in specific fields. Some

examples of fields where KPO workers are expected to have specialized knowledge

are financial analysis. These professionals are expected to be qualified as a CA or

MBA. When it comes to driving force, again, KPO companies place an greater
important on knowledge rather than business processes. This is the exact opposite
of BPO companies. The activities of KPOs are different from BPOs as well. Any
activity that requires specialized knowledge will be connected to KPO, while BPO
will use a rigid structure for handling business procedures.
KPO workers can expect to deal with international clients on a regular basis.
They will be responsible for communication issues, and direct communication will
be essential in situations where complicated tasks must be performed.
A number of people have said that there are few differences between KPOs
and BPOs. In reality, KPOs are simply one end of the spectrum. The KPO is an
extension of the BPO, and allows businesses and organizations to carry out a large
number of processes. There are a number of powerful advantages that can be gained
from Knowledge Process Outsourcing.
When work is outsourced to other countries, companies in the developed
nations can save large amounts of money on the cost of manufacture. A number of
studies have indicated that these savings are as much as 40% to 70%. In addition to
this, the profits that are created by the use of KPOs are double the revenues that are
obtained from BPOs.
While BPOs have statistically brought in about $11 per hour, KPOs have
been shown to bring in as much as $24 per hour. Perhaps one of the most powerful
advantages of Knowledge Process Outsourcing are the advantages it brings to
developing countries. By generating revenues from this industry, a country can
become more prosperous.

Business Process Outsourcing

BPO is a business that is process intensive.

BPO are process experts.

BPO have a pre-defined process of doing things.

BPO cater to low end services.

It delivers good quality services for jobs that are low importance and which
requires greater process expertise.

BPO helps in reducing the efforts and time that is spent for routine
activities.

It involves a pre-defined way to handle a business process which is taught to

agents or employees.

BPO generally involves jobs as per a specific process and hence people with
a basic understanding of the language are able to get employed.

Generally BPO employees from varied backgrounds who are basically

under-graduate students, housewives, retired people etc apart from the
regular employees.

Attrition is one of the major problems faced by BPOs. This might be due to
the fact that at BPOs the job is process oriented and hence it becomes
mundane in nature and thereby leading to dissatisfaction among employees.

The services in a BPO includes transaction processing, setting up a bank

account, selling an insurance policy, technical support, voice and emailbased support.

Work is done as per a set of instructions given.

The strategies involved for all the clients of BPO are same.

The kinds of skill required for an employee in BPO are basic proficiency in
English and computer proficiency..

BPO generally requires a mind that has a process orientation and who is able
to work as per instructions given.

Knowledge Process Outsourcing

Its a knowledge intensive business.

KPO requires specialized expertise.

KPOs are high end services.

It delivers high value to customers by delivering business expertise.

Challenges involved in KPO will be maintaining higher quality standards,

investment in KPO infrastructure, lack of talent pool etc.

The business requires high level of control.

Confidentiality and enhanced risk management are major issues at KPO.

It focuses more on transaction analysis and research work.

KPOs generally have customized solutions for its clients.

The skills requirements for KPO employees are high.

Mostly MBA, CA engineers doctors etc are hired are employees.

KPO involves processes that demand advanced information search,

analytical, interpretations and technical skills as well as some judgment and
decision making.

KPO requires application, understanding of business and an analytical bend

of mind.

Examples of KPO are online teaching, patent filing, legal and insurance
claims processing, valuation research, investment research, media content
supply and the likes.

INDIA & KPO

3.1

INDIA AS AN OUTSOURCING HUB

The high-end KPO opportunities are immense for Indian firms.
Fig. 3.1 India as an Outsourcing Hub

India provides the following benefits which will help the country to become
a KPO hub:
Drafting and filing Patent Applications
Drafting and filing of patent applications in the US is quite expensive. A
typical application costs about $10,000 to $15,000 to draft and file with the United
States Patent and Trademark Office. Cost savings from off shoring even a portion
of the patent drafting process can easily save up to 50 per cent of the cost for the
end client and hence many of the US companies as well as law firms are setting up
offices in India and are joining hands with Indian companies to cash on the
emerging opportunity.

R&D and Clinical Research

Off shoring R&D in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology is another area
where there is enormous potential for KPO. Destinations such as India offer
significant cost advantages (as much as 40 to 60 per cent) in the areas of contract
research and clinical trials. Many of the top Pharma companies such as AstraZeneca
and GlaxoSmithKline have recently set up drug discovery centers at low-cost
destinations to offshore R&D activities to India.

Animation
Animation studios like Walt Disney, MGM and Warner Brothers are
already outsourcing low-end work like clean-ups, tweening and modeling to India.
The availability of skilled and trained manpower and Indias ability to keep in step
with the latest technological advances in the industry is prompting foreign studios
to consider India as a base to shift other high-end animation work like
storyboarding and developing original content for animated films ad TV series.

Chip Designing
Chip design and embedded systems is another critical area. The main
reason why all major integrated design manufacturers such as Motorola, Intel,
Analog Devices, National Semiconductor, IBM, Cisco, Cypress Semiconductor,
Nokia and Philips have set up offshore design centers is simple. The compensation
for a chip design engineer with a masters degree and five years experience is
about $7,000 a month in the US. An engineer with the same qualification and
experience in India gets about $1,200 a month. Naturally, the cost savings in KPO
is enormous.

Data-Mining and Statistical Research

The availability of skilled people for conducting statistical research has seen
the immense growth potential for market research, consultancy firms, data-mining
firms, media publishing and database firms. Data-mining services companies can
save as much as 60 to 70 per cent on analytics and inventory management costs by
off-shoring them. A lot of companies such as McKinsey, Goldman Sachs, Reuters,
IMS Health, Harris Interactive, Ipsos, Maritz, AC Nielsen, TN0S and the WPP

group are already using India as a remote base due to the immense low-cost talent
pool available in India.

Engineering Services
Areas such as high-end network engineering/management support, digital
content creation and animation are showing immense growth potential. Engineering
services like CAD/CAM 2D, 3D and CAE modeling and design automation are the
latest additions to the ever-increasing list of processes being outsourced to India.
Tele radiology is the next segment that holds great promise, mainly due to the time
zone differences and the availability of highly skilled radiologists.

3.2

ADVANTAGES IN INDIA
Availability of skilled labour
The ideal KPO employee should possess domain specialization, computer
skills & English proficiency. The Indian way of education, lays great emphasis on
higher education & specialization. Hence a talent pool with specialized knowledge
in any field is readily available. There is also tremendous emphasis on mathematics
and science, resulting in a large number of sciences and engineering graduates. The
ready access to a large intellectual pool with domain expertise in specialized areas,
coupled with operative English language skills helps in the development of having a

skilled pool of employees .Apart from that in India there is a major focus and
preference towards professional courses and therefore there is a large amount of
engineers, chartered accountants, doctors, MBAs, lawyers, research analysts,
scientific researchers and PhDs,. From all these factors we can say that India is well
positioned to address the global KPO need through its availability of skilled labour.

English language advantage

English has been recognized as the global language of conducting business.
At the KPO level English proficiency becomes extremely important as a lot of the
research work is done on the basis of this language. In India In all good educational
institutions, from kindergarten to graduation & beyond, the preferred medium of
education is English resulting in a significantly large population of educated &
qualified professionals being conversant if not proficient in the English language.

Infrastructure Development
The government has been continuously improving infrastructure with better
roads, setting up technology parks, opening up telecom for enhanced connectivity,
providing uninterrupted power to augment growth.

Government Support
A lot of research has been done on the various effects of the upcoming KPO
business and its contributions to the Indian economy. The Indian government has
now recognized that this sector will influence our economic development
extensively in the future & it has taken remarkable measures towards liberalization
and deregulation. Recent reforms have reduced licensing requirements, made
foreign technology accessible, removed restrictions on investment and made the
process of investment much easier. A lot of IT parks have been set up in Tier 2
cities. Apart from that subsidies are also being granted for the establishment of
SMEs.

IT /Knowledge Parks

The last five years have seen vast development in Knowledge Parks, with
infrastructure of global standards, in cities like Chennai, Bangalore and Gurgaon.
Multi tenanted intelligent buildings, built to-suit facilities, sprawling campuses are
tailor made to suit customer requirements.

