Offshore Outsourcing – The Debate
So I have read a lot of articles on offshore outsourcing, its advantages and disadvantages. There are heated debates now regarding the US companies “shipping” jobs overseas and instead of keeping and creating local jobs. Government is putting pressure on US companies to keep jobs in America and giving them incentives to do so. Conversely, and interestingly, a similar issue exists in India. Indian companies, from the telecom industry executives to Pilots of Indian owned airlines, currently employ foreign nationals or expats. They need the most experienced at the top to guide the company and there is a shortage of people in India with such relevant experience in certain industry segments. Now the Indian government is also putting pressure on Indian companies to not hire expats for these top jobs. Recently, a local newspaper reported that the Indian government is going to put in a rule that for a company to be classified as an Indian company and be eligible for certain benefits, the top executive must be an Indian.
Ok, so what’s wrong with this picture? It is the job of the government to promote local jobs, create jobs, but there is a fine line between that and interfering with a company’s growth and strategic vision. And frankly, the government on both sides is stepping over that line. If this is taken further, it will only yield to lower quality levels, higher prices and lower competition. An analogy would be to say that US must build and provide all things that it needs locally. US is very resourceful but like any country, it does not have enough people, enough materials, enough skills to meet the need and lifestyle its people. Imagine if all the manufacturing jobs were shifted back to America from China. That alone will require millions of people to support it, and then who is going to build software, or do farming or build houses? Where will you get the right skills? and is the product going to be affordable? Com’on. The facts are that we live in an intertwined and interdependent world now. Simplifying this and stating that jobs must remain locally, and think that this will solve the job loss and economic issue is foolish.
The outsourcing market is here to stay. Any growing and competitive company is not going to discount it. The governments around the world need to accept and embrace this and come up with innovative solutions for the 21st century to solve the real issues we all face. The issue is not job ’shipping’ from one place to another; the real issue is that we are not able to create new jobs and learn new skills fast enough. Don’t make offshore outsourcing the scapegoat for the problems today. It needs to be leveraged instead.
