I had an interesting question asked, is offshoring unpatriotic?
The quick answer is, of course, NO.
If you think about it, the outsourcing or offshoring decision has nothing to do with patriotism. Patriotism is defined by Wikipedia as “love of and/or devotion to one’s country.” ( Or from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary patriotism: love for or devotion to one’s country). Offshoring does not denote the lack of love or devotion to one’s country.
Since offshoring is a business decision, you have to look at the business question. Every company that makes a product, or sells a service has some dependence on foreign good and services. If nothing else, the gas to drive the foreign made car (and before someone says that they only drive cars from their country, some of the parts are made elsewhere).
While true, current economic situation in the US might trigger negative thoughts on offshoring, the objective of any company is to make money. The shareholders are the people to whom we owe our loyalty.
I think that companies cannot be patriotic or unpatriotic. Companies are and should be focused on the long-term value to their stakeholders. If that means moving jobs out of the county where they can be performed at a lower cost, then (in a global economy) the price paid for a service outside the US is the real value of that job. Would it be unpatriotic to move an office from New York to Missouri (which has the 5th lowest cost of living in the US)?
The lesson here is not about patriotism it is about economics. If a company choses to offshore – that is their choice and one made for the stockholders. If the economy and their own revenue streams dry up because they have not expanded in the areas where the offshoring is done, then the offshoring companies are responsible for their own financial fate.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
“Patriotism is defined by Wikipedia as…”
This is one of the luzliest comments I’ve seen in a while. You’re citing wikipedia as a source? I’d just as soon cite my crazy neighbor.
Offshoring may not be unpatriotic, but it’s undoubtedly profit-based, which means you’re putting cash above country. Not good in my book, whatever book that is.
And if you think I’m Salaryman, you haven’t compared our wildly different writing styles. Or the fact that we’re from different countries.
Toodles, you strange man.
Sorry you didn’t like the source, here is another from Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
patriotism: love for or devotion to one’s country.
Sarcasm and wildly incorrect theories are both fine by me.
Not out to troll your blog. In fact I love it personally. I only found my way here via the lucky mistaken identity thing, and then got sidetracked by the issue of Wikiality.
Whatever, man. Enjoy your weekend. Mine’s just about done.
It’s an interesting question. I would also say no as a short answer. However in cases where a company closes up shop to move somewhere else you can question if they owe some loyalty to the people who live where they are leaving. Of coarse in some situations it in unavoidable, but in others it is merely an effort for more profit. Profit after all is the goal, so you could argue both sides of the fence on this. It is tragic however to see a whole city/area virtually decimated when big business leaves for somewhere else .
P.S. Last year one of my professors said it is OK to cite Wikipedia, depending on what kind of report you are witting and how formal it is. I’d say a blog post falls under the OK list
OK. So we move our entire manufacturing base overseas. We’ve also, at the same time, destroyed thousands of communities and, closer to the almighty bottom line, made it so millions of people can no longer afford our products and services.
Even the fascist Henry Ford realized that he had to pay his employees a living wage, so that they could buy his cars.
You did not read an earlier post where I said that Outsourcing Is NOT The Answer.
This was only a post about offshoring (not) being unpatriotic.
Paying a living wage is one thing, if your job can be done at 5% of the cost elsewhere, then your job is only worth that 5%. Henry Ford paid people a fair wage for fair work, but he did not have the ability to build in a low cost labor market. Did he?
Offshoring has probably done more to create jobs and raise the standard of living in the US than any government initiative. More people are hired in the long run as companies become more productive, and the jobs are at a much higher level. The predicted demise of the software industry in the US was all wrong — it's as strong as ever, and there are much more higher level jobs available now. Being able to get products at half cost is better than getting a 100% raise, since cheaper products don't have an income tax burden.
Good post, I look forward to the rest