Does it make sense to outsource? Do you agree or disagree with outsourcing?

Maybe it makes sense from a business standpoint as the cheapest option, but I don’t agree with it. There are plenty of Americans who need those jobs.

Outsourcing is generally appropriate if the is not part of your core business. For instance outsourcing the IT department for a retail business may be appropriate. Many customer service operations get outsourced to allow the business to concentrate on thier development efforts. It can be quite useful to cut costs and let those that specialize in a particular area handle that area.

@Jaxk perfect answer! Outsourcing plays a major role when it comes to the logistics. I think most companies do it in order to provide a better quality in the end? Frankly I don’t see a problem to outsource. I agree with what @Mariah said too but from a business point of view, they only care about their final profit, that’s all they care about!

Outsourcing makes a lot of good sense, business wise, “inevitable globalization ideals” wise until the balance tips over and eliminates economic growth enhancing jobs on one side.

I’m not a businessman myself but worked 10 years ago for a successful internet computer store. The owner decided to expand and went to the Philippines to set-up a similar business. At first, he hired customer service people there for local clients. Eventually he ended up using his Filipino customer service employees to service clients from here in the US, eliminating those customer service jobs here.

It really depends. So many people are getting tired of having to call for services out of the country that many people are starting to drop company services that outsource. I for one am one of those people. I rather pay a little more and know that my problems can be solved locally, than have to call someone from a diffrent country who is difficult to understand. Then again I also drop services who have a lot of automated services. I have had to sometimes go through hell and back to get a live person and one that I can understand.
And never mind purchasing and item that was from overseas. I really try not to do it.

It makes perfect sense. I’ll even go beyond what @Jaxk says, and say that even outsourcing your core business makes sense. I’m in the process of outsourcing my own job to Indian and Chinese colleagues. If they can do it better and cheaper than we can, then more power to them. We’ve been in this process for the last quarter-century. We used to be an engineering / manufacturing / construction company. Long ago we started to outsource the manufacturing, though we still do some in the USA and Europe. Now we’re also outsourcing the engineering functions and even project management, and we do some of that here and in Europe, too. If the business can get better production elsewhere: quality, timely and cheaper, then they’d be foolish to get it from us. Outsourcing has made us better – much better – in the business that we have retained.

The end result of successful outsourcing is cheaper goods for consumers everywhere. Since there are more people using electricity than making it, any steps to decrease the cost of its production makes perfect sense to anyone who uses electricity. The same holds true for cars, food, consumer goods, clothing – you name it. Paying higher prices “just because someone wants that” though you can get essentially the same quality elsewhere for less money makes no economic sense at all.

What will happen over time (though I admit that it can be a rocky time – is a rocky time – while it occurs) is that the rest of the world grows richer not making us poorer, but forcing us to improve our own offerings: innovation, quality improvement and speed to market, for example, as our collective wages fail to rise at the speed they used to. That takes some getting used to. We also lose jobs and whole industries (such as the textile and clothing industries, which we “stole” from the British, and which have now been “stolen” by other countries around the world), but we develop new ones. The transition can be difficult for individuals, obviously.

But you don’t have a property right in a job that an employer “gives” to you. That’s an entitlement mentality that we really need to get over.

I’ve run a business for 28 years by outsourcing everything but me and two admin people. It makes plenty of sense. I get the very best talent available regardless of location (always in the US for me).

@Tbag

It’s not as simple as, “they only care about their final profit”. Outsourcing is used to improve quality as well. It sounds like we’re gravitating to an outsourced Customer Service argument which can be cumbersome, but few companies build everything needed for thier product. You may design, then outsource the production of your circuit boards. It makes more sense than buying the massive equipment required to manufacture them yourself. As @plethora said, you can get the best talent and/or production available rather than trying to recreate it yourself.

If it is less expensive, and the risk to assets on foreign soil is acceptable, why not. Means lower prices for the consumer. That means more consumers get to enjoy the product or service, and not just a few elites who can afford unnecessarily expensive purchases. Which is the egalitarian dream, as far as I can tell.

But @saint, doesn’t outsourcing lead to lower amounts of jobs in a particular country? (I live in the US so my question deals mostly with the US). Lower jobs means lower discretionary income and therefore no one has the money to purchase the goods and services.

@GracieT Read the whole thread, especially @Jaxk ‘s posts.

@GracieT No producer is going to pay higher costs for labor than they have too. That would mean cutting costs someplace else, such as R anb D, or anything else that would eventually lead to lower quality, or it would mean higher cost to consumer, or both. Either or both would eventually be bad for business, because the company would be less competive at best, or gone for good at worst. Either way, that would mean fewer jobs, and fewer employess, who are themselves consumers.
If workers in a particular country want a job, they have to work for market wages. These may go up at times, they may go down at times. I have a business, and what I wind up paying myself fluctuates with demand of the service that I provide. I have good years, and I have bad years.