Ethnic High Tech Professional Associations' Role - Coursework Example

Ethnic High Tech Professional Associations and Their Role in Accelerating the Circulation of Finance and Knowledge Date: Introduction In the mid 20th century and the years that followed, there were several Ethnic High Tech Professional Associations which were formed in the U.S. These associations have been seen to be a platform for both knowledge and finance interchange between the developed countries and the developing world. According to Cross (2013), the history of labor mobility is a long and complicated one. Nevertheless, with the influx of the information age, this has changed a lot. The modern world economy can be separated into two major regions; the global North which includes mostly the USA and most parts of Eastern Europe, and the global south which includes India and China as well as most of Middle East nations. In the last fifty years, the flow of talent and knowledge has been seen to happen between the two regions. In the beginning years of the information age, the global north received a lot of skills and talent from the global south. This was as a result of Chinese and Indian professionals going to the U.S. A good example of this is the Silicon Valley, which for a long time has been seen to benefit from the inflow of professionals and talent from the global south. However, as Daniels (1988) mentions, as these people from the south arrived in U.S and especially in California, they were met by unwelcome conditions as they were both personally and professionally isolated. Most of these professionals from China and India felt that they were not able to have a normal life in the US and especially in Silicon Valley where professional life was competitive. This led to the birth of the Ethnic High Tech Professional Associations which led to the acceleration of both knowledge and financial resource flow within Silicon Valley and across the global south and north. The formation of Ethnic High Tech Professional Associations The formation of most of the Ethnic High Tech Professional Associations was as a result of these professionals feeling professionally and personally isolated. Not only were they unable to have wider social circles, but were also being professionally marginalized. Most of them saw that it was also harder for them to start businesses because they could not access loans and funds from the banks. As a result, the formation of these professional associations can be seen as having been to solve two main problems; Give the professionals a guild to protect them from marginalization Give those who wanted to start a business the ability to access funds Examples Ethnic High Tech Professional Associations in the global north There are a number of high tech professional associations in Silicon Valley which have helped a lot in mobilizing knowledge within Silicon Valley as well as across to other regions such as India and China. These include the following; Silicon Valley Indians Professionals Association (SIPA), which was formed as a forum for expatriate Indians. It was started with the intention of enhancing the cooperation between USA and India. The Chinese Institute of Engineers (CIE/USA). This association promotes communication and the sharing of informational and knowledge among engineers and scientists of Chinese decent. Silicon Valley Chinese Engineers Association (SCEA) was formed in 1989 and was intended to offer networking of mainland Chinese engineers and enhance enterprise and professionalism to its members and institute ties to China. The Indus Entrepreneur (ToE) was formed in 1992 and aims to foster and encourage enterprise and mentorship as well as resources for professionals of Indian Decent. The above are only some examples of these associations and there are many, both Chinese and Indian professionals as well as other ethnic groups. The main question one may be tempted to ask would be; how effective have these associations been in regard to the circulation of knowledge and finance within Silicon Valley and the Middle East? Circulation of talent and funds within Silicon Valley As has already been stated, these associations were formed with the intention of helping these immigrant professionals to be more comfortable in an environment that did not favor them (Kuznetsov, 2006). Most of them were formed to help these professionals to share information and knowledge. For instance the Chinese Institute of Engineers (CIE/USA) was mainly started to provide a platform to make sure that these professionals would be able to share information and knowledge (Davidson, 2010). While also providing for a platform to offer social support as these immigrants found it harder to relate with the white majority, they were also useful tools of communicating information and transmitting knowledge, both in tacit and explicit form. Most of these associations such as The Indus Entrepreneurs (ToE) were also formed with the aim of promoting these immigrants in starting their own businesses. By this, it can be seen that these associations are also useful in promoting the circulation of not only information but also finance. Each and every of these associations would have one focus, such as providing a platform for knowledge sharing or providing financial support. However, due to the fact that these two things are not separable, they ended up having to do both. For instance, those associations, which