Telephone Deregulation
International Long Distance, National Long Distance and Basic Telephone
services have been opened up for free competition. ISPs have been granted licenses
freely to establish their own international gateways and submarine cable landing
stations. Internet telephony too has been allowed. Tax holidays and concessions for
companies involved in scientific R&D are just some of the steps to create a
progrowth environment.

India The Trust Factor

From

individual

companies

to

associations

like

NASSCOM

(The National Association of Software Services Companies) & the government,

proactive measures are being taken to ensure that India is viewed as a destination
for trustworthy outsourcing. Nasscom collaborates with the government to ensure
that Indias data privacy legislation is aligned with those of the U.S. It also intends
to have the security practices of all its 860 member companies audited by
international accounting firms. The government has also taken initiatives to focus
on the issues of data privacy, information security and Intellectual Property Rights
(IPR).

Standards in Quality
In India companies have achieved high levels of quality standards. More
than 200 companies are quality accredited and serve over 255 Fortune 500
companies. India now has far more SEI CMM Level 5 companies than any other
country. Many companies have aligned their Quality Management Systems with
ISO 9000 standards. The availability of technically trained and skilled manpower in
India is making companies across the world look at the country as a profitable base
to shift their high-end support services.

SWOT ANALYSIS OF KPO INDUSTRY

4.1

STRENGTHS
The abundant skilled manpower has made India a target destination for
multinationals to back end their operations in India. India ranks high in areas such
as qualifications, capabilities, quality of work, linguistic capabilities and work
ethics, and thus is ahead of competitors such as China, Philippines, Ireland,
Australia, Canada etc. Indian companies have unique capabilities and systems to set
measure and monitor quality targets. The various strengths of opening a KPO in
India are:

Highly skilled personals.

Talented workforce.

Abundant manpower

Cheaper

workforce

than

their

Western

counterparts.

According to Nasscom, the wage difference is as high as 7080 percent when compared to their Western counterparts.

Lower attrition rates than in the West.

Dedicated workforce aiming at making a long-term career in

the field.

Round-the-clock advantage for Western companies due to the

huge time difference.

4.2

WEAKNESS

Lower response time with efficient and effective service.

Operational excellence

Conducive business environment

Business entities will spend more than $50 billion on offshore and nearshore outsourcing by 2007, but many offshore projects will fail because of poor
planning, according to a recent report from Gartner Inc. Some organizations are
rushing into deals expecting to gain a competitive advantage, often through costcutting or by boost in productivity. But the expected gains can be severely affected
by many factors. Gartner's report identifies five areas where outsourcers should
apply deep thought before taking the plunge:

Unrealized cost savings.

Loss of productivity

Poor communications and commitments

Cultural differences

The cost of telecom and network infrastructure is much

higher in India than in the US.

Manpower shortage

Local infrastructure

Political opposition from developed countries

Immoral and unethical practices related to handling of crucial

data

4.3

Billing rates are higher as compared to billing rates in BPOs.

Lack of offshore expertise and readiness

OPPORTUNITIES
With the opening of the world economy, many surprises have taken place in
the business scenario. This is true for countries across the globe both from outside

and within the countries. The western world have started realizing the potential and
the importance of smaller countries of Asia in providing quality services at much
lesser rates and are treating this fact as a revolution. Similarly, within the Asian
countries revolutionary trends are taking place in terms of expansion and spread of
service providers to small cities. BPO is giving place to a new name i.e. Knowledge
Process Outsourcing (KPO). The buzzword is to take advantage of the outsourcing
booming conditions. Few of the emerging opportunities in KPO are:

Consolidation and fragmentation of outsourcing fields in

KPO

Expansion of offshore centers in India

Acquisitions and mergers to increase

Existing KPO companies can get benefited in the specific

domain expertise, or clients in a particular area or geographic
region

Multi-service and multi directional BPO companies can

climb the value chain by adding high-end capabilities to their
portfolios.

Horizontal and vertical expansion of existing customer base

into new markets

To work closely with associations like Nasscom to portray

India as the most favored ITES destination in the world.

Indian ITES companies should work closely with Western

governments and assuage their concerns and issues.

India can be branded as a quality ITES destination rather than

a low-cost destination.

4.4

$69 billion ITES business by 2010

THREATS
Precautions need to be taken while outsourcing work due to various reasons
like money, time, availability of manpower etc. There are many risks involved
during process of outsourcing and thus it is imperative to choose the right service
provider. The outsourcer should be honest and efficient with good communication

skills. This is not a big and difficult task and all one has to do is ask the right
questions. There are various threats in KPO as mentioned below:

High Billing rates

Political instability

India's competitors in Eastern Europe, Latin America and the

Asia Pacific regions offering cheap KPO services

Increasing technology automation.

The anti-outsourcing legislation in the US state of New

Jersey. Three more states in the United States are planning
legislation against outsourcing Connecticut, Missouri and
Wisconsin.

Workers in British Telecom have protested against

outsourcing of work to Indian KPO companies.

Other ITES destinations such as China, Philippines and South

Africa could have an edge on the cost factor.

Slowdown of demand

Non retention of talent

The various strengths, opportunities, weaknesses and threats are as shown

below:
Table 4.1 SWOT Analysis of KPO

Strengths

Weaknesses

Large talented pool

Quality IT training

Low labour costs

Rising wages

Success of BPOs

The inability to uniformly develop and

Good knowledge of project management

provide infrastructural requirements as

skills

real estate prices are rising in major cities.

handling of crucial data

Supportive government policies

Many new areas of specialization are

being

covered

making

KPO

sector

Inadequate Intellectual Property Rights

(IPR) protection regime in India

Billing rates are higher as compared to

billing rates in BPOs

spreading its wings

Immoral and unethical practices related to

Consideration to quality standards like

ISO 900x and Six Sigma

Billing rates are lower as compared to

billing rates in other countries

Opportunities

Threats

Increasing domain expertise

Non retention of talent

More areas of specialization can be added

Expected labour supply gap as jobs grow

to KPOs

faster than the workforce.

Ample opportunities for SMEs

Source: Naukrihub

STRATEGY ANALYSIS
5.1

MARKETING STRATEGY

A marketing strategy is a process that can allow an organization to

concentrate its limited resources on the greatest opportunities to increase sales and
achieve a sustainable competitive advantage.
A marketing strategy often integrates an organization's marketing goals,
policies, and action sequences (tactics) into a cohesive whole. Similarly, the various
strands of the strategy, which might include advertising, channel marketing, internet
marketing, promotion and public relations, can be orchestrated. Many companies
cascade a strategy throughout an organization, by creating strategy tactics that then
become strategy goals for the next level or group. Each group is expected to take
that strategy goal and develop a set of tactics to achieve that goal. This is why it is
important to make each strategy goal measurable.
Marketing Strategy generally refers to a company plan that allocates
resources in ways to generate profits by positioning products or services and
targeting specific consumer groups. Marketing strategy focuses on long-term
company objectives and involves planning marketing programs so that they help a
company realize its goals. Companies rely on marketing strategies for established
product lines or services as well as for new products and services.
While marketing practices no doubt have existed as long as commerce has,
marketing did not become a formal discipline until the 1950s. At this point,
businesses began to investigate how to better serve and satisfy their customers and
deal with competition. Consequently, marketing became the process of focusing
business on the customer in order to continue providing goods or services valued by
consumers. Marketing includes a plethora of decisions that affect consumer interest
in a company: advertising, pricing, location, product line, promotions, and so forth.

The majors concerns of marketing are usually referred to as the "four Ps" or
the "marketing mix": product, price, place, and promotion.
Hence, marketing involves establishing a company vision and definition and
implementing policies that will enable a company to live up to its vision or maintain

its vision. Marketing strategy is the process of planning and implementing company
policies towards realizing company goals in accordance with the company vision.
Marketing strategies include general ones such as price reduction for market share
growth, product differentiation, and market segmentation, as well as numerous
specific strategies for specific areas of marketing.
Competition is the primary motivation for adopting a marketing strategy. In
industries monopolized by one company, marketing need only be minimal to spur
on increased consumption. Utilities long enjoyed monopolized markets, allowing
them to rely on general mass marketing programs to maintain and increase their
sales levels. Utility companies had rather fixed market positions and steady
demand, which rendered advanced concern for marketing unnecessary. Now,
however, most companies face some form of competition, no matter what the
industry, because of deregulation and because of the globalization of many
industries. Consequently, marketing strategy has become all the more important for
companies to continue being profitable.
Marketing strategy has its roots in the basic concepts of marketing and
strategy. Marketing strategy was probably used the first time that two humans
engaged in trade, i.e., an "arm's-length" transaction. Certainly, early civilizations,
such as the Babylonians, the Chinese, the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans, and
the Venetians, had developed marketing strategies for their trading activities. They
probably discussed appropriate strategies for given situations, and even taught these
strategies to friends, family members, and subordinates.

