Problem
Global Debate: Comparative Advantage: Should the United States be Sending Service Jobs to India?
This Global Debate provides an overview of the use of outsourcing as a way for multinational corporations to improve profitability through comparative advantage offered by markets where the cost of labor is significantly less than in the home country of a multinational. However, this simple lesson in economics is quite controversial and serves as a starting point for a stimulating class discussion. This simple lesson in economics is quite controversial and serves as a starting point for a stimulating class discussion on such topics as:
A. What are the profit motives for outsourcing? What advantages other than profit can be gained by outsourcing?
B. How should a company manage outsourcing?
C. How can outsourcing impact (help or hurt) a company's corporate image?
D. Is there a potential for an "upward creep" where low level, low skill tasks start to move upward into higher skilled, higher level jobs being outsourced? What impact can this shift have on home country jobs? On host country jobs?
E. Is there a risk of a country losing its innovative edge if higher skilled jobs are outsourced?
F. Will outsourcing cause a shift in the home country's workforce by creating new job opportunities to replace those being outsourced?
Online and Hybrid: Virtual teams can be assigned questions and submit their work as a group. Alternatively, virtual teams can be assigned to take different roles or perspectives to argue for (or against) and these assignments can be submitted as a group and then opened up to discussion and debate on an online class discussion site or blog, or presented and debated in a face-to-face setting.