outsourcing work

The option to outsource work has taken a dramatic increase in the last decade or so. More and more companies have found that outsourcing work have increased their profit margins due to its potency to increasing focus on the core competencies of the company. And for 99% of companies that is you, the customer. With jobs being outsourced and more care and capital being used on research and development to bring the best service to the customer, it makes no sense for the paying consumer to complain on the growing rate of outsourced jobs.

It seems outsourcing still has not shaken of the connotations of threat and loss attached to it. It seems little over 20 years ago that the U.S. automotive industry heaped the same outcry of the death and doom on American manufacturing jobs, which consequently sparked fears of the hollowing-out of the U.S. economy. As it turns out, the companies who opted for outsourcing their manufacturing jobs managed not only to compete with international competition, but went on to generate innovative ideas that saw the creation of better jobs to replace the old.

As painful as the loss seemed to the automotive industry on first appearance the outsourcing of the jobs there went on to boost the American economy and generate new business ventures within companies which also meant the creation of new academic fields that became available to the academic electorate. 

To comprehend the importance and necessity that the outsourcing industry has on business and the world one must stop viewing outsourced jobs as a loss on their home economy but as a gain both to home and away markets. Outsourcing is not simply a way for multinational companies to evade immigration laws of their home countries, it generates a viable source of income for workers from emerging economies that are often overlooked in favour of their counterparts from developed markets. Whilst a company’s budget sheets remains effective for the bosses of such companies to the worker from the emerging markets it is reasonable pay for a profession they became qualified for.

The outsourcing of jobs has become an industry within itself. For some emerging markets the acquisition of outsourcing contracts has become the key element in which those economies have positioned themselves amidst the global stage. Economies of China and India for example now dominate the outsourcing industry with figure to the effect of $65 billion, $15 billion and $50 billion respectively. Nigeria’s own Vision 20-20-20 is an initiative of the government to try and position Nigeria amongst the world’s 20 largest economies and they recognise that setting a foot in the $1 trillion industry of outsourcing is a pivotal way in which to achieve this goal.

Outsourcing of jobs is not the simply a means to a fruitful end as is often seen from the western perspective, it is a fundamental necessity to the economic operations of a nation.

Currently hostile attention has shifted from outsourcing services jobs to outsourcing work within the IT industry. In the ever changing world of information technology adjustments need to be made. In the history of technology Professor Carver Mead of the California Institute of Technology, coined the term Moore’s law in referring to the growth of transistor rate within an integrated circuit. He believed that the number of transistors within am integrated circuit approximately doubled every 18 months. His prediction has yet to be disproved. It is this theory that has seen the introduction of Atari to the Xbox. It is the same theory that saw the end of the Osborne Executive portable computer, which in 1982 weighed 100 times as much, has nearly 500 times the volume and cost 10 times as much as the iPhone with a 100th of its processing power.  In over 2 decades, we have moved from chunking impractical equipment to wafer thin toys that fit in our suitcases. It is impractical, as well as unbelievable, that one should expect the division of the labour industry to remain the same in all that time.

Research and development is a crucial part of any business. It has been researched that outsourcing reduces the cost, it therefore follows that companies, individuals and people develop a way of furthering that margin. If outsourcing work betters the efficiency of a company’s core business, it is better in the long run for company, consumer, workers and economy.

The fears that no jobs will be left to residents of home countries has to be within reason. It is important to gain perspective by seeing the relative importance of domestically and internationally produced services. Much of the current controversy centred on information technology, is such an example. In 2003, approximately $120billion was spent on IT in the United States. Approximately 1.4 percent was outsourced. However, the 98.6 percent of the work that stayed there was not deemed newsworthy.

As the automotive industry proved, the scope of the human imagination has no bounds. It is this that separated from the animals: we are able to think, create, innovate and adapt to whatever situation we face. To get any productivity out outsourcing work, one a generic understanding of the benefits and disadvantages need to be analysed and analysed within relevance to the individual’s business. outsourcing work is by no means the end result for a company but neither is it the end for jobs within home countries.

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