From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com>
John Lacny wrote:
>When did the term "outsourcing" come to refer exclusively to
>outsourcing jobs out of the country? I thought it was a general term
>for the corporate practice of moving functions from in-house to
>outside firms. Basically, I thought it was a synonym for
>subcontracting, a money-saving measure for a company that was
>generally not good for workers, whether it was done outside the
>country or in. Lately, given telecommunications outsourcing to
>India, it has acquired the connotation of moving jobs outside the
>country, but it seems that that has not always been the case. Am I
>wrong?
No, you're right. "Offshoring" is the more precise term for doing IT and call center work in India, but some people find the word ugly.
Doug
^^^^^^ CB: A big taint of "outsourcing" as originally used is moving jobs from union to non-union shops. Similarly, privatization is outsourcing from government jobs which are more likely to be unionized and "benefitized".