[ale] Indian outsourcing

[Stuffed Crust]

On Thu, Jan 29, 2004 at 12:20:59PM -0800, Cleon wrote:
> I don't advocate protectionism; I really don't. (In fact, I tend to
> think the offshoring fad is a short-lived phenomenon that's sorting
> itself out.) But to simply say "it's probably for the best," well, no,
> it's not. Just because the market's done it, that doesn't necessarily
> make it a good thing.

Protectionism is even worse than offshoring.  And while I agree with you
in that I think it'll sort itself out and (eventually) reverse, I think
it'll get a lot worse before it gets better. 

(and there will probably be an enron-esque scandal or three thrown in 
 for good measure)

> (For the record, I lost one job indirectly to outsourcing, and
> currently am in a position where outsourcing is an unlikely
> possibility.)

And for the record, my job largely depends on being the beneficiary of
outsourcing, and IP licensing.  I'm not worried about my job being
outsourced (it's a company of six people) but instead I worry about the
whole company going under because of offshoring.  We've just barely made
it through some very rough months where we basically lost every
potential contract to Indian firms, either directly or indirectly. 

We simply have no chance in hell of competing on price.  And nearly
impossible to compete on anything else (price, flexibility, same time
zone), given that the prima rosa for offshoring to begin with is that it
appears cheaper. 

Longer term, businesses will learn that it really doesn't work out all
that well, either monetarily or indirectly, because making the
inevitable changes or developing new products will cost that much more
later.  That will eventually trickle down into the MBA mills who will
finally stop cranking out hordes of MBAs who think
outsourcing/offshoring is the answer to everything.

Or perhaps the offshoring backlash will commence when lower management
getting laid off leads middle management to realize they're next, and
uppr management realizing that their "offshore partners" are now direct
competition, and have no remaining resources of their own to compete 
with.

 - Solomon
-- 
Solomon Peachy                                   pizza at f*cktheusers.org
                                                           ICQ #1318444
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur                 Melbourne, FL
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