Globalisation of services production : economic and social upgrading in support-service industry catering to international ICT-ITES firms in Mumbai

The international outsourcing and offshoring of IT enabled services is deemed to be the second wave in globalisation of business activities, which has benefitted several developing nations in South (east) Asia. The arrival of international ICT-ITES firms in South Asian countries is considered to have induced several direct and indirect business and employment opportunities. The key indirect beneficiaries are in the support-service segments catering to the security, housekeeping and cab service needs of the ICT-ITES firms. While the existing literature provides an elaborate account of the actors directly involved in the services production (IT firms, knowledge workers, etc.), it falls short of offering a similar account for the indirectly-linked support-service industry. Limited information is available on who are the key persons and business organisations (indirectly) benefitting from the opportunities in the support-service industry. Further, at organisational level, it is still not clear which are the prerequisites to qualify for the service contracts of ICT-ITES firms and how local entrepreneurs perceive the business opportunities of serving ICTITES clients. At worker’s level, there exists a knowledge gap on the quality of indirect jobs created locally and whether and how the ICT-ITES firms have brought about transformations (in terms of social upgrading) in the local labour market of the support service workers. "The ICT-ITES sector in India has been a major driver of economic growth and is deemed to provide a range of opportunities for cognitive-cultural (knowledge) workers. In the past decade, extensive research has been conducted on access to the sector and opportunities for upward labour mobility. Surprisingly, few studies have focused on the firms and workers indirectly engaged in the ICT-ITES sector and whether and how they are able to benefit from the growth of the sector. Using the concepts of economic upgrading and social upgrading in Global Production Networks, this thesis empirically assesses the less-explored case of indirect jobs and business opportunities created in the support-service segments (security, facilities and cab-services) serving ICT-ITES firms in Mumbai, India. Each empirical chapter deals with the dimensions of either economic upgrading (of firms) or social upgrading (of workers) in the support-service industry to present a more nuanced understanding of the local outcomes of ICT-ITES firms' functioning. The thesis contributes to debates on service-sector-led development in South Asia (India) by identifying how it affects people and businesses, indirectly involved in the ICT-ITES sector."--Samenvatting auteur Table of Contents List of Symbols and Abbreviations vii-viii Acknowledgements ix-x Chapter 1: Introducing Service Value Chains — Positioning Support Services in Global Production Networks 3 Chapter 2: Service Value Chains and Regional Development— Analysing Service-Driven Growth 15 Chapter 3: Methodology and Overview of the Support-Service Industry in Mumbai 33 Chapter 4: Corporatisation and Standardisation of Security Services Industry Catering to ICT-ITES Firms in Mumbai 53 Chapter 5: Upgrading Service Delivery and Employment Conditions Through Indirect Insertion in Global Value Chains 69 Chapter 6: Matching the Performance Standards—Economic Upgrading among the Support-Service Providers of ICT-ITES Firms in Mumbai 87 Chapter 7: Social Upgrading of Support Workers in the Service Value Chain—Work and Employment Experiences of the “Service Underclass” 109 Chapter 8: Conclusion —Globalisation of Services Production and Regional Development 131 References 147 Appendix : Survey Questionnaire for the Security Guards 169 English Summary 177 Dutch Summary 185