Running head: OUTSOURCING: A BENEFIT TO THE BUSINESSES OF UNITED STATES 1
Outsourcing: A Benefit to the Businesses of United States
Anterika Williams
The University of Memphis
OUTSOURCING: A BENEFIT TO BUSINESSES OF THE UNITED STATES 2
Abstract
In this document, there an analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing. The
focus of this research to prove that big business and developing countries have the most benefits
when it comes to outsourcing. There is a detailed description of the term outsourcing, the types
of jobs that are outsourced and the location of said outsourced jobs. Outsourcing, which is
having jobs with a high level of skill or jobs that have basic tasks are being completed abroad to
diminish costs, is a progressive influence to big businesses. Outsourcing jobs are being fulfilled
by developing countries. While there are advantageous effects of outsourcing, like reducing
overhead costs and decreasing high employee turnover, there can be some drawbacks, like
security & confidentially risks or cultural barriers. Outsourcing has proved to be more of a
benefit to large companies, and less of a disadvantage. This is proven by the success, thus far,
and the continuing growth and development of outsourcing.
OUTSOURCING: A BENEFIT TO BUSINESSES OF THE UNITED STATES 3
Outsourcing: A Benefit to the United States
Introduction
The main goal of this paper is to explain why it is beneficial and more effective for
businesses to perform certain tasks in foreign companies buy the process of outsourcing. Human
resource management plays a major role in the world of business. This subject is important
because human resource management, which was primarily a domestic task, is now mostly
performed in foreign countries.
Outsourcing: A Definition
Outsourcing has become a common business practice between the United States and
other foreign countries. Hirschheim[CITATION Hir09 \n \t \l 1033 ] defines outsourcing as
“making arrangements with an external entity for the provision of goods or services to
supplement or replace internal efforts”[CITATION Hir09 \p 3 \n \y \t \l 1033 ]. Marshall and
Clawson [CITATION Wor10 \n \t \l 1033 ] defined it as:
the process by which a company or government agency moves jobs from its home
country to a foreign location, or chooses to increase the production of goods or
services by using a foreign third-party company rather than provide employment
to U.S. workers who are capable of producing such goods or services.
[CITATION Wor10 \p 3 \n \y \t \l 1033 ]
Both definitions simply means that United States businesses are taking human resource
management roles from their companies, that would be cheaper to perform overseas, and moving
them to foreign companies in order receive quality, inexpensive labor.
OUTSOURCING: A BENEFIT TO BUSINESSES OF THE UNITED STATES 4
Types of Outsourced Jobs. Only certain types of jobs are being outsourced. The most
common types of jobs that are being outsourced in businesses are manufacturing, customer
service call centers, data entry, accounting, graphic design, research and development, computer
programming, and information technology (IT) support jobs [ CITATION Tho10 \l 1033 ].
Marshall and Clawson[CITATION Wor10 \n \t \l 1033 ] state the main types of jobs that are
involved with outsourcing:
Outsourcing American jobs to foreign countries involves a diverse range of
products, including manufactured goods (such as automobile parts, garments and
electronic components), low-wage and routinized service jobs (notably, the
operation of call centers in countries such as India and the Philippines), and high-
