Business Process Outsourcing

In my opinion, Outsourcing and BPO will only continue to grow. I don't see any reason why the growth in these industries would halt or decline unless a mood of protectionism sweeps through United States. I think there are benefits for Outsourcing (not for me or other employees in the industry Outsourcing is sweeping in), as it would make companies a lot more efficient. Work that is repetitive would moved offshore, where such work could be done for a lot more cheaper thus saving companies a lot more money. If companies don't cut down or streamline their companies, they risk losing to competition - this I think is the real reason why companies should downsize. If companies don't downsize, they will lose money, which would eventually lead to acquisition of the company at a throwaway price and mass scale layoffs.

I want to bring attention of the viewers to events happening across Atlantic. Recently Tata Steel made an acquisition, its target? A British company called Corus. Now, let me give you a background on this. Tata Steel is an Indian steel company that bought Corus for £6.7 British pounds or $12.1 billion. This is important because, TATA Steel is a very small company compared to Corus, and if this is the sign of things to come, you should expect to seem more such acquisitions coming from both India and China. What does this mean for American Companies? Well, if American companies do not compete effectively in the global market, they too will become a target for takeover. I think you might see days when Indian Technology Companies like Wipro Limited, Infosys, and Satyam Computer might bid for IBM or EDS.

In order to compete efficiently and to stay alive in the ever-globalizing world, Companies have to outsource, if not it would lead to folding of failing companies. These could lead to protectionism, which would serve no one. Take India for example, India followed an isolationist policy ever since it was independent and it didn't really progress well at all. In fact, nothing really significant changed ever since India became independent, but India made more progress in the last 10 years than it did all the years it was independent.

On the other side of the coin, Outsourcing means bad news for everyone here. I am sure that Outsourcing / BPO will expand into other areas and people have to adapt otherwise they might very well see layoffs way too often. I think in the future, jobs that are mainly research related are the only one "safe", as one cannot replicate it easily across the world. Even then, I think in the coming future we will see a lot of people in United States that will move in to work in India. I think a lot of people that would move to India would be middle level managers as there is a severe shortage there due to mass hiring of people.

Outsourcing, whether we like it or not is here, and is not going anywhere. In the past, when Manufacturing jobs moved to low-cost producing nations, people took solace in the fact that they were low-paying jobs (not for people working in these sectors), but now the jobs that are being moved offshore are not only manufacturing related but also high paying and prized jobs. In the past, there was enough time for people to adjust to the changing nature in job market, but now with advent of Internet, things are moving too fast I am afraid, and job are moving offshore in every direction. This presents a considerable problem, as what will US produce or what jobs will people have. If Outsourcing expands uncontrollably, this could lead to mass scale unemployment and this would do no one any good. If there aren't any employable jobs in US, there won't be any earners, and if there weren’t any earners then there would be no consumers. Since United States drives global economy, it can be certain that the global economy itself would slow down or collapse.