03-04-2004, 01:28 PM
<b>18 REASONS TOM PETERS LOVES OUTSOURCING</b> <!--emo&:clapping--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/clap.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='clap.gif' /><!--endemo-->
l. "One Singaporean worker costs as much as three in Malaysia, eight in Thailand, thirteen in China, eighteen in India."
( Strait Times )
2. "The proper role of a healthily functioning economy is to destroy jobs and put labor to use elsewhere. Despite this truth, layoffs and firings will always sting, as if the invisible hand of enterprise has slapped workers in the face."
(Joseph Schumpeter, economist)
Outsourcing is good for the US! Outsourcing is bad for the US! The debate goes in even as 50 US senators plan to introduce a bill in the US Congress denying federal aid to companies that offshore work to cheaper climes. Here's management guru Tom Peters's take on the inevitability, pitfalls and matchless opportunities of outsourcing.
Peters has not tried to propound his views on outsourcing with lengthy discussions. He has put forward his observations, 18 of them, to explain his views.
First of all, he says "off-shoring" will continue; the tide cannot be reversed.
He rightly points out that service jobs are a bigger issue than manufacturing jobs, by sheer magnitude.
The automation of business processes, according to him, is as big a phenomenon in job shrinkage as off-shoring.
We are in the middle of a once every hundred years' (or so) productivity burst -- which is good for us ... in the long haul, says Peters.
Job churn is normal and necessary: The more the better ... in the long haul, he says.
He says the Americans' "unearned wage advantage" could be erased ... permanently.
One of the biggest challenges of the coming days is going to be the entry of 2.5 billion people from China and India into the global economy at an accelerating rate. The result is almost unfathomable, and will throw up exceptional challenges as well as amazing opportunities.
Outsourcing shouldn't be curbed as Peters feels that Free trade works. in his own words: "It makes the world a safer place ... in the long haul. The process is not pretty at times. (Sometimes long times.) Those who dutifully followed yesterday's rules yet are displaced must be helped when the rules change. Such help must not be in perpetuity -- it demands a sunset date."
Big companies are off-shoring almost exclusively in pursuit of efficiency and shareholder value enhancement. Big companies do not create jobs, and historically have not created jobs. Big companies are not "built to last;" they almost inexorably are "built to decline."
Job creation is entrepreneurially led, especially by the small fraction of "start-ups" that become growth companies (Microsoft, Amgen, FedEx et al.); hence entrepreneurial incentives including low capital-gains taxes and high R&D supports are a top priority.
Primary and secondary education must be reformed, in particular to underscore creativity and innovation -- the mainstays of high-value added products and services. Children should be nurtured on risk-taking, with a low expectation of corporate cosseting.
Future success rests upon ... excellence in Innovation. Hence, among other things, research universities must be vigorously supported.
National/global protection of intellectual capital-property is imperative.
All economic progression is a matter of moving up the "value-added chain." The good news: Technology change is so vigorous for the foreseeable future that those who can "seize the moment" have lots of room to play.
Worker benefits (health care, re-training credits, pensions) should be portable, to induce rather than impede labour mobility, says Peters.
Workers have the ultimate stake. And thus the ultimate personal responsibility. "Workers"/we/all must "re-imagine" ourselves -- take the initiative to create useful global skills, not imagine that large employers or powerful nations will protect us from the current (and future!) labour market upheavals.
Cheers <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->
l. "One Singaporean worker costs as much as three in Malaysia, eight in Thailand, thirteen in China, eighteen in India."
( Strait Times )
2. "The proper role of a healthily functioning economy is to destroy jobs and put labor to use elsewhere. Despite this truth, layoffs and firings will always sting, as if the invisible hand of enterprise has slapped workers in the face."
(Joseph Schumpeter, economist)
Outsourcing is good for the US! Outsourcing is bad for the US! The debate goes in even as 50 US senators plan to introduce a bill in the US Congress denying federal aid to companies that offshore work to cheaper climes. Here's management guru Tom Peters's take on the inevitability, pitfalls and matchless opportunities of outsourcing.
Peters has not tried to propound his views on outsourcing with lengthy discussions. He has put forward his observations, 18 of them, to explain his views.
First of all, he says "off-shoring" will continue; the tide cannot be reversed.
He rightly points out that service jobs are a bigger issue than manufacturing jobs, by sheer magnitude.
The automation of business processes, according to him, is as big a phenomenon in job shrinkage as off-shoring.
We are in the middle of a once every hundred years' (or so) productivity burst -- which is good for us ... in the long haul, says Peters.
Job churn is normal and necessary: The more the better ... in the long haul, he says.
He says the Americans' "unearned wage advantage" could be erased ... permanently.
One of the biggest challenges of the coming days is going to be the entry of 2.5 billion people from China and India into the global economy at an accelerating rate. The result is almost unfathomable, and will throw up exceptional challenges as well as amazing opportunities.
Outsourcing shouldn't be curbed as Peters feels that Free trade works. in his own words: "It makes the world a safer place ... in the long haul. The process is not pretty at times. (Sometimes long times.) Those who dutifully followed yesterday's rules yet are displaced must be helped when the rules change. Such help must not be in perpetuity -- it demands a sunset date."
Big companies are off-shoring almost exclusively in pursuit of efficiency and shareholder value enhancement. Big companies do not create jobs, and historically have not created jobs. Big companies are not "built to last;" they almost inexorably are "built to decline."
Job creation is entrepreneurially led, especially by the small fraction of "start-ups" that become growth companies (Microsoft, Amgen, FedEx et al.); hence entrepreneurial incentives including low capital-gains taxes and high R&D supports are a top priority.
Primary and secondary education must be reformed, in particular to underscore creativity and innovation -- the mainstays of high-value added products and services. Children should be nurtured on risk-taking, with a low expectation of corporate cosseting.
Future success rests upon ... excellence in Innovation. Hence, among other things, research universities must be vigorously supported.
National/global protection of intellectual capital-property is imperative.
All economic progression is a matter of moving up the "value-added chain." The good news: Technology change is so vigorous for the foreseeable future that those who can "seize the moment" have lots of room to play.
Worker benefits (health care, re-training credits, pensions) should be portable, to induce rather than impede labour mobility, says Peters.
Workers have the ultimate stake. And thus the ultimate personal responsibility. "Workers"/we/all must "re-imagine" ourselves -- take the initiative to create useful global skills, not imagine that large employers or powerful nations will protect us from the current (and future!) labour market upheavals.
Cheers <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->