Global Outsourcing of Professional Services

Abstract

As a growing number of firms outsource more of their professional services across geographic and temporal boundaries, one is faced with a corresponding need to examine the long-term ramifications on business and society. Some persons are convinced that cost considerations should reign as the predominant decision-making factor; others argue that outsourcing means permanent job loss; and still others believe outsourcing makes U.S. goods and services more competitive in the global marketplace. We assert that if outsourcing options need to be analyzed in detail with critical objectivity in order to derive benefits for the concerned constituencies.