Outsourcing & Offshoring Trends Heat Up in Increasingly Globalized Market, 6-12-2006
China, India and similar offshore work centers will remain low-cost providers of services and manufacturing for the foreseeable future. At the same time, as their economies grow, their business structures and middle classes will grow, and they will offer lucrative markets for exported intellectual property, goods and services created in the U.S., Europe, Japan and elsewhere. The offshoring boom has been beneficial to major outsourced services and contract manufacturing centers such as India and China. In these two nations alone, millions of jobs have been created, and both GDP and the middle class are growing at admirable rates. The industry is always changing, as mergers and acquisitions continue and international relations vary. According to a recent report by Plunkett Resarch, Ltd., some of the most important trends affecting the industry include:
- White-Collar and Professional Tasks Are Offshored to a Growing Extent.
Offshoring was long thought of as the process of sending less-skilled, low-paying jobs overseas. This is no longer the case, and the prospect of white-collar jobs moving offshore is causing alarm within many professional associations.
- Health Care Goes Offshore.
Many people might assume that certain professions could never be outsourced, such as the work of health care professionals. This is not entirely true. For example, in a practice called teleradiology, medical technicians and physicians in India are analyzing x-rays and CAT scans performed in the U.S., diagnosing American patients and relaying results back to American hospitals.
- Hi-Tech Manufacturing Collaboration Spans the Globe.
Outsourcing has truly globalized the manufacturing of a wide spectrum of items from laptop computers to jumbo jets. As varying countries hone their expertise and cut costs for different components, it has become commonplace for parts of high-tech machines to be manufactured thousands of miles apart and then shipped to a central location for assembly.
To find out more about these exciting trends and more, check out Plunkett's Outsourcing & Offshoring Industry Almanac 2007, just released, or go to www.plunkettresearch.com and sign up for a subscription to Plunkett's completely up-to-date online database!
About Plunkett Research, Ltd.
Plunkett Research, Ltd. is a leading publisher of complete business research and analysis resources, designed to enable professionals in marketing, research and finance to access complete trends analysis, statistics, technology analysis and financial analysis of the world's most exciting industries. For more information, visit www.plunkettresearch.com, or call 713.932.0000.