Conscience or the Competitive Edge Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Conscience or the Competitive Edge - Essay Example From this paper it is clear that a  company such as Nike can run into a variety of problems when it decides to outsource, like what it wants to consider or prioritize when moving certain operations overseas.   First of all, many companies grossly underestimate the time, money, and people that it takes to successfully outsource a portion or all of their operations.   In choosing a location, companies must consider which locations have the cheaper labor prices if they are going to save money by outsourcing in the first place.   Choosing an area with a high standard of living will end up costing the company way more than what it is worth.This essay discusses that there is a tremendously big step that is often overlooked when companies are considering outsourcing.   Before deciding on a country or service provider, first determine the cost of running your business processes and what your objectives are. If your service levels and costs are already competitive, it won't make sen se to farm it out. Study the expertise of each potential partner, considering proximity, costs, cultural and language barriers, telecom infrastructure and tax laws among other factors, before making a decision. India will not always be the right answer.  One of the most controversial problems that a company will run into when considering outsourcing is the laying off of its workers.   New jobs may be created in the foreign country of choice, but that means that jobs are lost at home.  ... When an organization chooses to outsource, the dirty work of huge corporations is sub-contracted to these workers and they are often exploited. At first glance, it may appear that bringing jobs to these developing countries is a good thing, but it is not if these workers are being forced to work in sweatshops and similar conditions (Christensen, 1996). In describing the dilemma, Christensen (1996, pg. 1) wrote, "Nike shoes, like those of most of their competitors in the athletic shoewear industry, are currently manufactured by young women in Indonesia who flock from their village homes to the Nike production factories to be paid 20% less than the "minimum physical need" for a single adult (about $2.25 a day). This means that Nike's factory workers are hardly making enough money to eat. Also, these Nike employees sometimes work over 10 hours a day in poorly-ventilated areas. Overall, the working conditions for these factory workers are lousy and Nike continues to ignore the crisis." At the time of the crisis, the managers and representatives of the company clearly were not concerned about the stakeholder condition overseas such as safety, working conditions, cheap labor, and child labor. They instead only chose to think about maximizing profits and did not care about the welfare of the stakeholder in the foreign country. For a time, the company appeared to try to hide this situation, but before long, things hit the spotlight (Thunderbird, 2004). A company such as Nike can run into a variety of problems when it decides to outsource, like what it wants to consider or prioritize when moving certain operations overseas. First of all, many companies grossly underestimate the time, money, and people that it takes to successfully outsource a portion or all of