Latvia

• Country name: Republic of Latvia.
• Year founded: The territory of Latvia has been populated since 9000 BC, after the Ice Age glaciers retreated. Around the beginnng of the third millennium BC (3000 BC) the proto-Baltic ancestors of the Latvian people settled on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea.
• Population: January 2009 estimate: 2,261,700 
• Primary Language: Latvian (official) Russian. 
• Ethnic Make-up: 
• 59.2% Latvians,
• 28% Russians,
• 3.7% Belarusians,
• 2.5%Ukrainians,
• 6.6% others
• Political System: The politics of Latvia takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. The President holds a primarily ceremonial role as Head of State. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament, the Saeima. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. 
• Year Entered the European Union: 2004.
• Representative of the European Union (include party): United Kingdom
• Type of Economy: Until the middle of 2008 Latvia had the fastest growing economy in Europe. It has had high GDP growth since 2000. In 2003, GDP growth was 7.5% and inflation was 2.9%. Unemployment was 8.8% in 2003, almost unchanged compared to the previous two years. Privatization is mostly complete, except for some of the large state-owned utilities. 
• Currency: lats. 
• Current Exchange rate for American Currency: 1 US Dollar = 0.52544 Latvian Lats 
  1 Latvian Lats (LVL) = 1.90317 US Dollar (USD)
• GDP: 7.5%
• Percentage of Trade within the European Union: 1%
• Unemployment Rate: 8.5%
• Chief exports: Wood and wood products, machinery and equipment, metals, textiles, foodstuffs.
• Key imports: Machinery and equipment, chemicals, fuels.
• Major religions: Christianity, (Protestant, Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox). 
• Surrounding countries: Estonia , Russia , Belarus, Lithuania, and the Baltic Sea.
• Litearcy rate: 99.7%
• One Interesting Fact: Latvians are reserved and have a preference for formality in public.

 

Belgium

Country Name:
Kingdom of Belgium
Year Founded:
1830
Population:
10,414,336 (July 2009 est.)
Primary Language:
Dutch, French and German
Ethnic Make-up:
Fleming 58%, Walloon 31%, mixed or other 11%
Political System:
Federal parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy
Year Entered the European Union:
Founding member.
Representative of the European Union (include party):
Ambassador Jan MATTHYSEN
Type of Economy:
This modern, private-enterprise economy has capitalized on its central geographic location, highly developed transport network, and diversified industrial and commercial base.
Currency:
Eur
Current Exchange rate for American Currency:
0.7426
GDP:

GDP (purchasing power parity):
$398.7 billion (2008 est.)
GDP (official exchange rate):
$495.4 billion (2008)
GDP - real growth rate:
1.3% (2008)
GDP - per capita (PPP):
$38,300 (2008 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 1% industry: 24.2% services: 74.9% (2008 est.)

Percentage of Trade within the European Union:
70%
Unemployment Rate:
6.5% (2008)
Chief Exports:
Machinery and equipment, chemicals, diamonds, metals and metal products, foodstuffs.
Key Imports :
Machinery and equipment, chemicals, diamonds, pharmaceuticals, foodstuffs, transportation equipment, oil products.
Major Religions:
Roman Catholicism
Surrounding Countries:
France, Luxembourg, Germany and Netherlands.
Literacy Rate:
98%
One Interesting Fact:
Folklore plays a major role in Belgium's cultural life: the country has a comparatively high number of processions, cavalcades, parades, 'ommegangs' and 'ducasses', 'kermesse', and other local festivals, nearly always with an originally religious or mythological background.

The Czech Republic (:

1-Czechoslovakia, The Czech Republic
2-1918 the independent republic
3-2001…10,230,060
4-The official language is Czech
5-Ukrainian (131,965), Slovak (76,034), Vietnamese (60,258), Russian (27,178), Polish (21,710), German (15,700), Moldovan (8,038), Mongolian (6,028), Bulgarian (5,046), Chinese (4,986), American (4,452), Belarusan (3,977), British (3,775), Serbian (3,615), Austrian (3,373), Romanian (3,298), Kazakh (3,038), Italian (2,351), Croatian (2,327), Dutch (2,240), French (2,140), Bosnian (2,093), Macedonian (1,787), Armenian (1,624), Japanese (1,494) and Uzbek (1,148)
6-It is a multi-party parliamentary representative democratic republic
7-After the fallo f the comunista regime, 1989
8- Ambasor Milena vicerovaç
9-The principal industries are heavy and general machine-building, iron and steel production, metalworking, chemical production, electronics, transportation equipment, textiles, glass, brewing, china, ceramics, and pharmaceuticals. Its main agricultural products are sugarbeets, fodder roots, potatoes, wheat, and hops.
10-Czech Koruna (CZK)
11- 1 Czech Koruna (CZK) = 0.05080 US Dollar (USD)
12- GDP per capita at purchasing power parity was $26,800 in 2008, which is 82% of the EU average.
13-This Republic is committed to a free market and maintains a generally open economy with few barriers to trade and investement.
14-2003-9.0%,2004-9.90%,2005-10.60%,2006-8.90%,2007-8.40%,2008-6.60%
15- Machinery and transport equipment, other manufactured goods, chemicals, raw materials and fuel.
16-alcoholic Drinks
17-Most of the country is argonistic, atheist or non believer but 26% is Catholic and 2.5% is protestant.
18- The country borders Poland to the northeast, Germany to the west, Austria to the south and Slovakia to the east.
19-99.0 adult literacy rate
20- The capital of Czech Republic is Prague, which is a major tourist destination, More than 50 percent of the population in Czech Republic is atheist, The Vltava is the longest river in the Czech Republic. The two popular sports of Czech Republic are football and ice hockey

Dominique

Country name: Republic of Austria

Year founded: 1124

Population: 8,210,281

Primary language: German, locally also Slovene, Croatian and Hungarian

Ethnic Make-up: Austrians 91.1%, former Yugoslavs 4% (includes Croations, Slovenes, Serbs, and Bosniaks), Turks 1.6%, German 0.9%, other or unspecified 2.4%

Political System: Federal Parliamentary Republic

Year entered the European Union: January 1, 1995

Representative of the European Union (include party): Valentin Inzko

Type of economy: Market economy

Currency: Euro

Current Exchange rate for American Currency: euros pero US dollar – 0.7345 (2008 est.)

GDP: GDP (purchasing power parity) $325 billion
GDP (official exchange rate) $432.4 billion
GDP – real growth rate 1.4%
GDP – per capital (PPP) $39,200
GDP – composition by sector agriculture: 1.9%
Industry: 30.6%
Services: 67.4%

Percentage of trade within the European Union: 34%

Unemployement rate: 3.7%

Chief exports: Germany, Italy, US, Switzerland; machinery and equipment, motor vehicules and parts, paper and paperboard, metal goods, chemicals, iron and steel, textiles, foodstuffs

Kep imports: Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Netherlands; machinery and equipment, motor vehicules, chemicals, metal goods, oil and oil products, foodstuffs

Major Religions: Roman Catholic 73.6%, Protestant 4.7%, Muslim 4.2%, other 3.5%, unspecified 2%, none 12%

Surrounding countries: It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the South, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west.