were started with a main focus of providing financial and entrepreneur resources, would also end up being good platforms for knowledge and information flow, albeit in a tacit way. At the same time, those associations which were started with the aim of availing a platform for knowledge would also end up offering financial support because the members would connect and find ways to raise funds for new business (Carayannis, Kaloudis & Mariussen, 2008). In this way, not only did these Ethnic High Tech Professional Associations help these immigrant professionals for social connections, they also worked as a way to help them turn the economic tables and start their own businesses. Circulation across the nation (reverse brain drain as Indians are moving from SV to India) This is happening in two main ways. First, it is necessary to understand that most of these professionals in these associations were people who still had tight connection with their home countries. Most of these people, such as Khosla Vinot, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, were people who had been born in other countries such as Indian or China and only went to USA for further studies. Most of the Silicon Valley professionals of Indian decent had graduated from the Indian Institute of technology and sought higher education in American universities. Most of them ended up in the Silicon Valley. In this regard, they still had left most of their families in their own countries. Needless to mention, as they started working, most of their income would go back home to take care of their families. Although this would amount to a small part of the finance flow between these two regions, it still was significant. The main way in which these associations can be seen as influencing the flow of finance between the global south and the global north is the fact that most of the members of these associations are now moving to their home countries to start business there. Without a need to mention, the global south (China and India) are having massive growth in their economies thus providing growth opportunities for most these firms in US and especially in Silicon Valley. Most of these professionals are seen to now move from the US and starting businesses in their home countries. This is definitely causing both a flow of knowledge and expertise from the global north to the global south. At the same time, associations such as the Silicon Valley Indians Professionals Association (SIPA) were formed as a forum for expatriate Indians with the intention of enhancing the cooperation between USA and India. This has helped in making sure that these professionals are able to provide the knowledge and skills for firms on their countries. It also helps to ensure that the professionals are able to not only invest in India but they can share their knowhow with engineers at home. Some ethnic high tech professional associations have led to accelerating of the circulation of finance and knowledge within and between regional economies because after some time, these associations have become open to everyone and not just one ethnic group. A good example of this is the Silicon Valley Indians Professionals Association (SIPA) which was started in 1987 as an Indians-only association to connect Indian professionals in the Silicon Valley. However, as time has passed, the association is open to all professionals who are able and willing to join the firm as a way to grow their profession and career (Silicon Valley Indian Professionals Association, 2014). The association has since reached more than 5000 members. Above that, the membership of SIPA according to their website has reached over 30,000 members due to SIPA’s strategic associations with other firms. A wide network like this can only lead to expanded sharing of knowledge (ORiain, 2004). Conclusion The availability of ethnic high tech professional associations has played a very imperative part in presenting a platform for the circulation of both knowledge and finance within and across the north/south divide. Albeit in a different way, these associations have been able to achieve this both in the past as well as in the present. This shows that these associations can be used as pipelines for knowledge to be transferred to and from the two regions of the global south and global north. Reference list: Carayannis, E. G., Kaloudis, A. & Mariussen, A. (2008). Diversity in the Knowledge Economy and Society: Heterogeneity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Camberley, Uk: Edward Elgar Publishing. Cross, H. (2013). Migrants, Borders and Global Capitalism: West African Labour Mobility and EU Borders. London, UK: Routledge. Daniels. (1988). Asian America: Chinese and Japanese in the United States Since 1850. Washington, DC: University of Washington Press. Davidson, N. (2010). The Future of Thinking: Learning Institutions in a Digital Age. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Kuznetsov, Y. (2006). Diaspora Networks and the International Migration of Skills: How Countries Can Draw on Their Talent Abroad. New York City, NY: World Bank Publications. ORiain, S. (2004). The Politics of High Tech Growth: Developmental Network States in the Global Economy. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press,. Silicon Valley Indian Professionals Association (SIPA). (2014). About SIPA . Retrieved on March 06, 2014, from SIPA: http://sipa.org/aboutsipa Read More