The actual function of marketing, i.e., the distribution function, was

performed whenever exchange occurred.
Marketing strategy is a conscious approach to accomplishing something.
Strategy precedes marketing and marketing strategy. The first time a human
planned an approach for achieving a desired enda goal or objectivehe or she
was developing strategy. Strategy can be formulated by individuals, groups, and

organizations. The organizations can be families, corporations, nations, or groups of

nations. In modem times, strategy can be formulated by complicated and
sophisticated programmed software operating on computerized systems, personal
computers, or computer networks.
Original, formalized discussions of strategy or strategy theory are associated
with politics, war, and the military. The term "strategy" comes from the Greek word
stratigiki, meaning generalship. It also can mean approach, scheme, design, and
system, and is associated with terms such as intrigue, cunning, craft, and artifice.
Marketing strategy is the result of decision making by corporate executives,
marketing managers, and other decision makers. In general, the formal
organizational titles or jobs of decision makers, or the nature or purpose of the
organization, is irrelevant to the formulation of marketing strategy. When the
decisions concern products or markets, the resultsi.e., the decisionsare all
considered marketing strategy.
Marketing strategy is developed at different levels of an organization (the
hierarchical dimension), across core marketing functions (the horizontal
dimension), and for marketing execution and control functions (the implementation
dimension).

Strategy is usually developed in a hierarchical fashion from top to bottom;

for example, there could be several layers of objectives where each objective is a
function of a superstructure of superior objectives, and a determinant of subordinate
objectives (except for the highest and lowest levels of objectives). Higher-level
decisionsthe superstructureact as constraints on the one hand, and guides or
aids for decision making on the other. The organization levels could include the
overall corporate level, strategic business units, product markets, target markets,
and marketing units, depending on the complexity of the organization.

Strategy is also developed across the core functional areas of marketing:

product, price, place/distribution, and promotion strategies. Any functional level of
marketing, in turn, can have additional levels of marketing strategy decisions where
refinement of the strategy might take place. For example, in the advertising
component of the promotion function, the organization might develop marketing
strategy consisting of advertising objectives, advertising strategies, advertising
themes, advertising copy, and media schedules. In addition, because of the growing
customer emphasis of marketing, marketers have added new customer-oriented
components to the marketing mix: customer sensitivity, customer convenience, and
service.
Business Strategy
Business strategy is usually discussed and developed in the context of
competition. It is associated with a struggle for scarce resources. The aim of the
"aggressor" organization is to improve its position vis--vis "competitors." The
competitors, i.e., "defenders," can be other organizations, suppliers, distributors, or
customers. The competition is the enemy. Words such as "campaign," "attack,"
"battle," and "defeat" are frequently used. There is an "I win, you lose"sometimes
called a "zero-sum game"mentality.

This, of course, is also the operating framework for individuals, families,

groups, countries, and alliances when formulating political or military strategy.
Hence, business and marketing strategy is frequently associated with political and
military strategy.
5.1.1 MARKETING STRATEGIES FOR SERVICE PROVIDERS
There are basically three marketing strategies needed to grow a business: (1)
Increase the number of customers (2) Increase the average transaction amount, and
(3) Increase the frequency of repurchase.

Every marketing strategy should be measured by its ability to directly

impact and improve upon each of these three factors. Increasing only one factor will
produce linear business growth. Increasing all three factors will produce geometric
business growth.
Increase the number of customers
Increasing the total number of customers is the first step most business
owners and managers take to grow their business. Losses can occur when
inexperienced sales personnel are put in charge of designing and implementing a
marketing program - investing corporate resources to find more customers.
Executed correctly, basic marketing strategies cost efficiently produce new
prospects that are ready, willing and able to buy products or services. The main
purpose of a marketing strategy is to give sales personnel prospects to convert into
paying customers. Rewarding existing customers for referring new ones is one easy
step business owners can take to increase their total number of customers.

Increase the average transaction amount

Owners and managers spend most of their time operating their business and
searching for new customers. They often overlook the customers they see regularly.
These repeat customers are usually taken for granted and left to conduct entire
transactions without ever being asked if they would like to buy more product or
service. Complacency, expecting customers to buy a minimum amount of product
or service without ever being asked to buy more, can be the undoing of a business.
This attitude can eventually cause customers to spend less money. Customers who
arent continuously offered compelling reasons to keep buying more of the same
products and services from one business will look for new reasons to buy from
another. Cross selling and up selling, systematically offering customers more value
via additional products or services at the point of sale, are two simple steps business

owners

can

take

to

increase

their

average

transaction

amount.

Increase the frequency of repurchase

In an established business, an average customer purchasing pattern develops
and (like the average transaction amount) is usually taken for granted and rarely
improved upon. A customer's repeat business is earned by the business who gives
the customer what they want. Without having basic marketing strategies or
processes for consistently offering customers more of what they want, repeat
business is earned less frequently. Frequently communicating news and offers to
past and present customers via telephone or mail generally increases their frequency
of repurchase and is one more step owners can take to grow their business.

A Marketing Strategy is decided by an organization on the basis of the

various strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats of the organization.
Strengths could include:

personal and flexible customer service

special features or benefits that your product offers

specialist skills

Weaknesses could include:

limited financial resources

lack of an established reputation

inefficient accounting systems

Opportunities could include:

increased demand from a particular market sector

using the Internet to reach new markets

new technologies that allow you to improve product quality

Threats could include:

5.1.2

the emergence of a new competitor

more sophisticated, attractive or cheaper versions

new legislation increasing your costs

a downturn in the economy, reducing overall demand

TYPES OF MARKETING STRATEGIES

Every marketing strategy is unique, but can be reduced into a generic
marketing strategy. There are a number of ways of categorizing these generic
strategies. A brief description of the most common categorizing schemes is
presented below:
Strategies based on market dominance
In this scheme, firms are classified based on their market share or
dominance of an industry. Typically there are three types of market dominance
strategies:

Porter generic strategies

Leader

Challenger

Follower

Strategy based on the dimensions of strategic scope and strategic strength.

Strategic scope refers to the market penetration while strategic strength refers to the
firms sustainable competitive advantage.

Cost leadership

Product differentiation

Market segmentation

Innovation strategies
This deals with the firm's rate of the new product development and business
model innovation. It asks whether the company is on the cutting edge of technology
and business innovation. There are three types:

Pioneers

Close followers

Late followers

Growth strategies
In this scheme we ask the question, How should the firm grow?. There are
a number of different ways of answering that question, but the most common gives
four answers:

Horizontal integration

Vertical integration

Diversification

Intensification

A more detailed scheme uses the categories:

Prospector

Analyzer

Defender

Reactor

Marketing warfare strategies

This scheme draws parallels between marketing strategies and military
strategies.

Contemporary approaches to marketing often fall into two general but not
mutually exclusive categories: customer-oriented marketing strategies and
competitor-oriented marketing strategies. Since many marketers believe that
striving to satisfy customers can benefit both consumers and businesses, they
contend that marketing strategy should focus on customers. This strategy assumes
that customers tend to make more purchases and remain loyal to specific brands
when they are satisfied, rather than dissatisfied, with a company. Hence, customeroriented marketing strategies try to help establish long-term relationships between
customers and businesses.
Competitor-oriented marketing strategy, on the other hand, focuses on
outdoing competitors by strategically manipulating the marketing mix: product,
price, place, and promotion. Competitor-oriented strategies will lead companies to
imitate competitor products, match prices, and offer similar promotions. This kind
of marketing strategy parallels military strategy. For example, this approach to
marketing strategy leads to price wars among competitors. Successful marketing
strategies, however, usually incorporate elements from both of these orientations,
because focusing on customer satisfaction alone will not help a company if its
competitors already have high levels of customer satisfaction and because trying to
outdo a competitor will not help a company if it provides inferior products and
customer service.

General Strategies
Marketing strategies can be identified by the goals they attempt to
accomplish in order to boost company profits. The three basic marketing strategies
include price reduction (for market share growth), product differentiation, and
market segmentation. The market share strategy calls for reducing production costs
in order to reduce consumer prices. Via this strategy, companies strive to
manufacture products inexpensively and efficiently and thereby capture a greater
share of the market.

