Outsourcing

Outsourcing is "the transfer or delegation to an external service provider the operation and day-to-day management of a business process. The customer receives a service that performs a distinct business function that fits into the customer's overall business operations.[1]

"There are two principal types: 'traditional' outsourcing and 'greenfield' outsourcing.

"In 'traditional' outsourcing, employees of an enterprise cease to perform the same jobs to the enterprise. Rather, tasks are identified that need to be performed, and the employees are normally hired by the service provider. For example, an information technology outsourcing may include a transfer of responsibility for management of data centers and networks (LAN, WAN, and telecommunications). In the field of facilities management, individuals acting as property managers might become employees of a facilities management company.

"In 'greenfield' outsourcing, the enterprise changes its business processes without any hiring of personnel by the service provider. For example, the enterprise might hire a startup company to provide a new service, such as wireless remote computing, that was not previously managed internally."

"Outsourcing came to the forefront as a management tool more than a decade ago in response to a compelling need to make organizations more productive, more competitive and more profitable."[2]

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CNN has compiled an alphabetical listing of companies it has "confirmed are Exporting America. These are U.S. companies either sending American jobs overseas, or choosing to employ cheap overseas labor, instead of American workers."

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"It's an issue that resonates. While AWOL works to chip away at Bush's credibility and paints him as a child of privilige [sic], it is the economic picture that will offer the heaviest artillery come November. People are hurting. Wages are stagnant. Jobs are scarce. And the fact we are now losing white collar jobs to outsourcing (in addition to the blue collar jobs we have been losing for years) is a real threat to many workers." -- kos, daily kos, February 16, 2004.[3]

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SourceWatch Resources

• Coalition for Economic Growth and American Jobs
• defense contractors
• federal contractors
• free trade
• globalization
• illegal immigration
• Jobs Growth in the U.S.
• military-industrial complex
• prison-industrial complex
• privatization
• Private Federal Corporation
• State of the Union 2004
• U.S. budget deficit
• U.S. economy
• U.S. presidential election, 2004
• U.S. unemployment

External Links

Up-to-date News Links: "Outsourcing"

• "Outsourcing Statistics in Perspective", Center for American Progress, March 16, 2004.
• Government Computer News.
• Washington Technology.

General

• Outsourcing Law, Bierce & Kenerson, P.C.
• Global Outsourcing.org.
• The Outsourcing Times.
• Outsourcing Central web site.
• Outsourcing Forum Peer to peer open resource
• Outsourcing Institute web site.
• Rent A Pro IT Outsourcing web site.
• Outsourcing Research Center web site.
• Outsourcing Russia.com.
• A-76 & Outsourcing, govexec.com.
• Outsourcing Summit, February 23-25, 2004, Walt Disney World, Lake Buena Vista, FL. Contact Michael F. Corbett & Associates, Ltd., "Outsourcing Global Resource".

Headlines

• 13 July 2001 "Bush adviser goes to Lockheed" by Judi Hasson, FCW.com, July 13, 2001: "'No name is more associated with effective government and outsourcing than Stephen Goldsmith's,' said IMS president and chief executive officer John Brophy. 'He has introduced technology into virtually every imaginable government arena ? outsourcing more than 80 government functions.'"
• 8 July 2003: "How outsourcing will save the world. The growth of white-collar jobs in developing nations is essential to global peace and prosperity" by Brian Behlendorf, Salon.
• 15 September 2003: "Outsourcing War. An inside look at Brown & Root, the kingpin of America's new military-industrial complex" by Anthony Bianco, Stephanie Anderson Forest, Stan Crock, and Thomas F. Armistead, BusinessWeek.
• 25 October 2003: "US Workers Charge Treason. Outsourcing US Missile Technology to China" by Jeffrey St. Clair, CounterPunch.
• 14 January 2004: "The Specter of Outsourcing" by Robert J. Samuelson, Washington Post.
• 15 January 2004: "Outsourcing may not always be best answer," Silicon Valley/San Jose BusinessJournal: "A new study by a Stanford University Graduate School of Business faculty member says manufacturers should not automatically think that sending their plant operations overseas is the best solution to growing the business."
• 25 January 2004: "The Dark Side of the Outsourcing Revolution" by Naeem Mohaiemen, AlterNet.
• February 2004: "The New Face of the Silicon Age. How India became the capital of the computing revolution" by Daniel H. Pink, Wired News.
• 31 January 2004: "Anxious About Outsourcing. States Try to Stop U.S. Firms From Sending High-Tech Work Overseas" by Greg Schneider, Washington Post.
• 4 February 2004: "Outsourcing rejection. I screened job applicants over the phone for a company I didn't work for. My favorite part: Arrogant middle managers who suddenly began to grovel when they realized I wasn't the receptionist" by Ali Davis, Salon.
• 9 February 2004: "Indians Fearing Repercussions of U.S. Technology Outsourcing" by Saritha Rai, New York Times.
• 11 February 2004: "Perils of Outsourcing" by Cecil E. Bohanon and T. Norman Van Cott, Ludwig von Mises Institute.
• 11 February 2004: "Bush blesses outsourcing to India" by Chidanand Rajghatta, The Times of India.
• 12 February 2004: "Dennis Hastert Faults Report on Exporting Jobs," New York Times.
• 12 February 2004: "Bush adviser backs off pro-outsourcing comment," CNN: "Gregory Mankiw, chairman of the president's Council of Economic Advisers, said Monday in a White House briefing on Bush's 2004 Economic Report that outsourcing of jobs by U.S. companies is something that is 'probably a plus' for the economy in the long run. ... 'Now, to get back to the question about outsourcing, I think outsourcing is a growing phenomenon, but it's something that we should realize is probably a plus for the economy in the long run,' Mankiw said. ... Speaking in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, President George W. Bush tried Thursday to quell the potential controversy simmering over Mankiw's statements. ... 'People are looking for work because jobs have gone overseas and we need to act in this country. We need to act to make sure there are more jobs at home,' Bush said as he touted his '21st century' job plan in a state that has lost 85,000 jobs since Bush took office. ... Bush did not mention Mankiw by name, but two Bush advisers conceded privately the president's intention was to distance himself from Mankiw's remarks."
• 16 February 2004: "Jobs take center stage in Wisconsin primary" by Sue Kirchoff, USA Today: "MANITOWOC (Wisconsin) ? This city got its name from the Chippewa word for 'place of the good spirit.' To mayor Kevin Crawford, it now signifies something else. ... 'You know what ?Manitowoc? means? It means, ?We?re all getting laid off,?' says Crawford, blaming the local 9.2 percent unemployment rate on trade policies that he says encourage companies to wander the world for cheap labor and land."
• 16 February 2004: "Outsourcing hits legal services" by Neal St. Anthony, Star Tribune: "First it was the apparel workers -- the working class -- who saw their $10-an-hour jobs go overseas. ... More recently, the United States has started to export to India the $35,000-a-year customer-service center jobs from the likes of American Express Financial Advisors and $50,000 technical-support positions from IBM and ADC Telecommunications to India and elsewhere where educated, English-speaking workers are hired for a tenth of the cost to communicate with U.S. customers by phone and over the Internet. ... Now, six-figure lawyers and legal support staffs are starting to sweat."
• 17 February 2004: "Political Timing, Outsourced," New York Times Op-Ed.
• 15 March 2004: "More U.S. Jobs Shipped Overseas," CBS News: "The economy is not producing nearly enough jobs to replace the ones that are being lost to a cheaper workforce overseas."