"The big beer companies spill more beer than I brew each year" - the ads with Jim Koch of Samuel Adams from the 90s kept flashing as I made my way last week with a client on planes, trains and automobiles through a whirlwind tour of Central and Eastern Europe. While the average distance between each location was 250 miles, each brings it own rich history and sights and sounds. And beers. Like Egger. Urquell, Ursus, the 12% Zlaty Bazant, Zywiec
Never heard of them? Well, then you probably have not heard of outsourcing towns and vendors in many of these countries. Because they brew less than the bigger Western and Indian services firms spill each year. Sure if you want to rapidly scale to 500 resources they cannot deliver. No alphabet soup of CMM, ISO etc certifications. But they offer their own charm. Like easier travel and time zone access for European clients. EU IP protection in many of these markets. Multi-lingual support. The opportunity to enjoy the rich history and sights and sounds. And importantly, energy. Most of these countries and their citizens cannot wait to make up for the retarded progress during the Communist experiment.
And in our flat world, just as SABMiler and Heineken and others have been buying local breweries (each one of the brands above is owned by a global major), expect IBM and TCS and EDS to keep expanding their own footprint in these markets.
Na zdravie. Enjoy the growing bounty.
