Chasing Stars in Hollywood

Simon got dressed and went to the study next door, with Arya bringing a file folder.

Handing the file folder to Simon, who was sitting in a single chair in the lounge area, Arya knelt on the carpet beside the sofa instead of sitting in the chair next to it. With her soft body leaning against the sofa arm, she resembled a cat snuggling by its owner. She explained, "This is some information someone at home asked me to pass on. The person is very influential in India. My father couldn't refuse. You just need to take a look."

Simon sensed Arya's cautiousness but only smiled, not minding too much.

There were many similar situations at home. Being inherently part of a society rooted in personal relationships, Simon was used to it. His red line was that those around him should not deceive him under the guise of pulling strings. If he discovered it, he would give no room for turning back.

Though Arya came from the highest caste in the Indian caste system, the Brahmins, her family was not particularly prominent. Her father was merely a law professor at Delhi University.

The file folder contained a letter and a finely bound company brochure. The cover of the brochure featured a word that caught Simon's attention: Wipro.

Wipro Limited.

Simon remembered it as one of the largest software companies in India. Its owner, Azim Premji, would later become the richest person in the Indian software industry, even reaching the third spot on India's rich list at one point.

The envelope contained a handwritten letter from Azim Premji.

This entrepreneur, already one of India's notable wealthy individuals, briefly explained the situation in the letter. He felt that Igreat's new annual software outsourcing tender in March hadn't truly considered Wipro's overall strength and hoped to get an opportunity to present his case directly to Igreat CEO Tim Berners-Lee.

Talking about India, a strong software industry is an indispensable topic.

This is actually a misunderstanding.

India's software industry is not strong; its software outsourcing industry is. The difference is akin to that between Apple and Foxconn. Even many years into the new century, India's software industry mostly provided basic software services for global tech giants, remaining at the bottom of the industry food chain.

However, due to vast demand, abundant and cheap human resources, and the advantage of English as an official language, India's software outsourcing industry at its peak accounted for nearly 80% of India's total exports, with total output reaching hundreds of billions of dollars.

But all of this is for later.

Currently, India's software outsourcing industry is still in its infancy, offering lower-end services such as simple data categorization and content entry. In 1993, the total output of India's software outsourcing industry was less than $500 million.

In Simon's memory, the acceleration of India's software outsourcing industry benefited from the 'Y2K crisis'.

In the late 1990s, global tech companies, to fix the millennium bug present in almost all early software, provided millions of software outsourcing orders to India. This crisis showcased India's cheap software labor advantage to the world.

The Y2K crisis was just a beginning. The real boom in India's software outsourcing industry happened after 2000.

The bursting of the internet bubble left many Western tech companies struggling to survive, forcing them to cut costs, and India, with its engineers earning a fraction of Silicon Valley salaries, became a hotspot.

Currently, Igreat can be described as wealthy.

However, both Simon and Igreat's core executives place great importance on cost control. Therefore, starting in 1992, Igreat was ahead of many tech companies in collaborating with Indian software outsourcing companies. This was mainly due to the large-scale data categorization, content entry, and other basic software service needs of Igreat's portal, search engine, and e-commerce businesses.

These tasks often involved marking search engine URLs or entering product information for Amazon, simple jobs that would be uneconomical to hire professional software engineers for. Furthermore, Silicon Valley currently lacks such a large number of professionals. Lowering standards or hiring part-time workers wouldn't meet efficiency needs, and the salary costs would still be high. Outsourcing to India was undoubtedly the best choice.

Such seemingly simple yet skill-requiring tasks would cost at least two to three thousand dollars per month in the USA, even outside of the high-cost Silicon Valley. In India, similar employees earn less than $1,000 annually.

This disparity is not exaggerated.

A comparison makes it clear. In this era, neighboring China, with a better economic situation than India, had an average monthly salary of only 300 to 500 RMB. Even at an annual salary of 5,000 RMB, it would still be less than $700.

This human resource cost advantage made Bezos and others highly value collaboration with Indian software outsourcing companies from the start. As internet infrastructure continued to improve, making remote communication more convenient, this cooperation also continued to strengthen.

