Global Outsourcing
One of the most controversial business practices today is global outsourcing. Global outsourcing occurs when a U.S. based company looks for more efficient ways of providing services to its customers or producing its goods, and finds the solution overseas. Although this seems like a recently developed practice, it has actually been occurring since the late 1960’s and 1970’s.
Global outsourcing can be a big advantage to the bottom line of many companies. It can significantly reduce the overhead in the areas of personnel and manufacturing. These savings could then be passed along to the consumer, saving them money in the long run. It can also pose problems for the outsourcing company such as trying to manage personnel that are located so far away, political issues in that country, communication problems and cultural differences. Even with these issues, it does appear that it is a business practice that is not going away, in a “survey of over 428 of the fastest growing companies in the U.S., all of them had used global outsourcing in at least one part of their business”.
The fact is, that in today’s economy, companies are trying to cut costs anywhere they can, but the debate over global outsourcing is not just about the finances, it is also an issue of ethics. Many citizens of the U.S. see the outsourcing of jobs as the downsizing of the company here in the United States. The outsourcing is allowing for growth in the country where the services are moved to, but reducing the operations here. This paints a very bad picture of that company and has led to negative publicity and boycotting of those companies here in the U.S. There are even political measures being proposed by the Senate that would provide tax benefits to those companies bringing outsourced jobs back home.
As a manager in a company that is considering global outsourcing as a way to be more efficient, it is important to consider all the good and bad arguments. You need to have a clear understanding of the full effect that it could have on your business and employees. While this practice can be a very important financial too, it could also be the source of unwanted negative publicity.
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Outsourcing has hurt our economy in my opinion. People of all education levels need jobs with decent wages here in the U.S. With walmart and many companies just like them have brought us products made overseas that are much cheaper to buy. This has been at the expense of employing our own people and harming our economy. Unfortunately I do not see things changing fast enough to make up for lost time concerning our nation.
ReplyDeleteThere are many advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing but I am individual that personally feels the disadvantages outweigh the advantages. When jobs are outsourced to different countries this has a direct effect on our economy. Many organization outsource jobs because it is much cheaper on them but this puts many people here out of jobs. I feel when jobs are outsourced the quality and results of a product or service are not great.
ReplyDelete