According to this strategy, companies avoid diverse products lines and

marginally successful products and allocate minimal funds to product development
and advertising. The competitive advantage this strategy offers is the ability to
provide products at a lower price than competing companies. Companies
implementing this strategy cut their profit margins and rely on sales volume to
generate profits. The price reduction strategy, however, has three drawbacks:
finding markets without or with few low-cost retailers, losing flexibility because of
limited product line and limited market, competing with other companies using the
same strategy.
The product differentiation strategy involves distinguishing a company's
products from its competitors' by modifying the image or the physical
characteristics of the products. Unlike the market share strategy, product
differentiation requires raising product prices to increase profit margins. Companies
adopting this strategy hope that consumers will pay higher prices for superior
products (or products perceived as superior). As a result of this strategy, companies
usually either achieve high profit margins and a low market share (such as luxury
car manufacturers) or they achieve slightly higher profit margins and a moderate to
large market share (such as popular food brands such as Kraft and Heinz). This
strategy depends on the production of quality goods, brand loyalty, consumer
preference for quality over cost, and ongoing product innovation. Nevertheless,
product differentiation has a couple of disadvantages. First, competing companies

often can easily imitate products thereby undercutting product differentiation

efforts. Second, companies cannot raise their prices too high without losing
customers, even if they provide better products.
Market segmentation refers to the process of breaking the entire market into
a series of smaller markets based on common characteristics related to consumer
behavior. Once the market is divided into smaller segments, companies can launch
marketing programs to cater to the needs and preferences of the individual
segments.

Moreover, companies can choose to court all the segments of the market
through "differentiated marketing," to concentrate on one or two of the smaller
segments overlooked by other companies through concentrated marketing (niche
marketing), or to focus on very small markets or even individual customers through
atomized marketing. Market segmentation also can involve the other two strategies,
because marketers can target various segments using a price reduction strategy or a
product differentiation strategy. If a segment grows, however, large competitors can
begin targeting it as well. Companies that focus on one or two segments also are
vulnerable to changes in the segment's size and preferences. Hence, if the segment
dwindles or its tastes no longer correspond to a company's offerings, a company's
revenues can fall precipitously.
Specific Strategies
Furthermore, marketers also have developed specific strategies for specific
kinds of marketing obstacles, which may serve as part of a general marketing
strategy. Moreover, parts of general marketing strategies can be implemented for
narrower ends. For example, in Marketing Strategy, Orville C. Walker, Harper W.
Boyd Jr., and Jean-Claude Larreche identified marketing strategies for various
marketing problems and activities such as new markets, growth markets, mature
and declining markets, and international markets. Their marketing strategies
included a plethora of specific marketing strategies for a host of situations: pioneer

strategy, follower strategy, fortress strategy, flanker strategy, confrontation strategy,

market expansion strategy, withdrawal strategy, frontal attack strategy, leapfrog
attack strategy, encirclement strategy, guerrilla attack strategy, divestment strategy,
global strategy, national strategy, exporting strategy, pricing strategy, channels
strategy, and promotion strategy.

In addition, Joseph P. Guiltinan and Gordon W. Paul, authors of Marketing

Management, outlined primary demand strategies and selective demand strategies.
They also developed product-line marketing strategies, including strategies for
substitutes (line extension strategies and flanker strategies) and strategies for
complements (leader strategies, bundling strategies, and systems strategies). The
primary demand strategies included user strategies (increasing the number of users)
and rate of use strategies (increasing the purchase quantities). User strategies were,
in turn, divided into willingness strategies (emphasis on willingness to buy) and
ability strategies (emphasis on ability to buy). The rate of use strategies were
divided into usage strategies (increasing the rate of usagesuch as brushing your
teeth after each meal) and replacement strategies (increasing the rate of use by
replacementsuch as replacing your toothbrush every month).
The selective demand strategies included retention strategies (retaining the
organization's existing customers) and acquisition strategies (acquiring customers
from the competition). Retention strategies were divided into:

Satisfaction strategies, which include ways to maintain or improve

customer satisfaction levels, such as reducing delivery time from three
days to 24 hours.

Meeting competition strategies, which include matching or "bettering"

competitive approaches, such as charging the same price or a price
stipulated at a percentage lower than the competition.

Relationship marketing strategies, which include establishing enduring

relationships with customers, such as developing a computer-based
automatic inventory replenishment system.

On the other hand, acquisition strategies were divided into:

Head-to-head strategies, which include direct, aggressive competitive

tactics, such as using comparative advertising copy.

Differentiated strategies, which include making an organization's

offering different from the competition, such as being the only firm to
have a wireless feature on a notebook computer.

Niche marketing strategies, which include concentrating on narrow

marketssuch as a direct-marketing mail catalog of premium priced
female clothing targeted at large females in the upper-middle and upper
classes.

These marketing strategies are not mutually exclusive. They can be used in
combination. They also are not exhaustive. In general, additional dimensions and
levels can be generated. In other words, other levels and types of strategies at any
level can be developed. The actual wording of the final and most refined level of
strategy will probably be unique in each situation for each organization for each
decision maker. Marketing strategy development is a creative act, requiring an
application of science and art.
The decision maker should eventually arrive at a specific stratagem or set of
strategies designed to achieve the stated objective. The entire articulated set of
decisions (selected strategies) is called the marketing strategy. If the marketing
strategy is part of a marketing plan, some or all of the strategy decisions could be
formally stated. In some cases, only the lowest level of strategy is indicated. The

formal articulation of marketing strategy is a function of the decision maker's

preferences, the organization's policy, user needs, and resources available.

The Marketing Strategies for a ITES and KPO service provider does not
have any significant difference but still there are some differences in the strategies
of both. The various Marketing Strategies for an outsourcing company or a KPO is
as follows:

Direct Access to the Markets

This kind of a Marketing Strategy is also known as Direct Marketing. Direct
marketing is a sub-discipline and type of marketing. There are two main definitional
characteristics which distinguish it from other types of marketing. The first is that it
attempts to send its messages directly to businesses, without the use of intervening
media. This involves unsolicited commercial communication with businesses. The
second characteristic is that it is focused on driving purchases that can be attributed
to a specific "call-to-action." This aspect of direct marketing involves an emphasis
on traceable, measurable positive (but not negative) responses from business
organization (known simply as "response" in the industry) regardless of medium.
The various channels for Direct Marketing are as follows:

Direct Mail
The most common form of direct marketing is direct mail, sends paper mail

to all postal businesses in an area or all businesses on a list.

Any medium that can be used to deliver a communication to a business can
be employed in direct marketing. Probably the most commonly used medium for
direct marketing is through mails, in which marketing communications are sent to
businesses using the postal service. The term direct mail is used in the direct

marketing industry to refer to junk mail, which may also be referred to as admail
and may involve bulk mail.

Junk mail includes advertising circulars, catalogs, free trial CDs, preapproved credit card applications, and other unsolicited merchandising invitations
delivered by mail to businesses, or delivered to mailboxes by delivery services other
than the Post Office. Bulk mailings are a particularly popular method of promotion
for businesses operating in the financial services, home computer, outsourcing and
travel and tourism industries.
In many developed countries, direct mail represents such a significant
amount of the total volume of mail that special rate classes have been established.
In the United States and United Kingdom, for example, there are bulk mail rates
that enable marketers to send mail at rates that are substantially lower than regular
first-class rates. In order to qualify for these rates, marketers must format and sort
the mail in particular ways - which reduces the handling (and therefore costs)
required by the postal service.
Marketers often refine direct mail practices into targeted mailing, in which
mail is sent out following database analysis to select recipients considered most
likely to respond positively.

Tele Marketing
The second most common form of direct marketing is telemarketing, in

which marketers contact business organization through phone. The unpopularity of

cold call telemarketing has led some US states and the US federal government to
create "no-call lists" and legislation including heavy fines. Marketers call telephone
numbers. The agents sit at computerized work-stations and try to market about their
services to the clients.

Web Marketing
Web based marketing is the marketing carried out by the organizations

through their own websites. This also includes email marketing. Email Marketing
may have passed telemarketing in frequency at this point, and is a third type of
direct marketing. A major concern is spam. Most of the outsourcing companies now
a days carry out the marketing to their clients through their websites.

Word of Mouth Marketing

This is another kind of a marketing strategy used by Marketers to show case

their services in front of the clients.

