Outsourcing of back-Office operations as a way to improve profit at Thomson Reuters
The international business environment has evolved to be increasingly complex and highly competitive. As a result many organizations have been forced to streamline operations and to look for new sources of innovation in efficiency. Many organizations have turned to outsourcing to reduce costs in non-essential operations and processes. Thomson Reuters is no stranger to this trend. In 2008 the organization announced that it would shed fifteen hundred employees across all of its divisions globally and about half of these cuts were targeted in European positions (The Economic Times, 2008). The organization must now find ways to handle the same operations with a smaller staff.
In this environment redesigning operations and processes to take advantage of outsourced labor in non-essential business functions can allow the organization to secure resources to maintain the most critical functions in the organizations strategy. Outsourcing can create a wide range of objections and debate among academic and investors however (Benson, et al., 2010). For example, one disadvantage to outsourcing internationally in developing markets is that these countries often lack the judicial system to protect property rights (Goldberg, 2009). Thus by outsourcing processes organizations can make themselves vulnerable to certain risks.
However, there is also much that can be gained from outsourcing. Outsourcing can be defined as "purchasing ongoing services from an outside company that a company currently provides, or most organizations normally provide, for themselves"; these activities may range from manufactured parts to services, such as payroll, human resources, and accounting among many others (Godhar & Deshpande, 2009). Outsourcing of process and activities that do not directly add value to the goods or services that a company...
Outsourcing Corporate Outsourcing: Initially an output of the 1990's outsourcing has now become a significant part of doing business by corporate America. With businesses throughout the country looking for augmenting their competitive rank in an more and more worldwide marketplace, they are observing that they have the potential to reduce costs and keep up the quality through the greater dependence on foreign service contributor seen as subsidiary to their mainline functioning. Currently,
Outsourcing in a Global Community "Even though 'Outsourcing' has its demerits and has been criticized the benefits which it brings is advantageous to the U.S. both now and in the long run." This statement identifies a claim of fact showing that even though outsourcing has its demerits as any other condition would entail, the benefits which the U.S. economy would achieve by way of outsourcing is much more than its disadvantages and
S. What kinds of jobs? What countries? Starting around in the initial part of 2004, writings started getting published in the mass media opposing that "insourcing" - supposedly shifting jobs from the outside the U.S. into the U.S. is bigger than "outsourcing." This might seem difficult to accept as true, however there is a basis for accepting it as true. (Globalization: the Outsourcing-Insourcing Issue) "In-sourcing" produced a considerable range of comparatively
By not offering an artificial incentive to stay in business (the subsidy), product would not have been over-produced and wasted (perhaps an environmental impact), new and in-demand skills would have been acquired, real demands would have been met, and the price for those demands would have fallen (helping the consumer). Thus, by removing the artificial barrier to real and free trade (perhaps influenced by political pressure), economic well-being is
A micro considers the interests and rights of the individual company as the primary concern. Both of these views are valid depending on the lens that one wishes to use. The problem arises when the government is forced to develop policies regarding procurement in this volatile debate. The government must decide whether to take a micro view, favoring the rights of companies, or a macro view that places the
While some corporations have announced they are bringing outsourced jobs back home, (Sallie Mae, the student loan firm, just announced it is bringing 2,000 jobs back to America), others are sending more jobs than ever to foreign countries. Just a few days ago, Xerox announced plans to send thousands of jobs to an Indian outsourcing firm, ceasing operations of one of its divisions in North America (Jones, 2009). The
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