As I was having a conversation with my mother this morning, who is a kindergarten teacher, she began using 20-year-old colored pencils to draw for a display. I told her those particular colored pencils were probably made entirely in America. If she had gotten them from Target this year, they would have been partially assembled in some Asian country. The production company is Crayola and after further research I found that production for the colored pencils has indeed been moved to Costa Rica and Brazil due to their high-volume manufacturing capabilities that are required.
Older Americans, like my mother, see outsourcing and offshoring as both a necessary evil and also a good thing. Outsourcing has moved many of the intellectual capabilities conceived in the United States out of America and into other countries who use the intellectual property for their gain. This has caused the U.S. to fall behind on developing new technologies and puts the country in a vulnerable position, subject to uncertainty and dependent on imports for some products. The sentiment here in America is a confused one. Protectionism is becoming more common in American politics and American companies encourage consumers to support their business through the promise of American-made goods.
Do you think that outsourcing is good, bad, or do you have a similar opinion to my mother?
Do you think that there are disparities between the way older Americans and younger ones see outsourcing and offshoring?
Should Americans embrace this new trend or is protectionism the only way to preserve the "American Way"?
14 comments:
Well since I'm studying logistics, outsourcing is a very big deal. I think that outsourcing is a good thing because it can have financial benefit to companies taking use of it. I believe that both the older and younger generation see outsourcing as a good thing from a financial view, but maybe more harsh on other factors.
I think that Americans should embrace the new trend of "outsourcing" due to the out weight of benefits compared to risks. Not only the financial benefit, but the benefit of creating a global interaction. It allows countries to be able to trade good they have competitive advantage on products. This allows customers to have more products and goods rather than what is produced in their countries.
Personally I feel the same way as your mother, part of me loves outsourcing because of the benefits I recieve regaurding prices on some items, however part of me hates it knowing there are less jobs out there and I am about to graduate. I think that is probably how most people feel, it is one of those "can't have your cake and eat it too" things, we all want the afordable prices on items outsourcing provides, but we want those jobs here in the US. Though I do think that we can all look at outsourcing somewhat different, yes jobs are going other places however, it is just part of the globalization of the world. It is helping us broaden our view on the world and for that I think it is a good thing. I do think outsourcing should be embraced to an extent, making sure we still have sufficient jobs here in the US.
Courtney Moradipour
I believe outsourcing is part of the necessary cycle of business in a developing global economy. Its all about business. Outsourcing became popular because foreign wages and benefits (or lack there of) become targeted as a way to cut costs and raise profits. It is at its core what American business is all about and if we want to compete in this global business world we have to develop a better business strategy.
In an economy like ours, we really cannot be too picky on the means by which we allocate and save money. If outsourcing will save a business enough money so that it can stay in business, not have to lay off employees and maybe even offer bonuses to its office/white color workers then I think it is a good thing. Obviously outsourcing does replace production/customer service jobs but it may also help the consumer be able to purchase a cheaper good.
I think people have a bias view on outsourcing. Japan and many other countries outsource things in america. It's the value added that's important.
I think it depends on what side of the spectrum you are on whether or not outsourcing is a good or bad thing. To companies, outsourcing seems like a smart business decision, because often times outsourcing leads to cost reductions. However if you are a worker and your job is being outsourced to another country because someone else will work for less, i think it can be very devastating for those people. I can see both the benefits and disadvantages that come with outsourcing, i think it healthy for a country to outsource some jobs, but finding a balance between what to outsource and what to manufactured domestically is very important.
I understand why we use outsourcing in businesses- for less expensive resources- but I also think it is risky to have so much reliance on other countries. The US has reached a point where we hardly make anything ourselves. Hypothetically, if a country decided to turn on us and remove our offices and factories, the US would struggle to maintain stability. We would not be prepared in anyway to recover from such an incident- at least not for years.
Finding an outsourcing balance would be beneficial to this country.
In general I think that American consumers want to buy cheap products. I personally like to get the "biggest bang for my buck". The problem that I come across is that buying American made products is really expensive. Not only are the American made products expensive but foreign products are sometimes better quality! So for me I just want to buy quality products at a good price regardless of where it was made.
I agree with your mother. It has become a necessary evil that we have to live with for now but I think that the American spirit of protecting their own will one day change things back to what they were. America is a consuming economy, every business need America to consume its product, even though people want to consume only made in America product, most outside product turn to be cheaper than local. With high cost of living and low or stagnant income, people have little or no choice. In my opinion, people (both young and old) are adjusting but not accepting, so the future looks bright.
My family situation is exactly opposite of the one mentioned in the blog post. My father is extremely against outsourcing mainly because he spent over thirty years of his life on an assembly line at General Motors and saw many jobs lost to production going overseas. I, on the other hand, agree that outsourcing is a necessary evil. I hear a lot of people ranting about how people should by American-made products, but when it comes down to it most of them buy what is cheaper, the foreign made product.
I agree with pretty much what everyone has said. We need to outsource so that we can have cheaper products, but it is a shame that America is so reliant on other countries. I think there is a discrepancy between young and old on this issue. My parents always talk about how they hate automated voicemail systems "press 1 if... press 2 if...I'm sorry, can you repeat?" as opposed to the good ole days where you always got an American on the other end of the phone (and a southerner at that)... but I've grown up with automation and it's never really bothered me that much. Same scenario.
I agree with Nico, I don't mind buying things that were made overseas, especially if they are good quality. This just goes to show that outsourcing is an unavoidable part of retail, merchandising, marketing, and international business in general. One of the biggest fears that people have in buying things that say "Made in China" is wondering how exactly the product was made. Are all these little stitches being sewn by little Chinese hands in extremely poor working conditions, or are the clothes being made fairly with no sweatshops in sight? This is the biggest issue that I would have with outsourcing, although it is hard to protest this because I cannot see it going on.
It's hard to say whether outsourcing is a good or bad thing. Usually people will say it's a bad thing...until they see how much extra they have to pay for something that's made in America. People don't like the idea, but in all reality people dislike paying extra over the idea of outsourcing. Our world is becoming more and more globalized every day and outsourcing is just one of those aspects. While I don't like the idea of taking so many jobs out of America into other countries, from a business aspect it is almost a no brainer, as sad as that may sound!
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