Literary Rate: 98%

One interesting fact: The central European land that is now Austria was occupied in pre-Roman times by various Celtic tribes.

Germany :)

•Country Name: Germany, officially it’s the Federal Republic of Germany. In German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland

•Year Founded: The Holy Roman Empire founded Germany in 962. Following the fall of Napoleon Bonaparte, the Congress of Vienna convened in 1814 and founded the German Confederation (Deutscher Bund), a loose league of 39 sovereign states. Germany was first unified as a nation-state amidst the Franco-Prussian War in 1871, with the German Empire. By 23 May 1949 it was a Federal Republic and its reunification (East and West) happened the 3rd of October of 1990

•Population: 82,329,758 (July 2009 estimated). It’s the most populous country in the European Union.

•Primary Language: German is the official and predominantly spoken language in Germany. Some recognized native minority languages are Danish, Sorbian, Romany, and Frisian.

•Ethnic Make-up: The people in Germany are 91.5% German, 2.4% Turkish, and other 6.1% made up largely by Greek, Italian, Polish, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, and Spanish.

•Political System: Germany's political system operates under a framework created in the West German Constitution of 1949. With the re-unification of the country in 1990, five newly-created East German states joined the Federal Republic (West) in accordance with Article 23 of the West German Constitution. Germany is considered a federal parliamentary representative democratic republic, with the seat of government centered in the capital city, Berlin.

•Year Entered the European Union: When Germany was still divided into West and East, West Germany was a founding member of the European Community in 1957, which became the European Union in 1993.

•Representative of the European Union (include party)

•Type of Economy: Germany's affluent and technologically powerful economy - the fifth largest in the world in PPP terms - showed considerable improvement in 2007 with 2.6% growth. Among the most important reasons for Germany's high unemployment during the past decade were macroeconomic stagnation, the declining level of investment in plant and equipment, company restructuring, flat domestic consumption, structural rigidities in the labor market, lack of competition in the service sector, and high interest rates.

•Currency: euro

•Current Exchange rate for American Currency: Euro, 1 Dollar is 1.58 Euro.

•GDP (All 2008 estimated)
-Purchasing power parity $2.863 trillion
-Official exchange rate $3.818 trillion
-Real growth rate 1.7%
-Per capita $34,800
-Composition by sector: agriculture 0.9%, industry 30.1%, services 69%

•Percentage of Trade within the European Union

•Unemployment Rate: 7.9%

•Chief Exports: exports: $1.53 trillion f.o.b. (2008 est.) machinery, vehicles, chemicals, metals and manufactures, foodstuffs, textiles. Export partners:
France 9.7%, US 7.5%, UK 7.3%, Italy 6.7%, Netherlands 6.4%, Austria 5.4%, Belgium 5.3%, Spain 5% (2007)

•Key Imports: $1.202 trillion f.o.b. (2008 est.) Import commodities: machinery, vehicles, chemicals, foodstuffs, textiles, metals. Import partners: Netherlands 12%, France 8.6%, Belgium 7.8%, China 6.2%, Italy 5.8%, UK 5.6%, US 4.5%, Austria 4.4% (2007)

•Major Religions: Christianity is the most practiced religion, with 53 million people (64%). The second one is Islam with 3.3 million people (4%), followed by Buddhism and Judaism, both with around 200,000 people (0.25%). Hinduism has some 90,000 adherents (0.1%). All other religious communities in Germany have fewer than 50,000 (or less than 0.05%) adherents. Protestantism is concentrated in the north and east and Roman Catholicism is concentrated in the south and west. Each denomination comprises about 31% of the population.

•Surrounding Countries: It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

•Literacy Rate: Age 15 and over can read and write. The total population would be: 99%, both male and female.

•One Interesting Fact: German people are the second biggest consumers of beer in the world (after the Irish), with an average of 119 liters per person per year (or 0.32 liters per day).

Luxembourg!

Country Name
Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
Year Founded
963
Population
491,775
Primary Language
German, French and Luxembourgish
Ethnic Make-up
Luxembourger 63.1%, Portuguese 13.3%, French 4.5%, Italian 4.3%, German 2.3%, other EU 7.3%, other 5.2%
Political System
parliamentary representative democracy with a constitutional monarch;
Year Entered the European Union
1957
Representative of the European Union (include party)
Christian Social People's Party
Type of Economy

Currency
euro
Current Exchange rate for American Currency
1 euro = 1.3653 U.S. dollars
GDP
$85,100 (2008 est.)
Percentage of Trade within the European Union
Unemployment Rate
4.7%
Chief Exports
machinery and equipment, steel products, chemicals, rubber products, glass
Key Imports
minerals, metals, foodstuffs, quality consumer goods
Major Religions
Roman Catholic
Surrounding Countries
germany, Belgium,france
Literacy Rate
total population: 100%
male: 100%
female: 100% (2000 est.)

One Interesting Fact
The country has a highly developed economy, with the second highest Gross Domestic Product per capita in the world

Genocide

After you watch the video, answer the following questions: 

1. What did Damas Gisimba, Carl Wilkens, and Simon Weil Lipman value, and what risks did they take by holding onto their values?
   
2. What values did the children of the orphanage demonstrate?
3. As events unfolded, what were Damas Gisimba's concerns?
4. What does it mean - as both Simone Weil Lipman and Damas Gisimba state - to "see the other as yourself?"

Think back to the incidents that took place during the Rwandan genocide: 

1. What role did the international community play during the genocide?
2. Does the international community have the responsibility of assisting countries threatened by genocide?
3. How can students get involved and make their voices heard against genocide? (For suggestions, visit www.ushmm.org/conscience/alert/students/) 

Think about challenges you face in your everday life: 

1. Have you ever witnessed an incident by which a bystander took the responsibility of offering assistance to someone in need of help? What happened?
2. When someone needs help, do bystanders have the responsibility to offer assistance? What do bystanders risk when they intervene and when they do not get involved? 

At the end of the film, Damas Gisimba stated that hatred must be "banished" to make the world a peaceful place. Reflect on that and answer the following: 

1. What is "hatred?" When is it dangerous?
2. What are examples of different forms of hatred in the global community?
3. Can hatred be banished? 
4. What would it take to banish hatred? 
5. Whose responsibility is it to work to end hatred or to respond when hatred provokes violence? 

Slumdog Millionaire

In one pivotal scene, the show’s host tells Jamal his own story about coming from the slums. He then gives Jamal the wrong answer written on the mirror in the rest room. Why did he give Jamal the wrong answer? What did Jamal do?

He was defeating him, dearing to his knowledge or to his innocence, to see if he was as good* as he appeared, if he was smart enough, if he only had a brain, or he also had social smarts, if you can call it in that way, he had been through a lot of things to trust that easy on someone, of course he would answer the question according to what he believed not letting the host advice interfer.

Also I can say that the host wanted to be the only one that acheived to be a millionaire.

Describe how loss, chance, luck, suffering, and street smarts are also characters behind the scenes. The film explores gain and loss side by side. Triumphs are tempered with loss. Where do you see this evident?

When the boys could ran away from the guy they worked for, they had to leave the girl behind.

When the grown girl could get to Jamal, Salim died because he helped her.

Jamal had to go to jail because he was giving the correct answers and he was becoming a millionaire, but not everyone had feith on him, and his answers.

