The news that both Telecom and Microsoft are basing their new portals in Australia [starting today] raises the question of just how much ‘Big Business’ is really controlled from Australia. Several times over the last few months I have had occasion to contact ‘Head Offices’ in Auckland, only to find myself talking to someone in Melbourne, or Sydney, or Subiarco.
This was not always immediately apparent, as the technology that allows this sort of transfer is seamless. Hence we have ‘Help Desks’ in India and Pakistan, Control Centres in Bombay, and who knows what in Edinburgh. ? So is the technology that allows this working against our ‘Independence’, and are we becoming [along with most other countries] just another pawn in the global market ?
There are two sides to every coin, and the benefits of technological advancement, incorporating the economies of scale to an ever increasing degree, can also be having a detrimental effect on our individuality and ability to totally manage our own affairs.
‘Proudly NZ Owned and Operated’ seems to be a pretty mandatory slogan for just about any business that can claim to be so, but I suspect that most people, whilst remaining patriotic when possible, will shop ‘Where everyone gets a Bargain’….NZ owned and operated or not.
And when does that very phrase become a nonsense when the NZ-ers that own and operate something are doing it from Australia, or London, or New York. ??
Technological progress is not always just about technological progress, but about the side and ancillary effects and spin-offs as well.