The Future of Outsourcing

In recent years, the specter of outsourcing has haunted US business and labor. Much as competition from China and Mexico decimated the US manufacturing base, remote call centers and consulting firms flourishing in India and elsewhere in the developing world could put thousands of white-collar middle-class jobs in peril. Desperate to cut corners and costs, many leaders of US corporations became branded “Benedict Arnold CEOs,”- named after a traitor during American war of independence - more keen on saving money than preserving the national prosperity. But a special report in Business Week suggests that the conventional view of outsourcing is fast becoming obsolete: “Many executives are discovering offshoring is really about corporate growth, making better use of U.S. staff, and even job creation in the U.S., not just cheap wages abroad.” From massive worldwide entities such as Bain and McKinsey to tiny, new startups, from financial firms to paper plants, many US companies have participated in a process of “disaggregation.” Business Week points to fast-rising IndyMac Bancorp, a leading mortgage issuer which relies primarily on Indian workers for technical support, but also has managed to double its US workforce as well. The flexibility of “transformational outsourcing” – so premised on networks of multinational exchange and collaboration – may actually be salvation for countless US jobs. – YaleGlobal