Slumdog Millionare

• In the final scene, we see Salim and the choice he makes - filling the bathtub with money, etc. Why does he make this choice?
Because he become rich doing bad things and he didn't have the experiences his brother lived and all that money he haved was earned by bad things he had done, also he killed the other man so he his brother and Talika could live peacefull and also Salim maybe preferred to be killed instantly and not suffer to much.
• This film weaves together nightmare and impossible dream. What do you take away as the most important message or impression from the film?
That all that happens in your life is what makes you and things happen for a reason, good or bad things you learn from them and lather they may help you; also that you can do your future you can struggle to make it better.

Slumdog Millionare

- Greed, corruption and the misuse of power are highlighted in the film through a variety of characters. How are those who have money and power glamorized in this film? What happens to the victims?
Salim’s boss, he has so much control over his “employees”, everyone do what he told them to and if they didn’t, the most probable thing that he would do is kill them. Latika also suffered from him, they had her chased at the train station and Salim cut her face.

- In one pivotal scene, the show’s host tells Jamal his own story about coming from the slums. He then gives Jamal the wrong answer written in the mirror in the rest room. Why did he give Jamal the wrong answer? What did Jamal do?
Maybe the host didn’t want Jamal to win and became a millionare as he did once before, I think that he didn’t, like “trust” Jamal because he acused him from fraud. When is was time for Jamal
to choose and answer he chosed the other answer that turned out to be right.


DOMINIQUE

slumdog millionaire

This film weaves together nightmare and impossible dream. What do you take away as the most important message or impression from the film?

This was the story of the live of a common guy in India. We had the opportunity to see how other people in the world struggle for sustain, literally living in trash, seeing prostitutes, having no place and no parents, this at least in my case let me think about the great chance that I have of education, wealth, health and freedom.  Something that stayed with me is the sense of humanity, because these children though they were used to have a bad life they still had dreams to go for. This should make us value what we have and keep doing the best we can because there's people far away  with situations worst than us that just keep going!

In the final scene, we see Salim and the choice he makes- filling the bathtub with money, etc. Why does he make this choice?

I think he perfectly knew he was not going to be able to skip this one , so he preferred to die around a lot of money.  The one he was unable to have during his life.  I think he also wanted to show the guy that was going to enter that he had stole his money and he was going to keep it with him. It was pretty impacting this one, really tough for me. 

-anne

Compare and contrast 3 pivotal choices or desicions made by Jamal and Salim.How do their choices affect their respective paths in life?
As they made different choices in their life their life took different ways.Salim made the decision of living his home.He made a decision about working to a very dangerous man, and at the end of the movie the decided to help his brother and Latika by killing his boss.Those decisions or actions made his end.
Jamal decided to work.That decision made him get in the show of who wants to be a millionaire.he decided to play, and he won at the end.IN the game he made several decisions but at the end he keep on winning so he baceame millionaire.


Is ethnical decision making posible when one must make choices based on survival?Do seemingly "bad"choices make a person bad?
Most of the time because the people who are making a decision they are customed or "made" by their ethic group so they think or act like someone of their ethnic group would act, but talking about survival cases sometimes not because when it's about survival you don't care about the others would think it's just that you want to survive and its not neccesary and ethnical decision.Bad choices don't make a person bad, they are just a mistake.But when you keep on making bad decisions you can change but not at all.

What do you think the film is saying about globalization of culture through media?We see the game show "Who wants to be a millionaire"?adapted in the indian culture.Is this a sign of progress?Why or Why not?What is the film staying about the effect of money on culture.
There are still their culture, there are still extremely poor people and human discrimination, there is globalization but their culture doesn't change.The game could be a sign of progress but not so much because its just a show and just a couple of the indian people win money from there, its progress because they are getting more modern with tv show and all that.People were extremely poor, but in the movie we could see people who were not poor but their culture for me was the same, they still treated women badly, there were fights between the people, etc.

Questions for Reflection & Discussion

1• What does the title mean? How does the title and the contrasts within it provide symbolic summary of the film?
The title means what he basiclly turned into, he was a slumdog and now he is a millionaire. It basiclly sums all the movie because that's what it shows, the life of a slumdog and all the things he had to go through, and how all these things led himto become a millionare.

2• Early in the film we see the young Jamal dive into a latrinepit to steal a glimpse at a visiting movie star. How does his single-mindedness to see this movie star reveal hisdetermination? What other examples do you see in the film of his determination?
It reveals how did everything he could to reach his goal, that was seeing the movie star, he didn't cared getting all dirty, he wanted to see him and no one would stop him from it. Other examples of his determination would be how he never forgot about Latika, everyone said that he should forget about her but he never did, and in the end with his determination he reached his goal, that was to be with her.

3• In the film, the theme of destiny is a central theme. What does it mean that all Jamal desires is just out of his reach? (The prized autograph, Latika, his brother, the answers, etc.)
It means that destiny was good to him because all that he wanted and seemed impossible to have, he got it at the end, like the answer that he didn't knew, it turned out to be the right one.

Excerpts on Death Penalty

The Death Penalty is a form of torture

The cruelty of torture is evident. Like torture, an execution constitutes an extreme physical and mental assault on a person already rendered helpless by government authorities. Abolitionist groups claim that the cruelty of the death penalty is manifest not only in the execution but in the time spent under sentence of death, during which the prisoner is constantly contemplating his or her own death at the hands of the state. Prison is an extraordinarily severe punishment that should not be exacerbated with torture or the death penalty.

Torture Defined
Torture of prisoners violates the Eight Amendment’s provision against Cruel and Unusual Punishment, and also constitutes a violation of several international laws. The United Nations Convention on Torture defined torture as “any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions.”

An example of torture in the US Criminal Justice System

In May 1998, a lawsuit was filed concerning conditions for death row inmates in Idaho Maximum Security Institution. The suit states that inmates are held in solitary confinement for 163 of every week's 168 hours in small concrete and steel cells with solid metal doors and a narrow slit for a window. Inmates are allowed out of their cells for a maximum of one hour a day, excluding weekends, for recreation, alone and handcuffed in one of 12 enclosed wire mesh pens measuring approximately seven by 15 feet. The prisoner named in the lawsuit, Randy McKinney, states that he has lived under such a regime for 16 years, and that such treatment constitutes torture.

World Trade Center bombing (1993)

The World Trade Center bombing ocurred on February 26, 1993; in New York City when a car bomb was detonated below Tower One on the World Trade Center. The urea nitrate-hydrogen gas was intended to knock the Tower One into Tower Two bringing them both down and killing thousands of people, but it failed and killed 6 people and injured 1,042. The attack was planned by a group of conspirators including Ramzi Yousef, Mahmud Abouhalima, Mohammad Salameh, Nidal Ayyad, Abdul Rahman Yasin and Ahmad Ajaj. They received financing from Khaled Shaikh Mohammed. They mailed letter two various New York newspapers just before the attack, saying it belong to Israel's army.

Ramzi Yousef and a Jordanian friend, Eyad Ismoil drove a yellow van into Lower Manhattan, parking it in the lower paarking in World Trade Center, when it detonated the bomb cut the electricity also knocking the emergency lighting and the smoke rised 93rd floors in the two towers.