After several years of explosive growth and the increasing talent gap in Silicon Valley, Igreat's software outsourcing volume for 1994 was expected to reach $300 million. Although various considerations meant only 70% of the outsourcing orders could go to Indian companies, over $200 million in software outsourcing orders was a prize worth fighting for at all costs for Indian software companies, whose total industry output was less than $500 million the previous year.

Securing Igreat's orders meant not just huge revenue but also potential increases in corporate reputation. Having the label "Igreat's partner" would significantly increase the chances of securing business with other tech companies.

In the study at the Woodside villa.

After reading Azim Premji's letter, Simon continued flipping through the meticulously prepared company brochure, his thoughts drifting.

If Arya were introducing someone else, Simon would probably just deal with it perfunctorily and not pay much attention.

Due to limited time and energy, Simon only focused on the overall direction for Igreat and many other companies within the Westeros system, avoiding involvement in specific management decisions whenever possible.

However, since Azim Premji could become the richest person in India's software industry in the original timeline, Simon decided to make an exception.

One of the main secrets to the rapid growth of the Westeros system over the years has been Simon's investment in people.

Whether it was Danis Entertainment cultivating film talents based on Simon's memory or Westeros executives like Jeff Bezos and Raymond Smith, these were all individuals who had shone brightly in Simon's memory. These people had proven to have the potential to lead companies to glory. With Simon's ample resource support and correct development direction, they had created everything the Westeros system had today.

Azim Premji was evidently a person with similar potential.

Having made up his mind, Simon's thoughts delved deeper.

With the internet industry booming, the current talent gap in Silicon Valley's tech sector had already reached over 300,000. The result of tech companies scrambling for talent was naturally a substantial increase in industry salary levels. Igreat's current recruitment for software engineers started at a minimum annual salary of $50,000.

On the other hand, due to strict immigration policies in the USA, a large number of excellent software engineers from other countries were blocked from entering North America.

These people not being able to enter the USA didn't mean they couldn't serve Silicon Valley. The biggest advantage of the information age is the ability to bridge communication distances between people. Moreover, since Igreat had a significant demand for software outsourcing, other tech companies struggling with Silicon Valley's talent gap were likely in the same situation.

In that case, Igreat might be able to create a specialized software outsourcing platform to establish a bridge for collaboration between Silicon Valley and potential partners worldwide, which would undoubtedly be a big business.

The most important point is that doing this could create a massive number of jobs in the USA and worldwide.

For the current Westeros system, controlling more people's livelihoods means having more powerful leverage when dealing with the governments of the USA and other countries. Any politician who causes thousands of people to lose their jobs by targeting the Westeros system would face dire consequences.

In Simon's memory, the FAANG five tech giants—Google, Facebook, Microsoft—had all faced large-scale antitrust investigations and hefty fines in North America and Europe, while Amazon and Apple rarely encountered similar troubles. This was not without reason.

Mainly because Amazon and Apple controlled too many jobs.

Take Amazon, for example. At its peak, this e-commerce giant employed over 500,000 people, more than the other four FAANG tech giants combined. Additionally, Amazon's workforce covered a wide range of levels, including many workers responsible for sorting, transportation, warehousing, and logistics, who did not require high professional skills.

Moreover, Amazon's e-commerce operations created millions of potential job opportunities within its industry chain in Western countries.

If North American and European authorities pushed Amazon too hard, well, if you accuse me of monopolizing and want to fine me, then to save costs, I'll have to lay off workers. Is 100,000 enough? If not, let's add another 100,000. Furthermore, if Amazon suffers, the surrounding job opportunities in the e-commerce field will be immeasurable.

That's leverage.

For the past few years, Simon had also been making certain arrangements across the ocean. Companies like Nokia, ThinkOptics, and LTD, the parent company of Victoria's Secret, had established various scales of factories in mainland China. Many blockbuster films produced by Danis Entertainment had quietly entered Chinese television platforms and cinema channels, almost for free.

Among the various companies within the Westeros system, Blockbuster, a video rental giant in which Danis Entertainment held a 35% stake, ranked very high in Simon's priorities.

As of the first quarter of 1994, Blockbuster had more than 5,600 stores worldwide, exceeding Nancy's initial plan of 5,000 stores, with the number expected to increase to around 6,000 due to continued expansion in overseas markets.