Marketing through Intermediaries
This is the second kind of Marketing used by the outsourcing companies.
This kind of Marketing is also known as Indirect Marketing.Indirect marketing is
indeed a more passive strategy. It often times happens on its own through actions
that are not as aggressive and/ or channeled as direct approaches.
Indirect marketing though does not involve a specific product or service or
goal. With this technique, one is not intentionally working to push their work onto a
prospective client. You are using indirect strategies when you perform a number of
related activities, such as participating in community events, writing articles for
publication, engaging in public speaking events, and posting blogs on the Internet.
Similarly, existing clients who have had positive experiences with your company
can also contribute to your indirect marketing through their word of mouth
advertising.

What business owner has not experienced some form of indirect marketing
benefit? Surely you have had that certain phone call- the one in which an inquirer
states that he or she is in need of assistance but is not sure if you are the one that
can provide it. Many companies receive such calls, but handling them in a certain
manner is crucial.
In these situations, it is a good idea to begin by having the caller identifying
their issue. Then you can more easily analyze whether or not you can offer the
product or service that would be of benefit. If so, describing the options that you
provide is necessary, but what is more is that this can be done in such a way as to
accurately match the description of what they are seeking. It might be appropriate to
also explain several different possibilities that you are aware of that could serve
their needs.
Know that in this situation much of the credibility component of the
business relationship has been established. You probably do not need to go into
your background or qualifications. After all, the inquirer called your office. They
basically already believe that you have the potential to assist them.
With these types of interactions, the end result may not always evolve into a
sale. Be okay with this. You may not have the solution required for their unique
situation. Likewise, they may have reservations about pricing or other costs or
financing. Sometimes people just need time to process and think about their options
before they commit to purchasing. In any case, keeping the conversation helpful,
courteous, and knowledgeable can make the difference.

There are various kinds of problems faced by an organization through this in

direct marketing and through the use of intermediaries for marketing. The problems
faced by the organization are as follows:

Channel Conflict over Objectives and Performance

Channel Conflict over Cost and Rewards

Difficulty Controlling Quality and Consistency across Outlets

Tension between Empowerment and Control

Channel Ambiguity

Sub Contracting
A subcontractor is a business that signs a contract to perform part or all of
the obligations of another's contract. Whilst the most common concept of a
subcontractor is in building works and civil engineering, the range of opportunities
for subcontractor is much wider and it is possible that the greatest number now
operate in the information technology and information sectors of business.
The incentive to hire subcontractors is either to reduce costs or to mitigate
project risks. In this way the general contractor receives the same or better service
than the general contractor could have provided by itself, at lower overall risk.
Many subcontractors do work for the same companies rather than different ones.
This allows subcontractors to further specialize their skills
There are various types of sub contracting according to UK classification.
These types are as follows:

Domestic subcontracting

Nominated subcontracting

Named subcontracting

Alliances
A Strategic Alliance is a formal relationship formed between two or more
parties to pursue a set of agreed upon goals or to meet a critical business need while
remaining independent organizations.
Partners may provide the strategic alliance with resources such as products,
distribution channels, manufacturing capability, project funding, capital equipment,
knowledge, expertise, or intellectual property. The alliance is cooperation or
collaboration which aims for a synergy where each partner hopes that the benefits
from the alliance will be greater than those from individual efforts. The alliance
often involves technology transfer (access to knowledge and expertise), economic
specialization, shared expenses and shared risk.
A typical strategic alliance formation process involves these steps:

5.2

Strategy Development

Partner Assessment

Contract Negotiation

Alliance Operation

Alliance Termination

MARKETING STRATEGY PROCESS

Marketing strategy is produced by the following basic decision process:

Defining the marketing problem (or opportunity);

Gathering the facts relevant to the;

Analyzing the facts;

Determining the alternatives or choices to solve the problem;

Selecting an alternativei.e., making the decision.

Determinants
Marketing strategy is determined by internal and external uncontrollable
environmental forces. The internal environment (the environment within the
organization) includes previous and higher-level strategies as well as resources
(such as products, processes, patents, trademarks, trademark personnel, and capital).
An example of an internal environmental influence on marketing strategy is when a
previous strategic decision (such as the choice of a product market for a strategic
business unit of an organization) affects current marketing decisions (such as
market segmentation and target market selection). Likewise, an organization's
financial strength (such as current cash flow) influences its formulation of
marketing strategies (such as target market selection, positioning choices, and
marketing mix decisions).
The external environment has domestic and global dimensions. The
domestic dimension contains home country environments (such as a country's
cultural environment). The global dimension consists of international forces (such
as global demand and competition) affecting home country environments. The
external environment includes the immediate task environment as well as legal and
political environments, economic environments, infrastructures, cultural and social
environments, and technological environments. An example of an external
environmental influence on marketing strategy is when advertising strategy
development is affected by such variables as customer media habits and
governmental regulations.
Tools and Technology
Marketing strategy can be developed with the aid of such tools as marketing
concepts, marketing models, and computers. A marketer uses these tools to
facilitate decision making by the computer-based method of marketing strategy
generation.

The computer-based method begins with a segment of marketing theory.

Marketing theory can be broken down into concepts and sub concepts. A concept is
a set of related ideas or variables. For example, the product life cycle is a major
concept in marketing. It describes market response (in terms of sales or revenues) to
a product over the product's commercial life. It depicts four life stages of the
product, namely: introduction (or commercialization), growth, maturity, and
decline. Each stage of the product life cycle corresponds to the degree of
competition it faces and the maturation of the market. Marketing strategy changes
over the life of the product. In general, there is an appropriate set of marketing
strategies or alternatives for each phase of the product life cycle. Market response,
stages of the product life cycle, and other ideas constituting the concept are all
variables that can assume different values and represent different relationships
across the variable set. A marketing model articulates and quantifies the variables
and variable relationships of a marketing concept. The marketing model also has
inputs, processes, and outputs, which allow marketers to determine the effects of
their strategies and decisions on both consumers and competitors.
Prepackaged marketing and spreadsheet software can facilitate the
production of marketing models. A marketer needs only to change the values of the
variables based on the facts that have been gathered in the situation analysis in
order to use the output to arrive at a decision. When necessary, the decision maker
can add or delete variables and change the functional relationships of the marketing
model. Of course, it is also quite easy to assume different situational facts and
consider the net impacts on the marketing strategy, or the results of implementing
the marketing strategy. Thus, it is relatively easy, using computer software, to
develop a marketing strategy and to perform sensitivity (degree of impact of
changes) and contingency analyses (alternative scenarios).

5.3

STRATEGIES USED BY VARIOUS KPOs

As the part of our study we carried out in depth interviews and telephonic
interviews of managers at different KPOs across Gujarat. We mostly targeted
outsourcing hubs in Gujarat such as Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Gandhinagar. We
divided these KPOs into different sectors on basis of the services provided by these
KPOs. A total of 8 KPOs we interviewed of which we divided these KPOs into
five sectors such as Health Care, Financial, Software and Engineering.
The details regarding the various companies on basis of their service
providing sectors and the analysis of the various strategies used by them is given as
below:

A. HEALTH CARE
We studied two KPOs that provided the services in the Health Care sector.
These KPOs and their Marketing Strategies are as follows:

a. Fortune InfoTech
Company Details
Fortune InfoTech is a multi-million dollar, global
e-service company with offices in US & Australia and operation
facilities in India at Baroda and Bangalore.
We provide turnkey BPO solutions to industries like
healthcare, general insurance, banking, HR, payroll processing,
accounts receivables, and more. Our range of services includes
document

management,

claims

processing,

rules-based

transaction processing, transcription and software solutions.

We view ourselves as growth drivers rather than just

outsourcing partners of our clients. Injecting predictability in

each aspect of our operations, we offer top-of-the-line solutions

that are marked with consistency, reliability and quality.

Services

Health Insurance Claims Processing (HFCA-1500 / UB-92)

Claim Adjudication

Document Conversion

Medical Transcription
We are one of the largest health insurance claim processing

companies in the world. We process 150000 claims a day on peak days.

