Please read following transcripts on outsourcing. They present a couple contrast

Question

Please read following transcripts on outsourcing. They present a couple contrasting views. As you read the transcripts, take a stance and think about which of the perspectives you support more. As you read them, begin to think about the claims being made. What evidence was presented? Was it adequate to support the arguments made? Finally, did they provide enough evidence to adequately convince you that their perspective was correct? If so, explain. If not, what evidence needs to be presented to convince you? Be sure you address the resource and capability implications of it as well.

Transcript 1

Outsourcing Trims Payrolls at Home, Boosts Economies Abroad

JOHN SEIGENTHALER, anchor:

NBC News IN DEPTH tonight, outsourcing, a nearly $300 billion a year industry. The growing trend of moving jobs, especially high-tech jobs, overseas has been a controversial issue in this year's presidential campaign.

But as NBC's Jim Maceda reports, outsourcing goes beyond the issue of lost jobs. It could be helping in the war against terror.

JIM MACEDA reporting:

The chaotic streets of Lahore, east Pakistan, an unlikely place, some might say, to launch a high-tech revolution. But it is here inside technology park that young entrepreneurs like Pakistani-American Zia Chiski are cashing in on the trend back in the states to outsource jobs and information technology.

Mr. ZIA CHISKI: Eighteen months ago we had nothing. Today we have about 300 people working here.

MACEDA: Chiski's IT-based call centers service thousands of American doctors, lawyers, and plumbers, from Newark, New Jersey, to Bend, Oregon.
You can actually summon an ambulance, a 911 ambulance, here from Lahore for somebody in Oregon or California?

Mr. CHISKI: Oh, absolutely. It's all bandwidth. There's no restriction on who sits at the other end of the pipe.

MACEDA: These staffers make $400 a month, a fraction of the American salary, but highly sought after here. This, experts say, is the upside of outsourcing. American jobs lost in the short-term but triggering a high-tech boom in countries like Pakistan that will benefit America too.

Mr. NASSER LONE (Information Technology Manager): Well, I think more and more people are figuring out that that's the basic equation, you know, that the economy's too big.

MACEDA: For years, Pakistan's economy was plagued by sectarian violence and military coups like the one that brought Pervez Musharraf to power.
Much of the outside world still sees Pakistan as a dangerous mix of Islam, extremism and nuclear weapons. But now the Musharraf government is betting heavily on IT to improve that image. Spending millions of dollars on computer labs in schools and trying to catch up to arch rival India, whose IT call centers bank $13 billion a year in profit.

Unidentified Man #1: India...(unintelligible)...Iceland.

MACEDA: Now, Pakistani software companies, like Nasdaq listed Netsol, are beginning to win over Fortune 500 clients.

Mr. AWAIS LEGHARI (Information Technology Minister): Pakistan is on the map, on the global map again.

MACEDA: But just a few hundred miles away, Pakistani forces are chasing al-Qaeda in backward tribal zones. Chiski says Pakistanis are at a crossroads.

Mr. CHISKI: You can put them to productive work in building the economy, or you can radicalize them.

Unidentified Man #2: San Antonio, Texas?

MACEDA: Stealing jobs from Americans? Perhaps, but many here would say it's worth the investment

Unidentified Woman: Have a nice day.

Jim Maceda, NBC News, Lahore.

Transcript 2

America's Disappearing Factory Jobs

TOM BROKAW, anchor:

Tonight, America's disappearing factory jobs. Will they ever return? NBC's Jim Cummins has our report, MADE IN AMERICA.

JIM CUMMINS reporting:

Back in the recessions of the 1970s and '80s when factories were closing all over the Midwest to Northeast, people had to reinvent themselves, create new businesses and new jobs. Experts say that's not happening in this shaky economy.

Professor HARLEY SHAIKEN (University of California, Berkeley): Factory jobs are hemorrhaging in this country right now. We have 2.7 million fewer factory jobs than we had in the year 2000.

CUMMINS: In 1979, there were 20 million factory jobs in this country. Today, that number is down to 15 million and dropping, the fewest number of factory jobs since the 1940s. Forrester Research estimates in the next 15 years, $136 billion in wages will move offshore to India, Russia, China and the Philippines.

Economists say those jobs are not coming back because of cheaper labor offshore and Wall Street demanding more profits every quarter. This time, job losses are nationwide. Eight hundred jobs lost when a Levi's plant closed in Texas; 125 jobs lost from a plastics factory in New Jersey; and 400 more laid off when a furniture factory in North Carolina closes. Last summer, Federal Reserve chairman, Alan Greenspan, told Congress, the great US job machine can survive the loss of manufacturing jobs. Professor Harley Shaiken...

Prof. SHAIKEN: There is an impressive US job machine, but it's sleeping as we speak.

CUMMINS: But as it rouses itself, Shaiken says it's showing signs of hiring more temporary workers than full-time. Texas economist, Bernard Weinstein, says that doesn't surprise him.

Mr. BERNARD WEINSTEIN: I think there is so much pressure on companies to keep their costs down that they would rather work overtime or hire temps than bring on full-time employees.

