The Advantages and Disadvantages of Outsourcing

In the past decade the topic of outsourcing has become a heavily debated subject on if it is ethically correct to outsourcing jobs to foreign countries. Outsourcing has become more and more an option for many companies and not just an economic fad. The decision to outsource is a difficult one for any company to make because there are many advantages and disadvantages to consider. The decision to outsource affects many people, communities, and industries so if a corporation decides to outsource they must consider how it will affect human dignity, the common good of the economy, and subsidiary.

A common definition of outsourcing is the takes part of their business and give it to another company to complete. The main industries that take advantage of outsourcing are manufacturing, IT, and most recently customer service. Outsourcing provides these corporations with less expensive labor that otherwise they would have to pay more for the same type of work here in the United States. The potential savings in costs for these corporations is the main advantage of outsourcing but is also a point of contention with the opponents of outsourcing because they argue “is it worth the loss of American jobs and to save money.” This brings up the ethical question of is outsourcing hurting or helping human dignity. These opponents argue that outsourcing is wrong because for one it creates job loss for many skilled and semi-skilled workers in the United States. After these companies make the choice to outsource a part of their business these workers who are adequately trained have a tough time getting re-employed. For example in a study by the University of California-Santa Cruz found that in a 20 year period of all workers who lost their jobs due t...

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...use of the current economic situation so they are trying to prevent movement of jobs by incentives. It seems that the only resolution to the massive use of outsourcing is incentives like tax breaks for companies that create jobs. It seems that companies use outsourcing just as a money saving option and not for correct reasons liked improved quality or service. This is proved by the many examples of how the decision to outsource made corporations operations harder because of the many barriers that are involved with moving operations overseas.

In conclusion the decision to outsource is a highly debated ethical topic because of whom it affects. There are valid disadvantages and advantages of outsourcing. In all outsourcing hurts more than it helps and the decision to outsource should be used only if it is entirely appropriate and just not to cut costs for a company.