Out of captivity

摘要

They invented the game; now they have changed the rules. General Elec-tric's back-office services arm, GE Capital International Services, or GECIS, is one of the oldest and biggest of India's business-process outsourcing (BPO) outfits. Formed in 1997, it has been a model for hundreds of other firms that have sought to cut costs by shifting to India back-office jobs that can be performed remotely (see our survey of outsourcing in this issue). On November 8th, GE announced that it is to sell 60% of GECIS to two private-equity firms. GECIS'S boss, Pramod Bhasin, calls the deal "trend-setting". Even a competitor says that it is "game-changing".