Outsourcing is not always a better alternative to going offshore yourself and retaining at least partial control
Given the sheer scale of activities that companies are moving offshore these days, decisions on how to configure operations can have an unprecedented impact on shareholder value. Yet time and again, large corporations are making these decisions with insufficient clarity. The most egregious oversight: assuming that migrating operations offshore requires outsourcing them to another company. This thinking can put significant value at risk. Global outsourcing is not always a better alternative to going it alone offshore or teaming up with a partner overseas. On the contrary, companies that set up their own operations in low-cost regions increasingly generate returns comparable to or higher than companies that outsource.