« Do not bargain too much when negotiating an IT outsourcing deal
Blended rates: pros and cons »

Outsourcing: the wrong side of the fence

Bringing jobs back home is a hot topic nowadays. While offshore is here to stay, no matter what, it certainly does not mean we should support any type and form of offshoring.

Going offshore to circumvent shortage of local talents, insufficient infrastructure, or to accompany International expansion is certainly very valid. It becomes highly debatable though when going offshore is only dictated by the search of maximizing corporate profit.

I recently read this (not so) funny post in the Chicago Tribune.

The article talks about an experiment by Jack-in-the-Box, the fast food chain, to offshore their drive thru order taking, likely to India, although the company’s spokeswoman declined to confirm the location.

Centralizing this process might make sense, but why offshore it?

These jobs do not require any advanced qualification and the positions could easily be filled in the USA. Locating the centralized team in a tier-2 or tier-3 US city would provide solid savings, and possibly enhance customer experience; taking the extra step and shipping everything to India looks like corporate greed.

I like free market, and fully agree that corporations should take all necessary (while prudent) steps to remain sound and profitable. However, being obsessed by short-term profit always lead to failure.

Just look at the current state of our economy in the USA. It says it all.

Remi
www.vsisoft.com

Sphere: Related Content

  • Share/Bookmark

Email This Post Email This Post


Posted by Remi on Sunday, February 1st, 2009 at 12:30 PM.

3 Responses to “Outsourcing: the wrong side of the fence”

Read the thread about this post on Reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/business/comments/7ujy2/jackinthebox_testing_outsourcing_drivethrough/

Remi

Left by Remi on February 6th, 2009

Some facts that people don’t want you talking about:

1. Offshore labor doesn’t pay american taxes. Every dollar not spent on on american labor, means 30 cents or more not going to state and federal government. And people can’t figure out why governments can’t afford roads and schools??

2. Offshore labor doesn’t buy local goods and services in our country. When you pay a local person, they buy products and services that support the local economy. Someone in India or China isn’t going to buy anything from an american company or service. You are indirectly wiping out other people’s jobs at the same time.

3. Offshore labor builds and designs soft products, but high tech products are not taxed by our government the same as hard goods (e.g. automobiles). If a software developer writes code offshore, the company (e.g. Microsoft) pays zero takes on it, while hard-goods that are shipped get taxed.

4. Write your government. Make the equation fair. Employers who replaced local labor with offshore labor, should pay state and federal taxes for those new employees the same as if they work locally – otherwise you and I will have to pay more taxes to make up the difference for their cost savings. And, tax high tech products created offshore like hard-goods. It’s only fair!

Left by McG on March 8th, 2009

Yeah right, Offshore labor doesn’t buy local goods and services. But offshore services is cheaper that local employment in your country, so this is good for start up and small businesses with small capital.

Left by Sean on January 7th, 2010

Something to say?

Sphere: Related Content