The USS Cole bombing (2001)

The USS Cole bombing was a suicide bombing attack against the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Cole (DDG 67) on 12 October 2000 while it was harbored in the Yemeni port of Aden. Seventeen American sailors were killed.
On 12 October 2000, USS Cole, under the command of Commander Kirk Lippold, set in to Aden harbor for a routine fuel stop. Cole completed mooring at 09:30. Refueling started at 10:30. Around 11:18 local time (08:18 UTC), a small craft approached the port side of the destroyer, and an explosion occurred, putting a 40-by-60-feet gash in the ship's port side according to the memorial plate to those that lost their lives. According to former CIA intelligence officer Robert Finke, the blast appeared to be caused by explosives molded into a shaped charge against the hull of the boat. It was reported that the boat was so close that the attackers (trying to appear friendly) aboard the boat and the sailors exchanged greetings before the blast. It is believed that sailors aboard the USS Cole thought the boat was just a garbage service boat. The blast hit the ship's galley, where crew were lining up for lunch. The crew fought flooding in the engineering spaces and had the damage under control by the evening. Divers inspected the hull and determined the keel was not damaged.
Seventeen sailors were killed and thirty nine others were injured in the blast. The injured sailors were taken to the United States Army's Landstuhl Regional Medical Center near Ramstein, Germany and later, back to the United States. The attack was the deadliest against a U.S. Naval vessel since the Iraqi attack on the USS Stark (FFG-31) on 17 May 1987.
The asymmetric warfare attack was organized and directed by Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist organization. In June 2001, an al-Qaeda recruitment video featuring bin Laden boasted about the attack and encouraged similar attacks.
On 14 March 2007, a federal judge in the United States, Robert Doumar ruled that the Sudanese government was liable for the bombing.

Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor

Attack on Pearl Harbor,was a surprise military strike conducted by the Japanese navy against the United States' naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of Sunday, December 7, 1941later resulting in the United States becoming militarily involved in World War II It was intended as a preventiveaction to keep the U.S. Pacific Fleet from influencing the war Japan was planning to wage in Southeast Asia against Britain, the Netherlands, and the United States. The attack consisted of two aerial attack waves totaling 353 aircraft, launched from six Japanese aircraft carriers.

The attack sank four U.S. Navy battleships and damaged four more. The Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, and one minelayer, destroyed 188 aircraft, and caused personnel losses of 2,402 killed and 1,282 wounded. The power station, shipyard, maintenance, and fuel and torpedo storage facilities, as well as the submarine piers and headquarters building were not hit. Japanese losses were minimal, at 29 aircraft and four midget submarines, with 65 servicemen killed or wounded.The attack was a major engagement of World War II. It occurred before a formal declaration of war and before the last part of the infamous 14-part message was delivered to the State Department in Eashington D.C. The Japanese Embassy in Washington had been instructed to deliver it immediately prior to the scheduled time of the attack in Hawaii. The attack, and especially the 'surprise' nature of it, were both factors in changing U.S. public opinion from the isolationist position of the mid-1930s to support for direct participation in the war. Germany's prompt declaration of war, unforced by any treaty commitment to Japan, quickly brought the US into the European Theatre as well. The lack by Japan of any formal declaration prior to the attack led President Roosevelt to proclaim "December 7th, 1941—a date which will live in infamy".

I choose this Topic because I saw a movie about this when I was In primary school and it's a Topic I like most about wars in th U.S.I think the U.S. it's always like getting in other countrys problems or trying to take advantage of the problems of somre countrys to get land or finding a way to get more rich.This is one of the most powerfull nations on the world so for me it's admirable their history, so I like the country even though all enemys they have such as konw they are in war.

Here you could see a picture of Pearl Harbor in that time with their ships burning.

Anthrax letters in New York and Washington, DC

Well this event is also known as Amerithrax by the FBI, and it occured some weeks after the attacks of the 9/11 in 2001, started on september 18. What happened is that letters that had anthrax spores were mailed to people in the news media offices and to two Democratic U.S. Senators. It's said that five letters were mailed to ABC News, CBS News, NBC News and the New York Post, all in New York City; and to the National Enquirer at American Media,in Boca Raton, Florida. Only the New York Post and NBC letters were actually found but the existence of the other three letters is inferred because people who worked at ABC, CBS and AMI became infected with later with anthrax.

Two more anthrax letters were dated October 9, three weeks after the first mailing. The letters were sent to two Democratic Senators, Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy. When that happened, Daschle was the Senate Majority leader and Leahy was head of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Daschle letter was opened by an assistant on october 15, and the government mail service shut down. The unopened Leahy letter was discovered in an impounded mail bag on November 16. The Leahy letter had been missdirected to the State Department mailin Sterling, Virginia, and a postal worker there, David Hose, contracted inhalational anthrax.

At least 22 were infected by anthrax, 11 inhaled the life-threatening inhalational variety. Five died of inhalational anthrax: Stevens; two employees of the Brentwood mail facility in Washington, Thomas Morris Jr. and Joseph Curseen, Kathy Nguyen, a Vietnamese immigrant resident in the Bronx who worked in New York City, and Ottilie Lundgren, a 94-year old widow of a prominent judge from Oxford, who was the last known victim.

Although the diffetent anthrax preparations in the five letters were of different grades, all of the material came from the same bacterial strain, known as the Ames strain. More than a dozen of buildings were contaminated with anthrax. The decontamination of the Brentwood postal facility took 26 months and cost $130 million dollars. The Hamilton, New Jersey postal facility remained closed until March 2005 and its cleanup cost $65 million. The United States Environmental Protection Agency spent $41.7 million to clean up government buildings in Washington, D.C. One FBI document said the total damage exceeded $1 billion. The principal means of decontamination is fumigation with chlorine dioxide gas

The primary suspect was not publicly identified until 2008.

Blowing up of the USS Maine (1898)

Back on that time, Cuba was fighting against Spain to liberate their island from the Spanish, but when Spain sent the General Valeriano Weyler y Nicolau with the command to pacify the revolution so he concentated the rebels in districts to areas near military headquarters. So this had as conlcusion starvation and death of over 100,000 Cubans. The "Yellow Press" put pression over the President of the US, William McKinley to end the fighting in Cuba.
Pro-Weyler forces started to investigate in Havana riots in January 1898, and US became very worried about the safety of their citizens in the country.
On 24 January, McKinley sent the USS Maine and it arrived the 25th.
To avoid any conflict the commanding officer didn't allow the soldiers go on shore. The Navy's presence appeared to have a calming effect on the situation.
15 February, the Maine exploted, 266 men died. The city of Washington acted quickly and the Spain position on Cuba hardened, so US declared war to Spain on April 21 and Spain responded on the 23.
Some investigators insist the the explosion of the Maine didn't caused the war, but it served as a catalyst, accelerating the approach to a diplomatic impasse. It rallied American's opinion more strongly behind armed intervention.

Bombing of Khobar Towers, Saudi Arabia (1996)

June 25, 1996- 9:43 p.m.- Khobar, Saudi Arabia. The men have parked their truck to one side of the building # 131  where the United States Air Force personnel from the 4404th Wing are housed. At  9:50 p.m. after only 9 minutes the men are gone and the fuel  truck exploded leaving a total of 19 dead and 372 wounded.  

