Monday, December 9, 2013
TWIF Flattener #5 - Outsourcing
Use one of the current events sources linked at http://svhs-hwc-spring2014.blogspot.com/2013/12/approved-sources-for-twif-current.html to find a recent news article that relates to, supports, or refutes Friedman's assertion that outsourcing was a "flattener." Your comment should include the title of the news article, a link to the article, and a summary of the article including an explanation of how the article relates to this point. Don't forget to check your rubric for evaluation criteria!
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Article Title- Npower confirms 1,460 UK jobs to go
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25135247
The article tells of an energy company in the United Kingdom that plans to outsources almost 1,500 jobs. These jobs include such things as customer service and back office functions (checking customers meters against what they say for example). This can be compared to the fifth flattener because they are both outsourcing. The World is Flat mentions that many companies outsource to gain more of a profit which is exactly what Npower’s goal is. This is shown when the company states, “The outsourcing would help Npower cope with peak time calls” which suggests that they need a larger volume of employees. This helps flatten the world by giving opportunities for jobs to people in other parts of the world. All in all, this article displays that many companies are continuing to outsource which is constantly flattening the world.
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ReplyDeleteOutsourcing 2.0: India May Now Become a Hub for Creative Work
ReplyDeletehttp://www.pri.org/stories/2012-04-20/outsourcing-20-india-may-now-become-hub-creative-work
This article relates to TWIF because it talks about people outsourcing. More specifically, the article talks about outsourcing in India like TWIF. Outsourcing is used to give people an easier and more timely way for working. In TWIF, it tells about people working from India for an American company. It tells that the people in India could send their work overnight or during American holidays. It allows people to work much easier from other countries. The article tells about an artist from Canada. The artist uses outsourcing to do work in India. It also states that India is no stranger to outsourcing. The article relates to TWIF because it talks about the outsourcing that goes on with people in India.
The Outsourcing Revolution
ReplyDeletehttp://www.economist.com/media/globalexecutive/outsourcing_revolution_e_02.pdf
The article gives more information about outsourcing and could in fact be used to support Thomas Friedman's view on outsourcing. The article explains that outsourcing is not only about saving money, but also a tool used to power the global economy. Also, the article contains an example involving British Airways, which saves $23 million dollars every 1,000 jobs they send to India. Since workers
compete globally, individuals must learn to get along with their peers worldwide. In conclusion, this article shows how many companies use outsourcing and how important this world flattening concept really is, just as Friedman did.
IBM Commits $1.2bn to Cloud Data Centre Expansion
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25773266
The World is Flat explains that outsourcing is a company using work in another country to make more money. This article shows outsourcing in full effect as a giant like IBM computers investing a large sum of money to expand their cloud services and data centers into 15 more countries around the world to make the cloud service worth much more than it is right now. This relates to TWIF because IBM is using work in other countries done by diverse people to make more money for themselves. In summary, IBM is investing money in other countries to make itself more money, which is how Friedman explains outsourcing in TWIF.
Study: Pollution from Chinese factories is harming air quality on U.S. West Coast
ReplyDeletehttp://www.washingtonpost.com/world/study-pollution-from-chinese-factories-is-harming-air-quality-on-us-west-coast/2014/01/21/225e9b1e-8281-11e3-bbe5-6a2a3141e3a9_story.html
This article explains how American outsources to China. It also explains how by having China manufacture goods for America, pollution in the east has drastically decreased. Pollution from China has began to blow across the pacific ocean and started to pollute the air in the west coast. The article also says how it is now changing the ozone along the west coast. This article relates to the book because it is about outsourcing, but this article views it as having negative consequences. Unlike Thomas Friedman, the article believes outsourcing should be stopped since of the pollution not only being in China but because it is spreading across oceans. Outsourcing has connected the world, but there might be to many countries outsourcing to the same select few places.
