Dean's Speech at Nationals

[KenWittlief]

thats true, and thats the part the CEO cant see on his little spreadsheet thats telling him he can increase profit by 3% if he outsources 20 peoples jobs to the other side of the world.

Outsourceing isnt even the right word for this - there are many businesses here that have consolidated functions and tasks that businesses need and use, like office cleaning, certain design and manufacturing services - its often better for a business to hire a cleaning contractor than to directly hire people as cleaners

but those jobs stay in the community - the people just work for a different local employer

but when a job is sent to the other side of the world the effects run much deeper and wider than the person making the decision can possibly see.

I think the real problem here is this: if you own a business, what exactly is it that you own? The name? the profit and expense statements?

if your business is based on engineering and manufacturing skills, and you outsource those to a foreign country, then what do you have left?

where is the innovation going to come from when your engineers are all gone? where is the next generation of products going to come from? If you dont have your own people on the manufacturing floor, then who is going to improve the manufacturing process on a day by day basis? improving quality? reducing costs?

who are your customers going to talk to when they call for technical support? someone in Malasia? Will they be able to get an engineer on the phone if they have a difficult problem that needs to be resolved immediately? one that speaks english?

and who are your customers going to talk to when their needs and requirements change? when they need something different.

and heres the real thing - if you ship the core of your business out of the country, your research and developement is now based on what? If all you have left are sales and marketing people, once your foreign design and manufacturing companies have learned how to build your product, what do they need you for? they can market your product and sell it without you.

and when THEY come up with the next generation of products, and THEY hold the next familiy of design patents, why should they deal with you? why should they offer their new stuff to you for a deal any better than anyone else would get?

Then YOU will be in the wrong column on the profit and loss spreadsheet of THEIR company.

do you really think you can send away the goose that lays the golden eggs, and still expect to have a steady flow of golden eggs in your in-basket every morning?