Even under Simon and

 Nancy's close supervision, aiming to maximize operational efficiency and avoid an overly bloated workforce, Blockbuster's global employee count had exceeded 41,000. An average of 7.3 employees per store was significantly lower than the industry average of 9.1 employees for similar chain stores.

These 41,000 employees with relatively low educational requirements were a substantial source of leverage for the Westeros system.

If Igreat could create a global outsourcing platform where both professional software engineers and housewives looking to earn some extra money through simple data entry could find work, then Igreat's leverage would increase significantly.

Once this platform was established, if the federal government wanted to break up Igreat, it would have to consider the impact on the hundreds of thousands of outsourcing jobs Igreat created annually. After all, even if the authorities wanted to suppress this impact, Igreat, with its own portal media platform, would publicize it: Look, those politicians are at it again.

Throughout history, the masses have always been the easiest to incite and manipulate.

Perhaps you only made them lose a sewing needle, but if given a chance, they wouldn't mind making you lose an iron mine, even if that mine provided all the pots and pans they needed.

Noticing that her boss seemed lost in thought while flipping through the brochure, Arya did not interrupt. She leaned on the armrest with her chin on her arms, gazing intently at the man in front of her, not wanting to break his train of thought.

Of course, she was also hopeful.

If this matter was successful, her family might stop urging her to return to India.

Her parents always had reservations about her current job. After all, a noble Brahmin should not be a servant, even to someone as influential as Simon Westeros. Despite her explanations that she was Mrs. Westeros's yoga instructor, her family knew the reality.

Arya had no intention of giving up her current job, which was relaxed, well-paid, and allowed her to live in the USA.

After completing their duties with the master and mistress, they had plenty of free time each month.

Apart from not being able to date, Arya felt her life was like that of a princess, living in luxurious apartments, having a private driver, and enjoying the best in food, clothing, and travel, even flying around in the Westeros family's private jets. This was a life she could never tire of.

Moreover, they were not lacking in upward mobility. Women like Sophia Fessy, Alice Ferguson, and Claire Gaines had all started just like them.

The study remained quiet for over twenty minutes, with the sky outside darkening. Arya had turned on the lights without disturbing Simon, who was still immersed in his thoughts.

Finally, a knock on the door brought Simon back to reality.

He responded, and the door opened to reveal Yasmin Ghauri.

The leggy beauty peeked in, her eyes first meeting Arya's, a subtle spark of rivalry flashing before she looked at Simon. "Simon, dinner is ready."

Simon closed the brochure, which he had unconsciously flipped through twice, and said, "I'll be right there."

Yasmin nodded, glancing at Arya again before gently closing the door and leaving.

This time, Simon noticed the subtle exchange. Given the backgrounds of the two women, he understood. Even though Yasmin was Canadian, the natural tension between Indians and Pakistanis wouldn't easily dissipate, much like the strained relations between Japanese and Chinese in the West, even if they were both in foreign lands.

As long as the women's petty disputes didn't escalate, Simon wouldn't intervene.

Glancing at the hopeful Arya beside him, Simon reached out to stroke her delicate face and asked, "Azim should be in San Francisco, right?"

Arya nodded, playfully nibbling Simon's finger with her small teeth before letting go.

Simon said, "I'll call Jeff after dinner and ask him to meet Azim. Tim is out; he only handles Igreat's tech development now, with management handled by Jeff and Carol."

Arya knew who Tim, Jeff, and Carol were and gratefully pressed her cheek against Simon's hand. "Thank you, Boss."

She felt like calling him "Simon," like the woman earlier.

But she didn't dare.

Simon nodded, putting Azim's letter and Wipro's brochure back into the folder to pass on to Bezos. Remembering something, he asked Arya with a smile, "Did Azim give you any benefits?"

Arya quickly shook her head. "No, he didn't."

Simon said, "That's not right. You helped him a lot. You should get something."

Arya hesitated briefly, then admitted, "He promised my father a position as their company's legal advisor."

"That's more like it," Simon gently tapped her forehead and stood up from the sofa. "But don't make a habit of this, or I'll be upset."

Arya also stood up, seriously promising as she followed Simon downstairs.

_________________________

[Check out my Patreon for +200 additional chapters in all my fanfics! $5 for all!!] 

[w w w . p a t r e o n .com / INNIT]

[+50 PowerStones = +1 Chapter]