Our multi location infrastructure can scale up this capacity to double at
a short notice.
HCFA-1500 (Black & Red), UB92 (Black & Red), and ADA
Claims are processed daily in large volume. The forms printed in non
dropout black ink or hand written claims are scanned and routed to keyfrom Image Process (KFI) where double blind data entry is performed.
The HCFA 1500 & UB92 forms printed in red dropout ink or type
written are scanned with red bulb to remove the background & routed
to OCR engine. The field content filled up by OCR engine is validated
and claim is processed using Reject Repair Process (RR). The
documents which cannot be OCR'd with more than 80% accuracy are
sent to Key-From Image Process.
The scanned images are sent to the Processing Center in batches
where trained operators process these images using set of rules called
"Keying Requirements" which are devised after detailed understanding
of the client's requirements.

Fig. 5.1 Processes at fortune InfoTech

Source: Fortune InfoTech

Both processes, i.e. Key-from Image (KFI) & Reject Repair

(RR), are highly efficient and accurate. The claims processed by KFI &
RR processes are also passed through verification stages. All output is
checked through well defined validation tables & exceptional fields are
flagged. Such flagged claims are then passed through a flag removing
operator.
Experienced auditors perform the final audit of claims
processed by operators before submission to client. The output data is
submitted to clients in the format specified by the client or sent to
Claims Adjudication Department.

Marketing Strategy Analysis

As per the in depth telephonic interview that we had with the

company personal we got to know the following details regarding the
company, the respondent and also the strategy used by Fortune InfoTech:

The company is basically into Health care Outsourcing

performing functions like Claim Processing, Adjudicating
etc.

The various strategies are decided by the Vice President and

the Intermediaries at US office

The respondent was completely satisfies with his job and also
the functioning of the company

The company followed the Strategy of Marketing through

Intermediaries

The Strategy followed for all clients are decided by the

Intermediary.

b. Medus Ind
Company Details

Medus Ind Solutions, one of the leading outsourcing companies,

provides integrated healthcare business solutions, both on and offshore. We
take pride in utilizing global resources to cover physician practices,
hospitals, dental groups, and third party billing companies. With our expert
teams comprising of CPC-certified physician coders, we ensure high quality,
end-to-end revenue cycle management (RCM) services including medical
coding, healthcare billing, coding documentation and coding analytics that
lead into high value RCM activity, resulting in maximized reimbursements
for our clients. Our adept Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) services
present superior, cost-effective solutions for complex processes in the
healthcare industry, backed by rich domain expertise and robust compliance
norms, which enables large health care provider facilities and Group
Purchase Organizations to better manage sourcing costs by providing value
added services such as spend management analytics, HCPCS coding, and
med-surg content management.
Services
Medus Ind delivers to health care providers an end-to-end solution
which can yield a definite increase in operating margin, not just improved
account receivables. Our end-to-ended back-office and knowledge
processing solutions have increased the productivity and profit margins of
our clients. This in turn has helped our clients to bridge the capital
investment gap for upgrading existing medical services and it has also given
them margins to address new challenges in the medical sector.

Some of our value-added solutions for the healthcare sector include:

Revenue Cycle Management

Analytical Solutions
Medical Chart Audits and Abstractions
Content Management

Revenue Recovery

Marketing Strategy Analysis

As per the in depth one to one interview that we had with the
company personal we got to know the following details regarding the
company, the respondent and also the strategy used by Medus Ind:

The company is basically into Health care Outsourcing

performing functions like Revenue Recovery, Content
Management etc.

The various strategies are decided by the Vice President and

Board of Directors at US office

The respondent was completely satisfied with his job and

also the functioning and strategies followed by the company

The company followed the Strategy of Indirect Marketing by

attending seminars and conferences and publishing articles.

The Strategy followed for all clients is the same.

They have found this strategy best because they believe that
the hospital business is a boom and attending such
conferences will help them to get into contact with different
hospitals and doctors.

B. ENGINEERING

a. Collabera (GCI)
Company Details
Collabera (formerly GCI) is one of the fastest growing end-to-end
information technology services and solutions firms worldwide. We work
with leading Global 2000 firms from the Financial Services, Manufacturing
& Retail, Technology, Communications & Media domains. Collabera
delivers highly responsive and innovative solutions that bridge our client's

Execution Gaps through our proprietary methodologies Momentum

workshops, ABS (Asset Based Services) and BestShore Global Delivery
Model - helping them experience accelerated value. With revenues of over
USD 300 million, Collabera employs over 4000 professionals across 22
offices and six world-class delivery centers in the US, Europe, India and
China regions. Our BestShore Global Delivery model leverages a best-inclass Quality system (including SEI CMMi Level 5 and ISO27001 security
certifications) to deliver a full portfolio of services that include Application
Development and Management, Independent Testing, Outsourced Product
Development, Enterprise Software Solutions, Business Intelligence & Data
warehousing.

Services
Collabera provides a comprehensive suite of service offerings
tailored to meet business requirements in our focus domains. Our service
offerings are:

Application Development and Maintenance

Independent Testing

Enterprise Software Solutions

Outsourced Product Development

Business Intelligence and data Warehousing

Marketing Strategy Analysis

As per the in depth telephonic interview that we had with the
company personal we got to know the following details regarding the
company, the respondent and also the strategy used by Collabera(GCI):

The company is basically into Engineering Outsourcing

performing functions like Data Warehousing, Product
Development and Maintenance etc.

The various strategies are decided by the President at the US

office and the Directors at office in India.

The respondent was completely satisfied with his job and

also the functioning and strategies followed by the company

The company followed the Alliance Strategy of Marketing by

forming strategic alliances with Fortune 500 companies.

The Strategy followed for different clients depends on the

amount of the project deal.

They have found the strategy of forming alliances the best

since in such strategy they could maintain long term
relationship with the clients.

b. PowerDrive & Fairfield

Company Details
Fairfield Service Company

was officially formed in 1978 as a subsidiary of

Fairfield Engineering Company, which was founded in 1919. The Fairfield

Service Company was formed to fulfill Fairfield Engineering Company's
desire to expand its material handling knowledge into the' Wastewater
Treatment field.
Today,

Fairfield Service Company

offers a wide variety of wastewater and

composting equipment to accommodate the requirements of both new and

existing facilities. FSCI also offers a diverse background in the design and
manufacturing of custom-built equipment resulting from Fairfield

Engineering Company's many years of experience in servicing the

municipal and industrial markets.
At Fairfield Service Company of Indiana, LLC

our most important business is

satisfying our customer's needs, along with supplying start of tie art
equipment and developing modem innovations to purify the water resources
for today's and future generations.

Services
Fairfield Services provide various engineering support equipments
that help in the waste water treatment. It provides various services such as:

Mechanical System Design

Process System Design

Electrical Control Panels

Start Up Services

Onsite Training

Marketing Research Analysis

As per the in depth one to one interview that we had with the
company personal we got to know the following details regarding the
company, the respondent and also the strategy used by PowerDrive &
Fairfield:

The company is basically into Engineering Outsourcing,

Inventory

Management

and

Water

Waste

treatment

equipments.

The various strategies are decided by the Vice President at

the US office the Branch Manager at the Indian counterpart.

The respondent was completely satisfied with his job and

also the functioning and strategies followed by the company

The company followed the Strategy of Direct Marketing by

spreading Word of Mouth and also by appointing sales
representatives all across the country.

The Strategy followed for different clients is different based

on the brand value and functioning of the client.

They have found the Direct Marketing Strategy good but they
are also planning of Indirect Marketing by attending seminars
and conferences.

C. SOFTWARE

a. Rishab Software
Company Details
Rishabh Software is an India based IT service provider that focuses
on cost-effective, qualitative and timely delivered offshore software
development services, business process outsourcing services and knowledge
process outsourcing services.
Our services in custom software development cover design and
implementation of information systems, enterprise application integration
and legacy systems support, business process analysis and consulting.
Whether you require enterprise application development, system integration,
customization or support, whether it is enterprise application integration or

web integration, cross-platform porting, data migration, or independent

testing of your solution - you can find them all here offered at one place.
Our Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) services include
Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO), Payroll Processing and Forms
Management. We assist our clients by managing their business processes,
while saving 35% to 50% annually and allowing them to focus on much
more important activities.
We also provide outsourcing of higher value-added professional
services i.e. Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) by providing services
in Engineering Services Outsourcing (ESO), Accounting & Book-Keeping
and IT Staffing services.

