MBA 542 SEMINAR IN GLOBAL BUSINESS
Outsourcing of Manufacturing Activities:
Positive and Negative Economic and Social Impacts
Laura Caiafa
06/21/16
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Table of Contents
Introduction 2
Analysis 3 Economic Impacts 3
Social Impacts 8
Conclusion 10
References 11
Introduction
For United States businesses, there are several advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing US manufacturing activities to other countries. Some of these advantages include lower labor costs, fewer regulations,
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(Ashe-Edmunds, 2016) (Mattern, 2007) These disadvantages negatively affect the U.S. economy by an increasing rate of job loss for blue-collar American workers, unfair wage competition, and quality products getting replaced by low quality consumer goods. Some negative social impacts of outsourcing include exploitation of labor and pollution.
Though there are many advantages for U.S. Businesses, having analyzed the economic and social impacts on individuals living in the United States, I am not in favor of outsourcing manufacturing activities to other countries. The most critical impact in my opinion is the increasing loss of jobs for United States workers due to outsourcing of manufacturing activities.
Analysis: Economic Impacts
U.S. businesses can benefit by outsourcing manufacturing efforts. One major advantage is significantly lowering labor costs. This includes cost of salaries, wages, and employee benefits such as health insurance and retirement packages. (Ashe-Edmunds, 2016) “The average hourly wage for Chinese manufacturing workers is less than a tenth of their average U.S. counterparts, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics” (Borren, 2014). These savings are astronomical for businesses and can be spent elsewhere. Other advantages include fewer regulations such as labor conditions and waste disposal,
A major type of unemployment that is hurt most by outsourcing is factory labor and manufacturing. The reason why factory labor and manufacturing jobs are outsourced is because labor laws in the United States are tougher than the countries where the jobs currently are. Where the jobs are now labor is cheap and just as good as labor in the United States. One example of outsourcing is when a company has a factory in the U.S. that pays it’s workers $23.32 an hour plus benefits closes that factory and moves to China where the pay is $1.36 an hour without benefits.
Instead of relying only on domestic workers, many companies also outsource some of their labor into foreign markets. This practice can have negative effects on the economy overall, individual businesses can often benefit from this practice. Outsourcing offshore can allow companies to tap into foreign markets and expand their businesses.
* Labor outsourcing is a good strategy to decrease the labor cost. But it associates with many issues. Once outsourcing is done, the MNC cannot just stay behind. The MNC should carefully supervise on the working conditions, safety, wages, working hours, gender discrimination and human rights violations. If any of these factors going wrong and leads to sweatshop conditions, it directly affect on the reputation of the MNC. If once the name or the brand is blacklisted, it is very hard to repair the damage. Therefore, the risk of outsourcing is high.
Many businesses in United States manufacture their product overseas. This involves manufacturing products outside United States where the labor cost is cheaper. Because of cheap labor, it is often more economical for a U.S. company to manufacture overseas and pay the shipping costs than to manufacture in the United States. For a company, the savings may be substantial. However, there are negative impacts on U.S. employment, as many jobs in the United States are being outsourced and replaced by overseas positions. The manufacturers outsource production projects to save time, money or resources. The manufacturing is outsourced so as to remain competitive and maintain a steady work flow. Without outsourcing, manufacturing costs could escalate to the point at which no product would sell and all employees would have no work. Outsourcing comes
Outsourcing emerged on the financial arena during the 1980s and has since then been spreading. Outsourcing production was furthered with the process of globalization which provided a new component leading to the strengthening of resources, skill and labor specializations across the world. The process of outsourcing is using the skill and abilities of a third-party to accommodate society on the foundation of labor. As stated earlier, it was during the 1980s that the process kicked off mainly due to the efforts of corporations when they began to hire labor forces across the world. Even though outsourcing has come out from its developing stages, there are still following effects on the US economy.
There are many things that would prevent an American company to outsource to these countries but one of the main ones is that it would simply be cheaper to produce it in America. There are many products that are just easier and more cost efficient to produce here instead of in a foreign nation. Another reason that could prevent an American company from outsourcing with a foreign country are tariffs and taxes.
As the world has gotten “smaller” in terms of trade, outsourcing has become a hot topic in much political and economic debate in the United States.
While outsourcing may be beneficial to some of the companies partaking in it, the general consensus is that it ultimately proves to be harmful to the American workforce. The act of outsourcing and shifting many company call centers and technical support teams, or “low skill service jobs,” to foreign countries reduces jobs for those that could truly benefit from them within our own country. The unemployment rate has dramatically increased, and continues to rise, compared to what it has been in years past; yet there are numerous companies which still insist on handing over these “low skill service jobs” to people in other countries such as India. The most obvious and logical reason for outsourcing is reducing costs; people are working for
Jobs outsourced to China have subsided American employment opportunities and have helped contribute to wage erosion since 2001(Peralta). Between 2001 to 2013, 3.2 million American jobs were lost and three-quarters of those jobs were in manufacturing (Peralta). When you outsource jobs to different countries because it is cheaper, you are helping destroy your own country and could even be supporting slave and child labor and companies do this because they are greedy and want to make more money even though they could be getting low quality, brand damaging products
The exporting of American jobs is an issue that is important and will become increasingly so as more and more white collar jobs are shipped overseas. American companies in the past few decades have been sending American jobs overseas paying residents of other countries pennies on the dollar what they had paid American workers to do. This saves the companies millions of dollars on labor costs but costs Americans precious jobs.
Outsourcing is a method used by many corporations in which their products are manufactured in foreign countries often for cheaper labor.This method method of productions has it’s pros and cons.
American companies and their products, have increasingly been pursed to be manufactured abroad. This however is one of the biggest discrepancies we confront within our economy. Although many businesses argue this is beneficial in order for them to turn a higher profit and be successful, the National Labor Committee thinks otherwise. Outsourcing has become one of the leading factors in product recalls, exploitation of workers, and a major contributor to the unemployment statistics in the US.
It is additionally genuine that it has its drawback. The principle drawback is the way that when an organization outsources a support of another nation American laborers do get laid off. Notwithstanding, this is just a fleeting impact, and it is nothing to stress over it. Most won't be influenced. The long haul impacts of seaward outsourcing are that it advances business development, it empowers business rivalry and it is a calculate the improvement of new employments. All of which exceed the drawback. It is critical to see that seaward outsourcing is not something to fear. It is really a decent business strategy and it has numerous beneficial outcomes on the
China is one of our biggest labor competitors. The reason many US companies go to China for outsourcing is again, because of their workforce’s willingness to operate at low costs. Michael Zimmerman describes this as a disparity in worker “tolerance”. Where the low wages found in China are “far lower than U.S.
Offshoring is the practice of relocating business processes to lower cost locations outside the country of origin. This is not a new practice for companies in the United States. Moving business processes to another country to take advantages of lower operating costs and cheap labor seems like a great idea. However, the dilemma for a company is whether the benefits of offshoring outweigh the risks. This dissertation will begin by briefly reviewing the history of offshoring. Next, it will examine the various advantages and disadvantages associated with offshoring. Thirdly, it will explore the growing trends of backshoring and nearshoring in situations where