Is Outsourcing Killing American Asset Ownership
Someday when I have some time on my hands I am going to go back through the 1980’s archives to see what the economic pundits had to say about the phenomena that occurred began the 80’s and has defined American business culture ever since. My guess is I will find some that were alarmists and others that actually had some insight into what might happen.
As I have been putting together my plan to recast the discussion about manufacturing I have been thinking about everything that is lost due to outsourcing. Why do I think outsourcing presents a problem?
When you outsource you are building someone else’s business. Hey, I am a capitalist and am in no way opposed to the success of others. I just question the wisdom and building someone else’s expertise and physical assets at the cost of owning assets and processes. Processes and expertise are admittedly harder to retain ownership of then assets, especially in today’s fluid workforce. Maybe this is where outsourcing still makes sense. Even as the workforce becomes more temporary, we must continue to invest in the expertise of employees even though we cannot own (have access) to those resources for a guaranteed length of time. Plus, you cannot depreciate employees on the books.
My concern is America’s view of asset ownership. When we outsource processes that involve capital assets what do we get? At most we get an end product and an invoice. At the end of the day we do not have an asset. No doubt that part of our invoice just covered a part of an asset purchase for our “solutions provider” (did you ever notice the language we invent to make things seem not so bad?).
So, do I outsource? You bet? There are still good reasons to do so.
1. Expediency. Sometimes you just need to move quickly. For example, at Tangible Express, we use an SEO firm and a PR firm. Why? Because we do not have those skills in house? No, because we need to focus on other processes right now and this is the expedient thing to do. We need coverage of these functions. Expedient
2. Specialized skills already exist elsewhere. Let’s face it. Some things are just better done by experts.
3. Bridge the production gap. Outsourcing for redundant production capacity or temporary production during early stage development can be a lifesaver.
There is more that I will be adding to this discussion in the coming days / weeks. I have just barely begun to scratch the surface here.
Right now I have to run to a presentation for PRWeb. Join in the conversation if you like.
