Attraction et rétention des centres d’appels : l’innovation socioterritoriale comme source d’avantages concurrentiels?

• Main Authors: Xavier Pierre, Diane-Gabrielle Tremblay
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Association d'Economie Politique 2011-11-01
• Series: Interventions Économiques pour une Alternative Sociale
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/interventionseconomiques/1579

In a context of global competition, territories are in competition with one another to attract and retain businesses, such as call centers, which benefit from the development and intensification of telecommunication networks across the world.Call centers are often perceived as having a high propensity to relocate in areas that have the lowest labor costs. Some governments perceive that it is pointless to invest significant efforts to promote their attraction as call centers disappear or go to other areas later on. Others, however, continue to believe that their territory can attract and retain call centers, highlighting the socio-economic and geographical dimensions which give them a competitive advantage over other regions. They consider call centers as a tool for economic development, a tool which is especially interesting to compensate for job losses associated with deindustrialization.Motivated by the desire to learn more about this phenomenon and understand the reasons why call centers choose a locality or region rather than another and that encourage them to stay or leave, we undertook this research. We interviewed call center workers, operators as well as directors of economic development agencies and call centers in Canada and Quebec. On the basis of these qualitative interviews as well as the literature on call centers, we identify factors of attraction and retention of call centers in the territories. Our research is centered on Québec and the Ottawa/Outaouais region in Canada.We conclude that it is through innovation that local actors can succeed in developing sustainable competitive advantages: for this, they should consider to accompany the development of call center and to support them for a better economic but also social performance.