Services
Rishabh Software knows that businesses have distinct, specific
needs, and our teams are formed to provide specific solutions tailored
exactly to customers needs. We let customer run their business more
efficiently when they let us execute technology solutions tailored to their
needs.
We provide .NET, J2EE and Open Source software solutions for the
enterprise, offering quality offshore development services. Our goal is to
deliver the highest quality end product, taking ownership of and treating
each project as though it were for our own use. This allows customer to
concentrate on their business expertise while we develop a part or all of their
applications.
Fig. 5.2 Services provided by Rishab Software

Source: Rishab Software

They provided services related to:

Application Development and Management

IT Consulting Services

e Business Solutions

IT Staffing

Marketing Strategy Analysis

As per the in depth telephonic interview that we had with the
company personal we got to know the following details regarding the
company, the respondent and also the strategy used by Rishab Software:

The company is basically into Software related services such

as Application Development and Management,

Business Solutions etc.

The various marketing strategies are decided by the

Marketing Managers of the company on basis of different
guidelines setup by the organization.

The respondent was somewhat dissatisfied with the job and

also with the strategies that is followed by the organization.

The company followed the Strategy of Direct Marketing

through Websites and Tele Marketing.

The Strategy followed for different clients is different based

on the relationship with the client and the credibility of the
client.

They have found the Direct Marketing Strategy through Tele

Marketing as the best strategy among the different strategies
they have adopted.

b. C-Metric
Company Details
C-Metric, Inc was founded in 1995 as CM Software, Inc a New
Jersey based software Development Company catering to Fortune 1000
companies, Financial, and Legal verticals. Through combining proven
methodologies, re-use techniques, component architecture, and distributed
technologies, we provide cost effective and managed solutions to fulfill your
system requirements. We specialize in multi-tier Client Server, Internet and
Intranet applications.
In 2004, as a natural progression to our software development
services, we opened our first office in India in order to diversify and offer
our Clients cost effective BPO and IT Enabled Services. Thus was born CMetric, which has its focus on outsourced Back Office Business Processes,
such as document processing, data entry, credit verifications, compliance
procedures, title and transcription services.

In 2005, we opened our second facility in India, which is designated

as a state-of-the-art facility, with access to the most advanced information
technology infrastructure available in the country.
The offshore outsourcing process begins with identifying what can
be economically and practically off shored, followed by how, and to whom.
At C-Metric, we are experts at process and workflow mapping that can
identify and evaluate the different business processes that can be effectively
outsourced in order to save our Clients time and money.
We are motivated by a simple goal -- get the job done right, quickly
and cost effectively. C-Metric works hard to build strong, long-term
business relationships, and strive for complete customer satisfaction.

Services
C-Metric provides business solutions that give measurable results to
our clients. We focus on new ways of utilizing IT innovation to build
products and services for today's dynamic business environment.
C-Metric offers the following information technology services:

Customer Application Development

Project management

Consulting Services

Systems Integration

Marketing Strategy Analysis

As per the in depth direct interview that we had with the company
personal we got to know the following details regarding the company, the
respondent and also the strategy used by Rishab Software:

The company is basically into Software related services such

as System Analysis, System Integration etc.

The various marketing strategies are decided by the Vice

President and Managers at the office in India.

The respondent was satisfied with the job and also with the
strategies that is followed by the organization.

The company followed the Strategy of Direct Marketing

through Websites and Tele Marketing.

The Strategy followed for different clients is same.

They have found the Direct Marketing Strategy through Tele

Marketing because they can interact more with the clients
and know more about their needs.

D. FINANCIAL

a. SNL Financials
Company Details
SNL Financial is the premier multi sector-focused information and
research firm in the financial information marketplace. SNL Financial
collects, standardizes and disseminates all relevant corporate, financial,
market and M&A data plus news and analysis for the industries we
cover: banking, specialized financial services, insurance, real estate, energy
and media/communications.
Since SNL's founding in 1987, we have continuously expanded our
global operations, as well as the scope and depth of our coverage and
products all without compromising the standards of quality and customer
service that drive our success.

Services
SNL Financials provide financial services for different banks and
thrifts, insurance and other financial companies. SNL provides essential

business intelligence for the financial services industry with sector-focused

news, data and analytics. It provides services such as:

Stock and Peer Analysis

Branch Mapping

Premium Documentation

Marketing Strategy Analysis

As per the in depth direct interview that we had with the company
personal we got to know the following details regarding the company, the
respondent and also the strategy used by SNL Financials:

The company is basically into financial services related to

Mergers and Acquisitions, Branch Mapping etc.

The various marketing strategies are decided by the Vice

President and Managers at the office in India.

The respondent was satisfied with the job and also with the
strategies that is followed by the organization.

The company followed the Strategy of Direct Marketing

through Word of Mouth as well as Marketing Indirectly by
publishing periodicals.

The Strategy followed for different clients is different and

depends on the various attributes and functioning of the
client.

They have found the Direct Marketing Strategy through

Word of Mouth most beneficial since Word of Mouth

Marketing helps them to acquire more clients and also spread

good image about the services provided by the organization.

b. Info Analytica
Company Details
Info Analytica, a division of Agarwal Management Consultants is a
professional consulting and services firm operating out of Ahmedabad,
India. Amongst other services, our focus is on Knowledge Processes
Outsourcing for clients primarily in the United States and Europe.
At info Analytica, we offer cost-effective solutions while
maintaining the highest quality standards. Quite simply, we make
outsourcing work for you!
We are a professional services company catering to Knowledge
Processes Outsourcing. We, at info Analytica partner with our clients to
provide a full spectrum of Business Processes Outsourcing and remote
processing applications including Business Services, Market research and
analysis, Content Authoring and Management, Financial Analysis and
reporting, Software services, and varied back office services.
Founded in 1997, we have serviced over 100 clients in the US, and
Europe. Based in Ahmedabad, India our team consists of highly qualified
and professional Consultants, Writers, Copy Editors, and Research
Associates, Analysts, System Administrators, and Software specialists.

Services
We offer a comprehensive range of Finance and Accounting
outsourcing solutions. Highly trained accountants under experienced
supervision and stringent quality standards deliver services that consistently
meet customer expectations. Each process goes through validation and
quality checks to ensure complete accuracy, timeliness and consistency. Our
accountants are extremely well-versed with U.S. and other International
accounting standards, practices, and laws.
Info Analytica offer the following accounting and finance services:

Billing Services

Accounting Transactions

Financial Reporting and Financial analysis

Accounts Receivables and Payables

Inventory Management

Sales and Purchase Order Processing including online

sales and order entry

Payroll processing

Marketing Strategy Analysis

As per the in depth direct interview that we had with the
company personal we got to know the following details regarding the
company, the respondent and also the strategy used by Info Analytica:

The company is basically into financial services related to

financial consulting, Accounting transactions, inventory
management etc.

The various marketing strategies are decided by the Director

and the Board of Management with consent of the
employees.

The respondent was satisfied with the job and also with the
strategies that is followed by the organization.

The company followed the Strategy of Direct Marketing

through Word of Mouth and Web based Marketing.

The Strategy followed for different clients is different and

depends on the instructions and requirements of the clients.

They have found the Direct Marketing Strategy through

Word of Mouth most beneficial since Word of Mouth
Marketing helps them to acquire more clients and also spread
good image about the services provided by the organization.

COMPARITIVE ANALYSIS
6.1

COMPARISON ON BASIS OF SECTORS

Sectors
Health Care

Most countries moved portions of their clinical drug testing to India in

an effort to tap into Indias vast and diverse population and pool of
highly-skilled, but lower-wage demanding, scientists.

This can significantly accelerate the trial time and time to market for
new drugs, and offers potential cost savings of up to 40-60 percent
relative to the U.S. Indias vibrant local pharmaceutical sector

The granting of patent protection to drugs and chemical products, on top

of the process protection historically provided has attracted global
pharmaceutical companies to offshore R&D to India.

The Health Care sector is growing and will grow at the rte of 20% in
next five years.

Indias attractiveness as an offshore destination for clinical research is

further enhanced by investment incentive policies ranging from tax
holidays to duty exemptions as well as Indias acceptance of the
International Conference on Harmonization Guidelines for Good
Clinical Practices.

Increasing

pressure

on

pharmaceutical

companies

to

improve

productivity and profitability without sacrificing quality to sustain

competitive advantage makes KPO a compelling strategic route.

The talents required are the various doctors and pharmacists.

The complexity is the second least in the healthcare sector as compared

to the other sectors.

Engineering

The talents required are the various Engineering and Technological

graduates.

The Engineering Sector is growing at the rate of 13% in the next five
years.

