As one of the first demonstration cities in service outsourcing industry recognized by the Ministry of Commerce, Chengdu now has an outsourcing cluster composed of multinationals, renowned home-grown companies and many startups.

Twenty-one of the world's top 100 service outsourcers have offices in the city, along with branches of six of the top 10 Chinese service outsourcing companies.

The city is also home to numerous national industrial centers for the software industry, software export, integrated circuit design and digital media.

Last year, Chengdu was voted the most attractive city in the service outsourcing industry in China in a survey by the website chnsourcing.com and the Tianjin-based Devott Service Outsourcing Research Center.

High-quality human resources, well-equipped infrastructure and a stable economy are among the advantages in Chengdu that helped it win the award, according to the organizers.

Qi Haitao, CEO of Devott, said Chengdu achieved high scores because of "low operating costs, plentiful human resources, its good industrial environment, efficient government services and a well-developed industry incentive system".

The city is an important education and technology center in Southwest China, with universities that offer some 20 IT-related majors, including 15 national key academic subjects. More than 20,000 students are enrolled in IT-related majors at its colleges every year.

There are altogether 454 master's degree programs, 181 doctoral programs and more than 40 post-doctoral programs in Chengdu's universities.

In as early as 2006, more than 500 local service outsourcing companies passed national certification as software makers. Seven banks and insurance companies were already using back shop service centers in the city.

In the first half of this year, the sector's total offshore contracted value increased 40 percent compared with the same period last year, and fulfilled contracts grew 74 percent.

In addition to traditional sectors such as software and telecommunication service outsourcing, the city is also "exploring breakthroughs in other sectors such as finance and biomedicine," said Chen Xiaobing, an official at Chengdu bureau of commerce responsible for service trading.

"Chengdu must have diverse models in the development of the service outsourcing industry," said Chen. "The city will develop its own characteristics in the industry, and aim higher."

In the 2012 China Service Outsourcing City Investment Attractiveness Assessment, a number of leading global service outsourcing organizations including the International Institute for Outsourcing Management and International Association of Outsourcing Professionals have shown their support.

Chengdu ranks in second place, after only Nanjing, on the list of top 10 most attractive Chinese cities for the service outsourcing industry, and No 1 in investment satisfaction.

Qingdao tops the list of the fastest-growing cities of the service outsourcing industry.

zhangzhao@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 09/29/2012 page6)