The force of the explosion was enormous.  A huge crater was left were the vehicle was parked, 26 m wide and 11 m deep.  Windows were shattered and thrown miles away from the area and it destroyed six high rise apartment.

 The explosion contained the equivalent of 20,000 to 30,000 pounds of TNT.  The bomb was a mixture of gasoline and explosive powders placed in the gas tank. 

The terrorists were reported to have smuggled explosive materials and timing devices into S. A from Lebanon in paint cans, to later hide them underground in Qatif near Khobar. 

Later the next people were identified and arrested: Ahmed Ibrahim, Abdelkarim Hussein, Ali Saed, Ibrahim Salih and 9 other Saudis. 

The purpose of this attack was to exhort the U.S soldiers to leave the country  and that Khobar Towers would be attacked too if they did not begin immediately. 

William Perry who is the secretary of defense said in an interview in 2007 that " he now bealives "Al- Qaida" rather than Iran was behind a 1996 truck bombing at an American Military base" 

Anne 

Outsourcing

After having the idea of what outsourcing mean we are now ready to answer some basic questions to get deeper in the topic.

First of all what are the pros and cons about it? The -good- part of it is that you can achieve more with less, have flexibility when negotiating contracts specially in how to manage the budget if you can't afford higher- priced staff (there's a real difference in paying $50 per hour in US than $15 in Poland) and finally having educated people with enough skills (having a lot of workers with degrees from finest universities).  The -Bad- side of it is that US looses industrial infrastructure through the closing of factories also they export capital abroad in building manufacturing plants and duplicate patterns and tooling in another country. This money then becomes unavailable for US  economic expansion. The third  harmful effect is the loss of income for the local, state and federal governments and the fewer contributions to the social security and Medicare. 

Industrialized countries have been the ones with more benefits since they are the ones who promote the trades in these areas. Understanding is as easy as the next question. Why produce something that we can get more cheaply elsewhere?

www.memagazine.org/contents/current/webonly/wex30905.html

www.cio.com/article/146451/seven_reasons_why_outsourcing_to_india_is_good_for_your_business

www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=3115

Outsourcing

Assignment #1 Feedback...

Good job everybody. However, Annie did not participate, which will affect her individual grade (zero) and your team's grade (85) for this assignment as well. Other than that, you will all receive full credit for your individual participation. 

Keep it up!

Outsourcing - Ana Cristina

China announces new measures to boost service outsourcing

BEIJING, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese government announced on Monday it will give tax breaks and subsidies to encourage the growth of service outsourcing nationwide. The details to boost the development of service outsourcing were outlined in a document drafted by the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) and approved by the State Council, China's Cabinet.

Service outsourcing allows companies to transfer service operations to professional providers so that they can focus on their core business. A service outsourcing company helps its clients manage business operations, such as information technology, training, logistics and advertising.

The document said that 20 cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an, Suzhou and Hangzhou, have been designated for pilot service outsourcing programs. Beginning Jan. 1, these companies are eligible for tax breaks, financial support, subsidies and intellectual property rights protection.

Technology-advanced service outsourcing companies are allowed to adopt flexible working hours for workers if they get approval from local human resources departments, said the document.

Technology development companies on the national level that are based in central and western China are expected to enjoy favorable tax policies when they apply for loans to launch service outsourcing projects.

The government also encourages telecom providers to help pave the way for enterprises to take the advantage of the outsourcing pilot to more easily communicate with the outsourcing service provider.

China also plans to establish and improve an outsourcing supervision mechanism, introduce new insurance products and establish a network of trained outsourcing personnel.

The government will offer service outsourcing companies a subsidy of up to 4,500 yuan (662 U.S. dollars) a year for every college graduate employed on a contract of at least one year.

The document cited Suzhou Industrial Park as an example, saying service companies there would enjoy an enterprise income tax rate of 15 percent, compared with 25 percent elsewhere in the country, until 2013.

Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan hosted a meeting in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province, to discuss experiment of service outsourcing.

At the meeting, MOC Vice Minister Ma Xiuhong estimated that international service outsourcing volume would top 600 billion U.S. dollars by 2010.

"More foreign companies outsource parts of their business to overseas companies to reduce operation costs, which provide Chinese enterprises with lots of opportunities," Ma said.

According to the MOC, the country hopes to train 1.2 million service outsourcing professionals by 2013. During the same period, 1 million college graduates are expected to find new jobs in this sector.

However, world consultant firm Mckinsey & Comapany said in a report that China's outsourcing business growth still lags behind its neighbor, India.

Its statistics show India's service outsourcing volume was 42.2billion U.S. dollars in 2008, nine times China's. More than 2 million Indian people worked in the outsourcing sector, four times more than China's figures.

The McKinsey & Comapany report also forecasted that despite various difficulties, China still has great potential to develop outsourcing businesses. The country is expected to become the most important service outsourcing destination worldwide in the future.

Up to 2008, 3,300 Chinese companies provided service outsourcing business to overseas companies, with a contract volume of 4.69 billion U.S. dollars, official statistics show.

Editor: Yao

Source:

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-02/02/content_10752148.htm

Outsourcing

Anna Criss
China annoAunces new measures to boost service outsourcing
BEIJING, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese government announced on Monday it will give tax breaks and subsidies to encourage the growth of service outsourcing nationwide.
The details to boost the development of service outsourcing were outlined in a document drafted by the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) and approved by the State Council, China's Cabinet.
Service outsourcing allows companies to transfer service operations to professional providers so that they can focus on their core business. A service outsourcing company helps its clients manage business operations, such as information technology, training, logistics and advertising.
The document said that 20 cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an, Suzhou and Hangzhou, have been designated for pilot service outsourcing programs. Beginning Jan. 1, these companies are eligible for tax breaks, financial support, subsidies and intellectual property rights protection.
Technology-advanced service outsourcing companies are allowed to adopt flexible working hours for workers if they get approval from local human resources departments, said the document.
Technology development companies on the national level that are based in central and western China are expected to enjoy favorable tax policies when they apply for loans to launch service outsourcing projects.
The government also encourages telecom providers to help pave the way for enterprises to take the advantage of the outsourcing pilot to more easily communicate with the outsourcing service provider.
China also plans to establish and improve an outsourcing supervision mechanism, introduce new insurance products and establish a network of trained outsourcing personnel.
The government will offer service outsourcing companies a subsidy of up to 4,500 yuan (662 U.S. dollars) a year for every college graduate employed on a contract of at least one year.
The document cited Suzhou Industrial Park as an example, saying service companies there would enjoy an enterprise income tax rate of 15 percent, compared with 25 percent elsewhere in the country, until 2013.
Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan hosted a meeting in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province, to discuss experiment of service outsourcing.
At the meeting, MOC Vice Minister Ma Xiuhong estimated that international service outsourcing volume would top 600 billion U.S. dollars by 2010.
"More foreign companies outsource parts of their business to overseas companies to reduce operation costs, which provide Chinese enterprises with lots of opportunities," Ma said.
According to the MOC, the country hopes to train 1.2 million service outsourcing professionals by 2013. During the same period, 1 million college graduates are expected to find new jobs in this sector.
However, world consultant firm Mckinsey & Comapany said in a report that China's outsourcing business growth still lags behind its neighbor, India.
Its statistics show India's service outsourcing volume was 42.2billion U.S. dollars in 2008, nine times China's. More than 2 million Indian people worked in the outsourcing sector, four times more than China's figures.
The McKinsey & Comapany report also forecasted that despite various difficulties, China still has great potential to develop outsourcing businesses. The country is expected to become the most important service outsourcing destination worldwide in the future.
Up to 2008, 3,300 Chinese companies provided service outsourcing business to overseas companies, with a contract volume of 4.69 billion U.S. dollars, official statistics show.
Editor: Yao
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-02/02/content_10752148.htm

