Canada Increases Exports to Emerging Markets – For Survival
October 4th, 2011Source: Financial Post
Canadian companies are now 30% less dependent on exports south of the border than they were a decade ago, and if Canada’s economy wants to avoid a U.S. recession the best bet is to keep that trend going, according to a new report from CIBC World Markets.
Canadian exports to the United States have slipped to pre-NAFTA levels, with emerging markets picking up the lion’s share of the slack.
“You’re a Canadian company stuck with capacity that used to go to the U.S., but you still have to do something with it. The key message for Canadian CEOs is this is now a necessity, not just a nice-to-have,” Benjamin Tal, deputy chief economist with CIBC World Markets, said Monday. “In the past diversifying into emerging markets was a bonus but now it’s a matter of survival.”
This is key, as it also suggests that Canadian corporate balance sheets …
By Patrick Haller
The devaluation of the U.S. dollar, staff poaching and negative perceptions converge to create a strained environment for contact center operations in Nova Scotia, Canada. Despite these and other challenges, there are many positive things that keep this sector alive and make the province an attractive place to do business.
Canadian-Jamaican Group Starts Outsourcing Business
April 22nd, 2011MONTEGO BAY — Some say the investment climate is hostile because of the poor state of the Jamaican economy, but a group of Canadian and Jamaican investors have taken the bold move to put their money where their mouths are and go into the out-sourcing business.
An idea that started some time ago, finally materialised last year when SynchroSource Offshore Solutions (SOS) started operations, taking inbound order entry calls for Pizza-Pizza, the largest pizza restaurant in Canada with over 700 locations nationwide.
Even without the financial backing from any major banks, the group, mostly based on Canada -pooled resources and a “vision” jumped feet first into the market.
Two weeks ago, SynchroSource had their official launch at their offices on Fort Street and while the ceremony was short the optimism was palpable.
Currently the company with a staff of seven has one client, but the dream is to grow …
Source: Montreal Gazette
NEW YORK — Canada lost its top ranking to Brazil this year on Forbes magazine’s list of the number of billionaires each country boasts in the Americas outside the United States, the magazine said Wednesday in its annual richest-people edition.
The ranking for countries in the magazine’s “Latin America and Canada” region shows Brazil with 30 billionaires, Canada with 24.
But Canada’s resurging stock market, coupled with Mexico’s, were leading factors driving up the region’s combined billionaire wealth to a record $419 billion, the magazine’s editors said.
Steve Forbes, the magazine’s namesake, also saluted one of the three new Canadians among the 1,210 billionaires the magazine names globally based on its research to Feb. 14.
“Who would have thought stretching out could stretch your wealth to over a billion dollars?” he said of Dennis “Chip” Wilson, founder of the yoga-inspired athletic clothing company, Lululemon Athletica Inc., based in Vancouver.
Wilson is …
Canada’s Rebound: Call Center Rebirth
February 23rd, 2011 
By Susan Arledge, President/CEO, Arledge Partners Real Estate Group
In the international sourcing arena, what is Canada’s competitive advantage? As Eric Hochstein wrote in his recent Nearshore Americas article, Canada Offshoring: A Disappearing Act, “In the horse race of the Western Hemisphere outsourcing destinations, the early leader, Canada, faded fast over the past few years allowing Latin America countries like Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico and Brazil to take the lead and land the jobs. Today, with the dollars at par and with emerging nations competing aggressively for increasingly sophisticated types of work, Canada is generally an afterthought for most service providers. Lower costs elsewhere have drained the country of many of the largest providers.”
While it is certainly true that Ontario has not able to compete with the LATAM region for the Spanish speaking workforce, …
