The proponents of contracting out assume that outsourcing in the IT sector is useful in strategic, technological, and economic reasons. (Gonzalez, Gasco & Llopis, 2009) They believe that outsourcing enables an organization to get the same or better services with lower cost. First, strategic advantages enable organizations to refocus on strategic and core functions, and provide flexibility for organizations because organizations need not to concern about routine tasks (Gonzalez, Gasco & Llopis, 2009). OPPGA (1998) also support these strategic advantages. It asserts that outsourcing can provide organizations with great flexibility in personnel and facilities in short-term projects. Outsourcing providers can provide better services for clients since they usually use new and developed technologies. Second, proponents think that outsourcing gives organizations opportunities to access to technology and reduce technological obsolescence without large investments (Gonzalez, Gasco & Llopis, 2009). Lastly, Pros assume that contracting out can save s...
Outsourcing simply means acquiring services from an external organization instead of using internal resources (Butler, 2000). By using outsourced resources, organizations can gain a competitive advantage by utilizing contingent staff to accomplish strategic goals without incurring the fixed overhead. By focusing on the leading edge and highly specialized skill sets, outsourcing providers can often offer higher quality services, or at a lower price than the client organization. Typical reasons for outsourcing go beyond simple contingent staffing. Outsourcing providers are able to maintain economies of scale with regard to specialization (...
Outsourcing has been a topic of much discussion for decades among scholars, business people and employees who work for companies that often outsource many of their daily functions. Outsourcing takes away jobs from employees and leaves the impression that the company is greedy by trying to save money instead of keeping the jobs within the organization. When did outsourcing develop into the thing to do in organizations? Outsourcing started in the early 1970’s as a business strategy that allowed companies to focus on their core competencies while other functions are handled by providers with expertise (Davis & Davis, 2012).
What is Outsourcing? It is a method in which companies subcontract labor and support to outside agencies (Klepper, 1997). How, why, and who companies outsource to are quickly becoming social topics of discussion in our society. Everyone seems to have an opinion on outsourcing. I bet that I can walk into a social gathering right now and hear discussions like “outsourcing is good for the American consumer” or outsourcing takes jobs away from all of the hard working Americans.” In either case, outsourcing has raised great concerns over its effects on the American economy. In this paper, I will discuss the types of outsourcing, pros and cons associated with outsourcing, management views of outsourcing, employee views of outsourcing, and give my opinion of outsourcing.
The term outsourcing refers to the act of contracting out business activities and procedures to a third party. The act of outsourcing sometimes involves the transfer of assets from one organization to the other. The term is also used to describe the act of handling the control of public services to the private corporations. Outsourcing mainly involves both the local and foreign contracting. At times, the term is used to describe relocation of business organizations to another country which is a also known as off shoring. This term is very popular in the U.S especially in the 21st century (Davies, pg. 21). The main motivation for the activity of outsourcing is the financial saving due to the reduced international labor market rates. The opposite of outsourcing is in-sourcing which is the act of bringing the business process that are handled by the third party back to in-house or the local areas instated of contracting it to another country.
The purview of this paper is designed to encompass the outsourcing of jobs in the manufacturing sector of the United States' economy. Beneficial and disadvantageous elements of globalization will be exposed within the respective boundaries inclusive to the outsourcing of U.S. industry jobs.
The Outsourcing Dilemma
CIS Strategic Planning
Introduction
To outsource or not to outsource, that is the question. It is indeed a question that a CIO, CEO, or IT manager is likely to encounter. It is not a simple question, nor is the answer simple, and there is not a one size fits all solution. As with any decision, it is good to face it with facts and without prejudice.
In many cases outsourcing has proven to be beneficial for businesses. It can help a business’s management by allowing executives to focus on the core structure of the firm rather than every specific element. Production, manufacturing, or additional servic...
Outsourcing has become so prevalent in recent years that one can say that we are living in an age of outsourcing. Outsourcing have grown globally on such a scale that many companies and organizations have uprooted their entire workforce and moved them to across nations for various reasons. The global outsourcing market has continued to grow exponentially within in the past decades which would explain why many companies flock to it. According to Chamberland (2003), the global outsourcing market was estimated at 72 billion dollars in 2002, estimated to rise to 100 billion dollars in 2005 and to increase exponentially in the coming years. With such enticing figures, many companies flock to reap from the expanding market.
Despite becoming more common (Pries-Heje, Baskerville, & Galina, 2005), the practice of outsourcing is often reacted to with knee-jerk negativity. It is construed to take away jobs, and drain a local economy of the business created by the multiplier effect. In the United States, more than 8 million manufacturing jobs have been outsourced since the 1970s (Spoerri, 2012). Other concerns are: loss of management control, hidden costs, threat to proprietary security and confidentiality, lack of quality assurance, being tied to the fortunes of another company, and bad publicity should things go wrong (Bucki, N.D.). A good working definition of outsourcing is: “a strategy by which an organization contracts out major functions to specialized and efficient service providers” (Handfield, 2006). It should be noted that outsourcing occurs both within and outside of a country’s borders.