U.S. Companies Say Offshoring has not Cost Domestic Jobs, According to Research from Duke University and The Conference Board

- Most companies say offshoring of jobs has not resulted in higher unemployment domestically

- The desire to cut costs is not the primary motivator for companies moving some job functions to overseas locations

- Firms shifting jobs overseas may be responding to a shortage of skilled domestic employees

- Manufacturers and high-tech/telecommunication companies are less likely to use captive offshore operations - owned by the company and located on foreign soil - and are moving increasingly toward the use of third-party providers of offshore labor

News provided by

The Conference Board

Jan 19, 2011, 12:00 ET

DURHAM, N.C., Jan. 19, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The sixth annual study on corporations' offshoring trends was released today by the Center for International Business Education and Research's (CIBER) Offshoring Research Network (ORN) at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business and The Conference Board.

The study is part of ongoing research into the effects of offshoring trends on American competitiveness and reflects the sentiments of business managers as regional economies around the world continue to recover from the global recession and economic upheaval in Europe and Asia.

"Over half of the participants in our survey say offshoring has resulted in no change in the number of domestic jobs in most functions," said Fuqua Professor of Strategy and International Business Arie Lewin. "The finding that the U.S. software sector has the highest ratio of offshore to domestic employees – almost 13 offshored jobs per 100 domestic jobs – may be a reflection of a scarcity of domestic science and engineering graduates in the U.S."

In addition, survey respondents are broadening the range of factors that influence their selection of an offshore location to include the location of the best service provider and the quality of infrastructure, e.g., telecommunications, power and transportation. In spite of placing a high priority on cost savings and labor arbitrage, the survey finds average achieved cost savings offshore have declined for functions at many companies. For example, IT services and software development have experienced consistent declines over the past five years while average achieved savings have increased for administrative and innovative functions.

According to the researchers, survey participants have lower expectations than previous respondents for average cost savings in several offshoring functions. Contact center, information technology and software development offshoring have seen the largest declines among all offshoring functions as companies new to offshoring discover a number of hidden costs involved, including expenses for training, staff recruitment and retention, and government and vendor relations.

"The potential for cost reduction alone is no longer reason enough to move operations," said Ton Heijmen, Senior Advisor to The Conference Board. "One survey respondent noted it has taken his company several years to discover that the impact of labor arbitrage disappears in fewer than three years. Companies are now shifting from cost-driven offshoring implementations to a multidimensional value proposition in creating a global footprint."

As companies expand offshoring activities by increasing scale or by offshoring more diverse and complex functions, most firms see a decline in the overall efficiency of their offshoring processes as measured by average cost savings across offshored functions. This may be partially attributed to a loss of managerial control as offshoring operations are expanded, requiring companies to improve coordination and management of their global sourcing.

About Duke CIBER

Duke's Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) was established in 1992 by The Fuqua School of Business and has been directed by Professor Arie Y. Lewin since 1995. The Offshoring Research Network (ORN) was conceived as a multi-year initiative focused on understanding the relationship between offshoring and American competitiveness.

There are 33 CIBERs located throughout the U.S. that are funded by the U.S. Department of Education under Title VI through a competitive bid process. Duke CIBER collaborates with other CIBERs to carry out projects, and engages in outreach activities with other centers and departments at Duke as well as other colleges and universities, businesses and communities.

To learn more about Duke CIBER, visit http://faculty.fuqua.duke.edu/ciber/site2006.

About Duke Offshoring Research Network (ORN)

Duke ORN is a network of research partner universities, scholars and practitioners that has become the most recognized international research network tracking the globalization of services over time. ORN began gathering data on buy-side companies in 2004. In 2006, the survey was extended to Europe with EU partner universities and began gathering comparable data for service providers in over 50 countries in 2007. Researchers from top universities in Italy, France, Japan and Korea joined the network in 2010.

Duke ORN maintains a Wikipedia page at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offshoring_Research_Network.

ABOUT THE CONFERENCE BOARD

The Conference Board is a global, independent business membership and research association working in the public interest. Our mission is unique: To provide the world's leading organizations with the practical knowledge they need to improve their performance and better serve society. The Conference Board is a non-advocacy, not-for-profit entity holding 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt status in the United States. www.conference-board.org

SOURCE The Conference Board