As Indian brains are best in the industry countries like US, Europe and
Australia are outsourcing engineering and architectural designs and
work.

They are open to Indian market and this is making our economy more

booming and strong.

Indian market offers best man power with brilliant brains and less
costing.

Delivering the quality engineering drawings and work at the right time.

The complexity, time consumption is more in engineering KPOs as

compared to other KPO sectors.

Software

The talents required are the various IT graduates and Computer

Application graduates.

The software sector is growing at the rate of 9% in the next five years.

Software outsourcing is synergizing technical expertise on the

development of software among computer engineers and managers, on
location outside of the company

Outsourcing services to India, where cost of living is lower than its

foreign counterparts like US, Western Europe, United Kingdom and
Canada, is by far, one of the most viable options often resorted to by
global companies belonging to the top Fortune 500 companies.

The time consumption, costs involved and complexity in software

outsourcing is much less than compared to the engineering sector.

Financial

There has been tremendous growth in India as leading global financial

institutions) continue off shoring high-end work either through delivery
by affiliated legal entities in India or by unaffiliated pure-play third
party vendors.

Most of these businesses originally outsourced IT-enabled common

finance and accounting processes that are transactional in nature, such as
accounts payable, accounts receivables, and payroll, but have gradually
migrated to off shoring high-end financial processes, such as equity
research, business intelligence, credit risk analysis, and insurance claims
processing.

The talents required are MBAs, CAs and other Commerce graduates.

The financial sector is growing at a rate of 3% as compared to the other

sectors in the next five years.

The complexity and the billing rtes in the financial sectors are low as
compared to other KPO sectors.
Source: Kposervice

6.2

Cost of Man
Power
(IT Salaries)
Geographic
Location

GEOGRAPHICAL BENEFITS IN INDIA AS COMPARED TO OTHER

COUNTRIES

China

India

Philippines

Ireland

USD 6360 to
USD 9540

USD 5375 to
USD 8960

USD 4250 to
USD 6800

USD 25500 to
USD 37500

Approx.
25500

24*7 support

24*7 support

24*7 support

Close proximity
to Europe makes
it good near
shore location
Compatibility
and
proximity
with
western
culture
Technology
education fund,
favorable
tax
laws
and
incentives
Advanced
Telecom
Infrastructure

Close proximity
to Europe makes
it good near
shore location
Compatibility
and
proximity
with
western
culture
Strong policies
related to IP
rights

Close proximity
to Europe makes
it ideal near
shore location
Compatibility
and
proximity
with
western
culture
Old laws and tax
structure

Strong presence
in niche software
products
and
services

Moderate labour
costs, high talent
pool

Small
labour
pool, high labour
costs

Small talent pool

Poor
Infrastructure,
weak
telecom
structure

High
Compatible
Demographic Low
proficiency
in
proficiency
in
with western
Factors
English

English

Government
Policies

Favorable,
SEZs

Friendly
Government
Policies,
IT
Parks

Advantages

Uniquely
positioned to
tap
the
Japanese and
Korean market
due
to
language
compatibility
Language and
cultural
incompatibility
, in sufficient
project
management
skills

Large
talent
pool and high
quality
training
and
good
management
skills

Large
talent
pool
and
proficiency in
English
language

Un
reliable
power
infrastructure

Scarcity
of
trained pool of
talent, lack of
project
management
skills

Disadvantage

corporate
culture
SEZs,
supports the IT
industry

Israel

Russia
USD

USD 6190
USD 9180

Source: Evalueserve Analysis

to

FINDINGS & CONCLUSIONS

On the basis of our study and the responses we derived the following
conclusions and findings:

The values of the innovative KPO business model are apparently

created by flow of business ecosystem, which the market segment is
based on customer demand and value proposition, is delivered to
customer with the favorable circle of revenue creation mechanism
throughout the value chain and the value network under the
differentiation and low cost strategy.

The key to mitigate the risk is the right measurement, which can make
KPO service more precise and objective by monitoring closely in real
time and conducting frequent process audits.

To maximize the values and minimize the risks successfully,

innovativeness and sustainability should be treated systematically
using the right measurement frame work and the performance must be
measured throughout the process circle of feedback.

The Marketing Strategy used by different sectors of KPOs differs

from each other

The Marketing Strategy is mostly decided by the higher level

management and Board of Directors.

The Strategies used by different KPOs in the same sector also varies
from each other.

The Marketing Strategy used by the KPOs for different clients are
mostly different.

The strategies for different clients depend on the amount of the project
deal, the client reputation and the relationship with the clients.

The clients that the KPOs mostly targeted were the Fortune 500
companies.

The satisfaction level of the employee is related with the strategies

followed by the organization and also depends on the share of the
employee in creating that strategy a success.

Along with the Direct marketing many KPOs wished to market itself
indirectly by attending conferences, publishing periodicals and
magazines.

The most important problems faced by the KPOs in implementing

the strategy were the cultural changes and the mindset of the
employees.

Lack of feedback was also one of the problems faced by some KPOs
while implementing the strategy.

Sometimes due to the false promises and loss of business have let to
problems of some companies for implementing the strategies.

Mostly the marketing strategies are decided by the corporate office

and are followed by the office at India.

The factors that are considered while deciding on the strategies differ
from sector to sector and from KPO to KPO.

The various factors that are considered while deciding the strategy
are:
o The knowledge of the existing competitors
o The various service gaps in the industry
o The client profile
o The client expectations
o The knowledge of various new technologies in the market

REFERENCES & BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books and Articles
Aron, Ravi, and Singh, Jitendra V. (2005), Getting Offshoring right, Harvard Business Review,
December, 2005

Friedman, Tomas L. (2005), the world is flat, Farrar Straus and Giroux

Balaji, S. (2005) KPO is the next big wave: Moving towards third party outsourcing,
Businessline, p.1.
Web Sites
http://fecolumnists.expressindia.com/full_column.php?content_id=47935
Chengalvarayan, Senthil (2003), Now, knowledge process outsourcing, The Financial
Express
http://www.oobp.org/Outsourcing+News/376.aspx
Vollenweider, Marc (2005), KPO: intellectual capital, ahoy!!, The Financial Express
http://outsourceking.com/BPO/What-Is-BPO.aspx?ref=aw&gclid=CNzs_Na0ogCFQU8YQodkDu7Rw
OutsouceKing.com Information Portal (2005), What is business process outsourcing
(BPO)?
http://www.outsource2india.com/why_india/articles/KPO.asp
KPO Services (2005), Knowledge process outsourcing in India
http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c25389
RNCOS Research Report (2005), KPO the new outsourcing avenue for Indian BPO
market

http://www.evalueserve.com/Research/evs_Research.asp#
Aggrawal, A., and Pandey, A. (2004), The Next Big Opportunity Moving up the
Value Chain from BPO to KPO, Evalueserve Report, p.4-15
Retrieved August 5, 2006, from the World Wide Web
http://www.pwc.com/extweb/pwcpublications.nsf/docid/fbfab289f663701f85257
0ee007ce3c4
Ashank D., and Joydeep D.G., (2005) The Evolution of BPO in India,
PriceWaterHouseCoopers Report, p.10-35
Retrieved August 15, 2006, from the World Wide Web
www.kposervice.com
www.google.com
www.wikipedia.org

ANNEXURE I
QUESTIONNAIRE
Name of Respondent:
Designation of Respondent:

Company Name:
Location:

1.

Can you please give an overview about the organization?

_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________

2.

What kind of clients does the organization deal with (eg. Financial, Health care etc.)?
_________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________

3.

Who decides about the Strategies that the organization follows?

_______________________________________________________________________________

4.

What is the profile of the person who decides on the strategies?

_______________________________________________________________________________

5.

Please indicate the satisfaction level of working with the organization?

[] Satisfied

[] Somewhat Satisfied

Some what Dissatisfied

[] Neither Satisfied nor Dissatisfied

[]

[] Dissatisfied

6.

Does the organization follow any kind of Marketing Strategy?

7.

If yes, what kind of a Marketing Strategy is followed?

[] Yes

[] No

_______________________________________________________________________________
8.

Does the organization follow a specific kind of Marketing Strategy for every client? [] Yes [] No

9.

If No, then how does the organization decide on the Strategies to be used for different clients?
_________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________

10. What are the various problems faced by the organization while implementing these Strategies?
_________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
11. Which strategy have you found the best? Why?
_________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________

12. What factors are considered while deciding on the strategy?

_________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________

Thank You