The Next Wave of Globalization: Offshoring R&D to India and China

Outsourcing accelerates globalization, spreading technology and skill transfer from advanced nations to less developed ones. Cheap labor represents potential talent, capabilities, and innovation. Employers praise US workers for superior communication skills and intuitive understanding of US businesses, but continue to shift technologically-demanding high-end R&D jobs to China and India. The shift is permanent, suggests this article in CIO.com, because analysts expect emerging markets to be major markets in the near future. Not all high-end work requires doctorate degrees – and employers base their decisions on cost and whether they can train a labor pool for specific tasks. While employees with advanced degrees remain in high demand, reports Stephanie Overby, multinational companies confront restrictive immigration policies and find it cost-effective to supplement the education of work forces in India and China. – YaleGlobal