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Chapter 1.1 INTRODUCTION:
The function of this chapter is to clarify the research subject, to outline the research purpose and to formulate research questions for which answers will be found. In doing so, the reader is introduced to the topic of offshore sourcing of United Kingdom (UK) call centre services from South Africa and a brief discussion of this matter clarifies the relevance of this research report. The global phenomenon of companies moving service jobs and business functions like call centre work across country borders (near- or offshore sourcing) and often to third parties (outsourcing) has gained strong momentum in past years, creating a multi-billion dollar market (Srivastava & Theodore, 2006: 19). Market experts forecast continuous growth rates for offshore sourcing, strengthening its importance as a vital step in globalisation. Forrester Research estimated in 2002 that over the coming 15 years, 3.3 million US service jobs would be moved offshore to countries like India, Russia, China and the Philippines (Srivastava & Theodore, 2006: 19). Everest Group highlights in their 2010 Market Vista report that around 1730 offshore sourcing transactions were recorded in 2009 which increased to around 1979 the year after. The United States (US) is the leading nation with around 35 percent of global offshore sourcing transactions, and the UK as the leading offshore sourcing nation in Europe is accounting for around 14 percent (Pritchard, 2011). Offshoring was made possible by the rise and expansion of information and communication technology (ICT) and the reduction in operating cost that has gone along with this. Call centre services are strongly built around information technology and can now be provided from anywhere in the world which has lead to the creation of offshore call centre industries in various countries (Srivastava & Theodore, 2006: 20). The largest offshore countries for English call centre services are reported to be India and the Philippines (A.T. Kearney, 2011: 13). For any company deciding to offshore source, there are motivations to do so. The dominating motivation to offshore is understood to be the generation of cost savings whilst maintaining an equivalent or acceptable level of quality (Samulevicius & Samonis, 2006: 149). With labour cost being typically the highest direct cost in a call centre, offshoring to a country with lower respective cost levels offers saving potential (Srivastava & Theodore, 2006: 20; Tate, Ellram, Bals & Hartmann, 2009: 512). The presence of low labour cost makes a country potentially suitable, or in other words attractive, for offshore sourcing of call centre services. For this research report, it is understood that a country is considered attractive for call centres offshoring when it offers factors or metrics that enhance firms competitiveness and satisfy business motivations. Any firm wanting to offshore call centre functions may engage a call centre outsourcer. These are companies originating and operating in the offshore country or international outsourcers that operate across various countries. Outsourcers are revenue and profit driven companies and therefore invest and set up offshore operations to meet the market demand for offshore services. South Africa has been widely recognised as an offshore location for call centre services from where to service the UK market. It saw strong growth around 2006 and 2007 when offshoring experienced a global boom. AvantiCall, a call centre outsourcer in the UK, claims that with regards to call centre offshore services South Africa occupies an important position in most firms global operations portfolios (AvantiCall website, no date). South Africa is considered to be politically stable and to have a similar legal and regulatory framework to Western countries. As found during secondary research, the country appears attractive for its English speaking capabilities, its cultural affinity to the UK, and the availabil

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