Outsourcing

There are many reasons that companies outsource various jobs, but the most prominent advantage seems to be the fact that it often saves money. Many of the companies that provide outsourcing services are able to do the work for considerably less money, as they don't have to provide benefits to their workers, and have fewer overhead expenses to worry about.
Outsourcing also allows companies to focus on other business issues while having the details taken care of by outside experts. This means that a large amount of resources and attention, that might fall on the shoulders of management professionals, can be used for more important, broader issues within the company. The specialized company that handles the outsourced work is often streamlined and often has world-class capabilities and access to new technology that a company couldn't afford to buy on their own. Plus, if a company is looking to expand, outsourcing is a cost-effective way to start building foundations in other countries.


Outsourcing is a trend that is becoming more common in information technology and other industries for services that have usually been regarded as intrinsic to managing a business. Outsourcing may prove highly beneficial for many companies like in saving money. This is very much true even though some people don't like outsourcing because it has its negative side it could be like that you don't contract people of your country so you don't help in that way with economy and it eliminates direct communication with its clients.I got this information here http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-outsourcing.htm.

The outsourching agreements and tools,large organizations often use them to remove transactional overhead with pre-approved vendors by utilizing a single contract to cover all transactions with them as well as with their affiliates.
Master Services Agreement - Outsourcing of human resources and accounts payable services and associated processes (including collection of time and attendance data; calculation, reporting, payment of and accounting for pay and deductions; responding to and resolving employee payroll issues and inquiries; capturing, tracking, modifying and reporting all human relations related data (including current, terminated, vested, deceased, and annuitant employees); operating and maintaining the information technology environment which support human resources related processes; managing reimbursement of employee business expenses).http://partneringagreements.com/31os.htm?c1=ppc&source=goo1&kw=outsourcing

The International Association of Outsourcing Professionals™ (IAOP™) is compiling the fourth annual ranking of the world’s best outsourcing service providers — The Global Outsourcing 100. As part of The Global Outsourcing 100, IAOP is also introducing a new list, the World's Best Outsourcing Advisors.The Global Outsourcing 100 and its sub-lists are essential references for companies seeking new and expanded relationships with the best companies in the industry. The lists include companies from around the world that provide the full spectrum of outsourcing services — not just information technology and business process outsourcing, but also facility services, real estate and capital asset management, manufacturing and logistics.The World's Best Outsourcing Advisors, new for 2009, is geared specifically to companies that are outstanding global outsourcing advisors and consultants. In addition to being part of The Global Outsourcing 100 main list and sub-lists, the new list of advisors will rank the top consultant, legal and related advisory firms globally, and will be a valuable reference tool for companies needing expert advice and guidance with their outsourcing projects.

For me its fine outsourcing,but like Adriana said its makes other countrys rich or it helps their economy more than in your country.And in other countrys since there is no other job they work hard for less money.

Outsourcing - Maria Jose

So, here's my article everybody :) I leave you the link:http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/25/business/worldbusiness/25outsource.html

Outsourcing - Dominique

Outsourcing.

Hewlett-Packard today declined to comment on industry speculation the company plans to outsource the jobs of an estimated 500 staff working in its support and service operation located in Rhodes, Sydney, offshore.
A well-placed source has told ZDNet Australia that HP has given the project management team overseeing the Rhodes operation a maximum of eight months to migrate its internal and corporate desktop support functions, employing 300 people, to Bangalore, India.
The source also claimed that HP was planning to axe a further 200 jobs at the Rhodes facility by outsourcing its operations management centre functions to China.
ZDNet Australia contacted HP several times for comment on the allegation. HP corporate communications manager, Hugh Scott said the company could only provide a "no comment" response at this stage.
The centre has been operating in Australia for four years. Work to establish the centre began in 1998 and it started operating in 1999. In 2000 it was upgraded.
The centre currently serves HP's key corporate clients such as Vodafone and Optus, and its internal staff.
The source claims the outsourcing deal is an example of the cost-cutting mentality that has dominated the company's strategy under the stewardship of Carly Fiorina.
"The problem I see with all of this is that Australia is gradually making other countries rich, these 300 people will go on the dole because there is no other work around," said the source.
"The corporate giants are paying HP, HP is paying India but there's no money coming into Australia. Its all money flowing out and you've got 300 more people sitting on the [labour] market".
Last week a McKinsey & Co released a report forecasting IT-enabled Services-Business Process Outsourcing (ITeS-BPO) would grow 60 percent to US$2.4 billion over the 2003 fiscal year.
A swathe of the IT industry's heavy-hitters including Dell, IBM, Accenture and Compaq have outsourced their functions to Indian-based operations over the last 12 months. Australia has not been immune to trend.
Last August Compaq moved its research and development centre from Queensland to India.
In November, documents leaked from within Qantas revealed that the airline's chief information officer, Fiona Balfour, told a meeting of ranking IT executives that outsourcing to India was a long-term strategy for survival.
In December 2001, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade alarmed the Australian IT industry when it was revealed that it had engaged activity widely viewed as encouraging Australian business to seek opportunities to cut-costs by transferring local functions to India.

Outsourcing

The Future Of Outsourcing

How it's transforming whole industries and changing the way we work


COVER STORY PODCAST Globalization has been brutal to midwestern manufacturers like the Paper Converting Machine Co. For decades, PCMC's Green Bay (Wis.) factory, its oiled wooden factory floors worn smooth by work boots, thrived by making ever-more-complex equipment to weave, fold, and print packaging for everything from potato chips to baby wipes.

But PCMC has fallen on hard times. First came the 2001 recession. Then, two years ago, one of the company's biggest customers told it to slash its machinery prices by 40% and urged it to move production to China. Last year, a St. Louis holding company, Barry-Wehmiller Cos., acquired the manufacturer and promptly cut workers and nonunion pay. In five years sales have plunged by 40%, to $170 million, and the workforce has shrunk from 2,000 to 1,100. Employees have been traumatized, says operations manager Craig Compton, a muscular former hockey player. "All you hear about is China and all these companies closing or taking their operations overseas."

