Is Outsourcing and Offshoring Good Or Bad For American Firms?
There are a lot of misconceptions that surround jobs being outsourced from American firms and whether or not it's good or bad for their national cause.
President Obama, shouldering the daunting task of leading his nation out of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, has decided to provide American firms with incentives to limit outsourcing and offshoring operations.
Stop outsourcing jobs to Third World countries and give them to Americans who need them instead; sounds like a reasonable enough plan doesn't it? A closer look at the facts, however, and Obama himself will admit that his plan is not in his nation's best interest.
The question of outsourcing and offshoring being good or bad for American firms is something few can afford to ponder amidst their fight for survival.
For many American firms under the credit crunch, if the question is whether or not outsourcing and offshoring will help them stay afloat, the answer is a resounding "yes".
The only difference the recession has made to many of America's leading firms is that outsourcing to highly skilled professionals at a low cost is now more of a necessity than a luxury.
Moreover, the US simply does not have enough qualified graduates in major BPO sectors such as IT to fill the void; fewer still would agree to a fraction of the expected salary for such jobs, which offshore workers, in contrast, gladly accept.
The exclusion from the $5000 in tax breaks offered to American firms that keep from outsourcing and offshoring is a small price to pay for major American firms such as Microsoft, who employ as much as 150,000 workers abroad.
The reality that the reason these firms outsource high-end jobs not just for cost-efficiency, but for quality performance and global competitiveness, may be a hard pill to swallow for Americans.
The boost in BPO revenue in Third World countries such as the Philippines is due to a shift towards outsourcing more highly specialized jobs in an increasingly wide array of disciplines; otherwise known as Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO).
Loss of jobs due to outsourcing and offshoring represents less than 1% of all American jobs lost per quarter.
Practicality needs to be put ahead of any sort of false sense of patriotism and, worse still, discrimination towards fellow workforces in today's globalized economy.
The success and rapid development of the BPO industry, regardless of it being good or bad for American firms, is a clear indication that offshore workers can hack it just as well, if not better.
President Obama, shouldering the daunting task of leading his nation out of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, has decided to provide American firms with incentives to limit outsourcing and offshoring operations.
Stop outsourcing jobs to Third World countries and give them to Americans who need them instead; sounds like a reasonable enough plan doesn't it? A closer look at the facts, however, and Obama himself will admit that his plan is not in his nation's best interest.
The question of outsourcing and offshoring being good or bad for American firms is something few can afford to ponder amidst their fight for survival.
For many American firms under the credit crunch, if the question is whether or not outsourcing and offshoring will help them stay afloat, the answer is a resounding "yes".
The only difference the recession has made to many of America's leading firms is that outsourcing to highly skilled professionals at a low cost is now more of a necessity than a luxury.
Moreover, the US simply does not have enough qualified graduates in major BPO sectors such as IT to fill the void; fewer still would agree to a fraction of the expected salary for such jobs, which offshore workers, in contrast, gladly accept.
The exclusion from the $5000 in tax breaks offered to American firms that keep from outsourcing and offshoring is a small price to pay for major American firms such as Microsoft, who employ as much as 150,000 workers abroad.
The reality that the reason these firms outsource high-end jobs not just for cost-efficiency, but for quality performance and global competitiveness, may be a hard pill to swallow for Americans.
The boost in BPO revenue in Third World countries such as the Philippines is due to a shift towards outsourcing more highly specialized jobs in an increasingly wide array of disciplines; otherwise known as Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO).
Loss of jobs due to outsourcing and offshoring represents less than 1% of all American jobs lost per quarter.
Practicality needs to be put ahead of any sort of false sense of patriotism and, worse still, discrimination towards fellow workforces in today's globalized economy.
The success and rapid development of the BPO industry, regardless of it being good or bad for American firms, is a clear indication that offshore workers can hack it just as well, if not better.
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