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.