But now, Compton says, he is "probably the most optimistic I've been in five years." Hope is coming from an unusual source. As part of its turnaround strategy, Barry-Wehmiller plans to shift some design work to its 160-engineer center in Chennai, India. By having U.S. and Indian designers collaborate 24/7, explains Vasant Bennett, president of Barry-Wehmiller's engineering services unit, PCMC hopes to slash development costs and time, win orders it often missed due to engineering constraints -- and keep production in Green Bay. Barry-Wehmiller says the strategy already has boosted profits at some of the 32 other midsize U.S. machinery makers it has bought. "We can compete and create great American jobs," vows CEO Robert Chapman. "But not without offshoring."Come again? Ever since the offshore shift of skilled work sparked widespread debate and a political firestorm three years ago, it has been portrayed as the killer of good-paying American jobs. "Benedict Arnold CEOs" hire software engineers, computer help staff, and credit-card bill collectors to exploit the low wages of poor nations. U.S. workers suddenly face a grave new threat, with even highly educated tech and service professionals having to compete against legions of hungry college grads in India, China, and the Philippines willing to work twice as hard for one-fifth the pay.Workers' fears have some grounding in fact. The prime motive of most corporate bean counters jumping on the offshoring bandwagon has been to take advantage of such "labor arbitrage" -- the huge wage gap between industrialized and developing nations. And without doubt, big layoffs often accompany big outsourcing deals.