CUMMINS: A fundamental change in America's job profiles, which sent him and other economists scrambling to rewrite their textbooks. Jim Cummins, NBC News, Dallas.

Transcript 3

U.S. Companies Bring Work Force Home

BRIAN WILLIAMS, anchor:

We're back with NBC News IN DEPTH tonight in our series, CAN AMERICA COMPETE? Tonight some American companies that are answering yes. And they're bringing their work force back home from overseas or in some cases keeping their workers here, even though it is more expensive. So how CAN AMERICA COMPETE? Here is NBC News chief financial correspondent Anne Thompson reporting tonight on some of the firms who've figured it out.

ANNE THOMPSON reporting:

This is the sound of "Made in the USA." New Balance striving in a world dominated by Nike and Adidas/Reebok keeps 25 percent of its manufacturing in America, the only company to make any athletic shoes here.

Mr. JIM THOMPKINS (New Balance President & COO): Our labor costs are at least 10 to 12 times higher here than they are...

THOMPSON: Ten to 12 times?

That's right, but productivity at New Balance's five US plants is much greater, lowering other costs.

Mr. THOMPKINS: We're able to deliver into the market in a matter of days, where our competitors are looking at weeks and sometimes months.

THOMPSON: To speed up production, employees assemble in teams.

Mr. CLAUDIO GELMAN (New Balance Plant Manager, Lawrence, Massachusetts):
Not so long ago, we used to make a case of shoes, 12 pair, in eight days.
Now we're down to three hours.

Unidentified Woman: How can I help you today?

THOMPSON: Other companies are actually bringing jobs back to the US.
One is Long Island's North Fork Bank, even though its customer call service center in India was a bargain.

Mr. JOHN KANAS: That amounted to a savings of about $20,000 a head.

THOMPSON: But customers complained workers didn't know Southampton from West Hampton and North Fork's reputation as a neighborhood bank suffered. So CEO John Kanas brought the jobs back to Long Island, adding $2 million a year to his costs.

Mr. KANAS: We've kept it here because of the tremendous importance of the quality of that experience to us, and we think that the trade-off for the money is--is worth it.

THOMPSON: Unlike other carriers, Denver-based Frontier Airlines keeps all its work in-house, refusing to outsource its maintenance or call centers...

BETH: This is Beth. How can I help you?

THOMPSON: ...to other companies in America or overseas.

Mr. JEFF POTTER (Frontier Airlines CEO): Our employees here, they take ownership. And I'm not sure that's something that you could find offshore.

THOMPSON: New Balance, Frontier and North Fork Bank have all discovered that while it is more expensive to keep work here in this country, it ultimately delivers a bigger payoff. So much so, New Balance plans to expand its US manufacturing because "Made in America" still has a competitive edge. Anne Thompson, NBC News, Lawrence, Massachusetts.

Explanation / Answer

Transcript 1:

Outsourcing trims Payrolls at home, boosts economies abroad.

Outsourcing is where jobs and in that high tech jobs are moved outside. Some people claim that due to this outsourcing, there is a loss of job scenario at home. I would say, that even though there are loss of jobs, there is an overall growth of the parent country. There is a definite loss of job in short term situations, as is also explained by MACEDA. He agrees that due to this outsourcing there is a drop in jobs in the US, as the tech jobs that could have been done there are now shifted to Pakistan. This in turn benefits the US, on the front of economy as they can get the same work done at a smaller pay. This outsourcing benefits economically both the countries, though long term effects on employment is still to be seen.

Flaws in the argument: Though MACEDA has given an example of the lower pay, he has not explained how this outsourcing will benefit America. All that he has quoted is " American jobs lost in the short-term but triggering a high-tech boom in countries like Pakistan that will benefit America too." Neither, has he hunted anything about the long term effects of outsourcing, though he claims this loss of jobs in America as a short term event.

Transcript 2:

America's Disappearing Factory Jobs

The argument is well supported with facts and figures, comparing the numbers of the 70s and the 80s. The argument is strong stating that there is loss of factory jobs in America, and I agree to it. Most of these jobs are being lost since the companies are in wake of higher profits. The companies are setting up their factories in countries like India, Russia and china where there is abundance of labor at a price that is much cheaper than the labor found in US. This argument does not require figures, as it establishes itself knowing that this attributes to the larger population of these countries. Also, the jobs that are moving out are less likely to come back, owing to the profits.

Conclusion : Argument supported with well given evidences of facts and figures.

Transcript 3

U.S. Companies Bring Work Force Home

Argument is well supported as it includes interviews from trusted resources for example CEO of Frontier Airlines, New Balance Plant Manager, Lawrence, Massachusetts and also New Balance President & COO. These individuals bring forth facts that were previously unknown to the economists and clear out how jobs are coming back here in America. As an example, the North fork's CEO, John Kansas stated that they had their call centres outsourced in INDIA and the workers were not aware of Southampton and west Hampton, which ultimately hampered the reputation of the bank.

These heads claim that even though the labor is costlier in the US, it ultimately leads to higher productivity, leading to an overall profit.

Conclusion: In favour of the argument and the argument is well supported by evidences from trusted individuals.

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