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ReplyDeleteLooking To Save, IRS Stops Outsourcing Collections
ReplyDeletehttp://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101558116
In an article from NPR News, the IRS, the internal revenue service, seeks to cut its costs by ceasing to pay for outsourced, private contractors. The government squandered five hundred billion dollars on private contractors in foreign countries (most likely located in China and India). As a result, President Obama requested that the IRS should hire in-house contractors. Moreover, in-house contractors, previously outsourced, would bring jobs back to America to save money. Obama supports this claim when he stated, "taxpayers could save some $40 billion a year." Obama believes that the without out-of-house contractors, the United States government can efface "unnecessary and no-bid and cost-plus contracts" that increase the taxes, which are paid by the people of America. Without these nonessential contracts, the IRS can make annual taxes more compliant to tax payers, which may even boost the overall economy of the United States. Instead of further accelerating the rate of United States' national debt, hiring clients in America would decelerate it. This article refutes the Friedman's fifth flattener, outsourcing. As outsourcing consists of a company relocating some of their work, which in this case is contracting, to foreign countries where the cost of work is supposedly cheaper, the IRS is retracting the contracting business to save money. The irony in this statement disproves Friedman's claim since outsourcing should ultimately save money for the IRS. With jobs returning to the United States, only one reason can elucidate this paradox. Costs in foreign countries are rapidly increasing thereby spurring the United States to recall jobs to evade exorbitant prices of new, advanced countries.
Abolish the Corporate Income Tax
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/06/opinion/abolish-the-corporate-income-tax.html
Friedman describes outsourcing as being when one company relocates many of its operations overseas to another country. He states that many of these companies relocate because it is more cost efficient for them. This article supports Friedman’s assertion by stating that many companies that were based in the United States have moved their operations overseas in order to cut costs. The article also states that the reason for this movement of companies is because of the Corporate Income Tax in the United States. The Corporate Income Tax in the U.S. is significantly higher than it is in many other countries. It also states that if they abolished the Corporate Income Tax that more companies would relocate back to the U.S. which would provide more jobs and an increase in economic stimulus. Therefore, this article further supports Friedman’s assertion by providing a reason why companies have relocated overseas.
U.S. Offers Russia High-Tech Aid to Thwart Sochi Terror
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/22/world/europe/us-offers-russia-high-tech-aid-to-thwart-sochi-terror.html?hpw&rref=world
This article explained that the U.S. was offering Russia american electronic equipment to counter home made explosives from Afghanistan and Iraq. The reason for providing Russia the equipment is to keep protective of the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi. These home made explosives are the main reason of death to Americans serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. This flattener applies to this article because Russia is outsourcing to the U.S. to collect technology to protect their own country. This flattener brings nations closer together and helps them to collaborate.
Panasonic Bows out of Japanese Smartphone Market
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23961686
This article explains how Panasonic's mobile division, in 2012, lost 8.1 billion dollars, and it is likely to continue losing money. Because of this, they are no longer selling phones to customers of Japan, and they are outsourcing the production of mobile phones sold to India and other countries. Panasonic is doing this to try to make profits off of their mobile division, for it is cheaper to hire someone to create the phones for these regions than to make these phones in Japan. Not all of the phones are being created in other countries; only mobiles that go to specific countries are being outsourced. This relates to Friedman's main point in the fifth flattener, "Outsourcing," because Friedman describes how parts of companies are outsourced to other countries due to the cheaper prices and the other countries' willingness to perform these jobs. Panasonic is doing just this. They are outsourcing in order to try to save money and keep their company running.
http://www.pri.org/stories/2012-04-20/outsourcing-20-india-may-now-become-hub-creative-work
ReplyDeleteThis article shows that the country of India is a major outsourcing location, not just for technical work but now also for creative work, because the work is done at a lower cost and quickly. Although there are other countries that the U.S. outsources to such as China, India is the one that people think of first. It saves people money and allows them to get a more unique product that they would not be able to afford if they had it done in their country. This is flattening the world because instead of hiring people in the country to do the job, the work is being done by workers in other countries. People outsource to India because they can get the job done quickly, cheaper and with a different cultural flavor.