The changes can be harsh and deep. But a more enlightened, strategic view of global sourcing is starting to emerge as managers get a better fix on its potential. The new buzzword is "transformational outsourcing." Many executives are discovering offshoring is really about corporate growth, making better use of skilled U.S. staff, and even job creation in the U.S., not just cheap wages abroad. True, the labor savings from global sourcing can still be substantial. But it's peanuts compared to the enormous gains in efficiency, productivity, quality, and revenues that can be achieved by fully leveraging offshore talent.Thus entrepreneurs such as Chapman see a chance to turn around dying businesses, speed up their pace of innovation, or fund development projects that otherwise would have been unaffordable. More aggressive outsourcers are aiming to create radical business models that can give them an edge and change the game in their industries. Old-line multinationals see offshoring as a catalyst for a broader plan to overhaul outdated office operations and prepare for new competitive battles. And while some want to downsize, others are keen to liberate expensive analysts, engineers, and salesmen from routine tasks so they can spend more time innovating and dealing with customers. "This isn't about labor cost," says Daniel Marovitz, technology managing director for Deutsche Bank's global businesses (DB ). "The issue is that if you don't do it, you won't survive."The new attitude is emerging in corporations across the U.S. and Europe in virtually every industry. Ask executives at Penske Truck Leasing why the company outsources dozens of business processes to Mexico and India, and they cite greater efficiency and customer service. Ask managers at U.S.-Dutch professional publishing giant Wolters Kluwer (WTKWY ) why they're racing to shift software development and editorial work to India and the Philippines, and they will say it's about being able to pump out a greater variety of books, journals, and Web-based content more rapidly. Ask Wachovia Corp. (WB ), the Charlotte (N.C.)-based bank, why it just inked a $1.1 billion deal with India's Genpact to outsource finance and accounting jobs and why it handed over administration of its human-resources programs to Lincolnshire (Ill.)-based Hewitt Associates (HEW ). It's "what we need to do to become a great customer-relationship company," says Director of Corporate Development Peter J. Sidebottom. Wachovia aims to reinvest up to 40% of the $600 million to $1 billion it hopes to take out in costs over three years into branches, ATMs, and personnel to boost its core business.Here's what such transformations typically entail: Genpact, Accenture (ACN ), IBM Services, or another big outsourcing specialist dispatches teams to meticulously dissect the workflow of an entire human resources, finance, or info tech department. The team then helps build a new IT platform, redesigns all processes, and administers programs, acting as a virtual subsidiary. The contractor then disperses work among global networks of staff ranging from the U.S. to Asia to Eastern Europe.In recent years, Procter & Gamble (PG ), DuPont (DD ), Cisco Systems (CSCO ), ABN Amro (ABN ), Unilever, Rockwell Collins (COL ), and Marriott (MAR ) were among those that signed such megadeals, worth billions.In 2004, for example, drugmaker Wyeth Pharmaceuticals transferred its entire clinical-testing operation to Accenture Ltd. "Boards of directors of virtually every big company now are insisting on very articulated outsourcing strategies," says Peter Allen, global services managing director of TPI, a consulting firm that advised on 15 major outsourcing contracts last year worth $14 billion. "Many CEOs are saying, 'Don't tell me how much I can save. Show me how we can grow by 40% without increasing our capacity in the U.S.,"' says Atul Vashistha, CEO of outsourcing consultant neoIT and co-author of the book The Offshore Nation.Some observers even believe Big Business is on the cusp of a new burst of productivity growth, ignited in part by offshore outsourcing as a catalyst. "Once this transformation is done," predicts Arthur H. Harper, former CEO of General Electric Co.'s equipment management businesses, "I think we will end up with companies that deliver products faster at lower costs, and are better able to compete against anyone in the world." As executives shed more operations, they also are spurring new debate about how the future corporation will look. Some management pundits theorize about the "totally disaggregated corporation," wherein every function not regarded as crucial is stripped away.PROCESSES, NOW ON SALE In theory, it is becoming possible to buy, off the shelf, practically any function you need to run a company. Want to start a budget airline but don't want to invest in a huge back office? Accenture's Navitaire unit can manage reservations, plan routes, assign crew, and calculate optimal prices for each seat.Have a cool new telecom or medical device but lack market researchers? For about $5,000, analytics outfits such as New Delhi-based Evalueserve Inc. will, within a day, assemble a team of Indian patent attorneys, engineers, and business analysts, start mining global databases, and call dozens of U.S. experts and wholesalers to provide an independent appraisal.Want to market quickly a new mutual fund or insurance policy? IT services providers such as India's Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. are building software platforms that furnish every business process needed and secure all regulatory approvals. A sister company, Tata Technologies, boasts 2,000 Indian engineers and recently bought 700-employee Novi (Mich.) auto- and aerospace-engineering firm Incat International PLC. Tata Technologies can now handle everything from turning a conceptual design into detailed specs for interiors, chassis, and electrical systems to designing the tooling and factory-floor layout. "If you map out the entire vehicle-development process, we have the capability to supply every piece of it," says Chief Operating Officer Jeffrey D. Sage, an IBM and General Motors Corp. (GM ) veteran. Tata is designing all doors for a future truck, for example, and the power train for a U.S. sedan. The company is hiring 100 experienced U.S. engineers at salaries of $100,000 and up.Few big companies have tried all these options yet. But some, like Procter & Gamble, are showing that the ideas are not far-fetched. Over the past three years the $57 billion consumer-products company has outsourced everything from IT infrastructure and human resources to management of its offices from Cincinnati to Moscow. CEO Alan G. Lafley also has announced he wants half of all new P&G products to come from outside by 2010, vs. 20% now. In the near future, some analysts predict, Detroit and European carmakers will go the way of the PC industry, relying on outsiders to develop new models bearing their brand names. BMW has done just that with a sport-utility vehicle. And Big Pharma will bring blockbuster drugs to market at a fraction of the current $1 billion average cost by allying with partners in India, China, and Russia in molecular research and clinical testing.Of course, corporations have been outsourcing management of IT systems to the likes of Electronic Data Systems (EDS ), IBM (IBM ), and Accenture for more than a decade, while Detroit has long given engineering jobs to outside design firms. Futurists have envisioned "hollow" and "virtual" corporations since the 1980s.It hasn't happened yet. Reengineering a company may make sense on paper, but it's extremely expensive and entails big risks if executed poorly. Corporations can't simply be snapped apart and reconfigured like LEGO sets, after all. They are complex, living organisms that can be thrown into convulsions if a transplant operation is botched. Valued employees send out their résumés, customers are outraged at deteriorating service, a brand name can be damaged. In consultant surveys, what's more, many U.S. managers complain about the quality of offshored work and unexpected costs.But as companies work out such kinks, the rise of the offshore option is dramatically changing the economics of reengineering. With millions of low-cost engineers, financial analysts, consumer marketers, and architects now readily available via the Web, CEOs can see a quicker payoff. "It used to be that companies struggled for a few years to show a 5% or 10% increase in productivity from outsourcing," says Pramod Bhasin, CEO of Genpact, the 19,000-employee back-office-processing unit spun off by GE last year. "But by offshoring work, they can see savings of 30% to 40% in the first year" in labor costs. Then the efficiency gains kick in. A $10 billion company might initially only shave a few million dollars in wages after transferring back-office procurement or bill collection overseas. But better management of these processes could free up hundreds of millions in cash flow annually.Those savings, in turn, help underwrite far broader corporate restructuring that can be truly transformational. DuPont has long wanted to fix its unwieldy system for administering records, payroll, and benefits for its 60,000 employees in 70 nations, with data scattered among different software platforms and global business units. By awarding a long-term contract to Cincinnati-based Convergys Corp., the world's biggest call-center operator, to redesign and administer its human resources programs, it expects to cut costs 20% in the first year and 30% a year afterward. To get corporate backing for the move, "it certainly helps a lot to have savings from the outset," says DuPont Senior Human Resources Vice-President James C. Borel.Creative new companies can exploit the possibilities of offshoring even faster than established players. Crimson Consulting Group is a good example. The Los Altos (Calif.) firm, which performs global market research on everything from routers to software for clients including Cisco, HP, and Microsoft (MSFT ), has only 14 full-time employees. But it farms out research to India's Evalueserve and some 5,000 other independent experts from Silicon Valley to China, the Czech Republic, and South Africa. "This allows a small firm like us to compete with McKinsey and Bain on a very global basis with very low costs," says CEO Glenn Gow. Former GE exec Harper is on the same wavelength. Like Barry-Wehmiller, his new five-partner private-equity firm plans to buy struggling midsize manufacturers and use offshore outsourcing to help revitalize them. Harper's NexGen Capital Partners also plans to farm out most of its own office work. "The people who understand this will start from Day One and never build a back room," Harper says. "They will outsource everything they can."Some aggressive outsourcers are using their low-cost, superefficient business models to challenge incumbents. Pasadena, (Calif.)-based IndyMac Bancorp Inc. (NDE ), founded in 1985, illustrates the new breed of financial services company. In three years, IndyMac has risen from 22nd-largest U.S. mortgage issuer to No. 9, while its 18% return on equity in 2004 outpaced most rivals. The thrift's initial edge was its technology to process, price, and approve loan applications in less than a minute.But IndyMac also credits its aggressive offshore outsourcing strategy, which Consumer Banking CEO Ashwin Adarkar says has helped make it "more productive, cost-efficient, and flexible than our competitors, with better customer service." IndyMac is using 250 mostly Indian staff from New York-based Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (CTSH ) to help build a next-generation software platform and applications that, it expects, will boost efficiency at least 20% by 2008. IndyMac has also begun shifting tasks, ranging from bill collection to "welcome calls" that help U.S. borrowers make their first mortgage payments on time, to India's Exlservice Holdings Inc. and its 5,000-strong staff. In all, Exlservice and other Indian providers handle 33 back-office processes offshore. Yet rather than losing any American jobs, IndyMac has doubled its U.S. workforce to nearly 6,000 in four years -- and is still hiring.SUPERIOR SERVICE Smart use of offshoring can juice the performance of established players, too. Five years ago, Penske Truck Leasing, a joint venture between GE and Penske Corp., paid $768 million for trucker Rollins Truck Leasing Corp. -- just in time for the recession. Customer service, spread among four U.S. call centers, was inconsistent. "I realized our business needed a transformation," says CFO Frank Cocuzza. He began by shifting a few dozen data-processing jobs to GE's huge Mexican and Indian call centers, now called Genpact. He then hired Genpact to help restructure most of his back office. That relationship now spans 30 processes involved in leasing 216,000 trucks and providing logistical services for customers.Now, if a Penske truck is held up at a weigh station because it lacks a certain permit, for example, the driver calls an 800 number. Genpact staff in India obtains the document over the Web. The weigh station is notified electronically, and the truck is back on the road within 30 minutes. Before, Penske thought it did well if it accomplished that in two hours. And when a driver finishes his job, his entire log, including records of mileage, tolls, and fuel purchases, is shipped to Mexico, punched into computers, and processed in Hyderabad. In all, 60% of the 1,000 workers handling Penske back-office process are in India or Mexico, and Penske is still ramping up. Under a new program, when a manufacturer asks Penske to arrange for a delivery to a buyer, Indian staff helps with the scheduling, billing, and invoices. The $15 million in direct labor-cost savings are small compared with the gains in efficiency and customer service, Cocuzza says.Big Pharma is pursuing huge boosts in efficiency as well. Eli Lilly & Co.'s (LLY ) labs are more productive than most, having released eight major drugs in the past five years. But for each new drug, Lilly estimates it invests a hefty $1.1 billion. That could reach $1.5 billion in four years. "Those kinds of costs are fundamentally unsustainable," says Steven M. Paul, Lilly's science and tech executive vice-president. Outsourcing figures heavily in Lilly's strategy to lower that cost to $800 million. The drugmaker now does 20% of its chemistry work in China for one-quarter the U.S. cost and helped fund a startup lab, Shanghai's Chem-Explorer Co., with 230 chemists. Lilly now is trying to slash the costs of clinical trials on human patients, which range from $50 million to $300 million per drug, and is expanding such efforts in Brazil, Russia, China, and India.Other manufacturers and tech companies are learning to capitalize on global talent pools to rush products to market sooner at lower costs. OnStor Inc., a Los Gatos (Calif.) developer of storage systems, says its tie-up with Bangalore engineering-services outfit HCL Technologies Ltd. enables it to get customized products to clients twice as fast as its major rivals. "If we want to recruit a great engineer in Silicon Valley, our lead time is three months," says CEO Bob Miller. "With HCL, we can pick up the phone and get somebody in two or three days."Such strategies offer a glimpse into the productive uses of global outsourcing. But most experts remain cautious. The McKinsey Global Institute estimates $18.4 billion in global IT work and $11.4 billion in business-process services have been shifted abroad so far -- just one-tenth of the potential offshore market. One reason is that executives still have a lot to learn about using offshore talent to boost productivity. Professor Mohanbir Sawhney of Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, a self-proclaimed "big believer in total disaggregation," says: "One of our tasks in business schools is to train people to manage the virtual, globally distributed corporation. How do you manage employees you can't even see?"The management challenges will grow more urgent as rising global salaries dissipate the easy cost gains from offshore outsourcing. The winning companies of the future will be those most adept at leveraging global talent to transform themselves and their industries, creating better jobs for everyone.