Karla's Korner: Outsourcing

If you're a PH employee, I'd bet you've heard the word "outsourcing" at least once. Unfortunately, outsourcing conjures up all sorts of negative images in some minds: unemployment, foreclosure, eviction, homelessness. But for every American engineer or call center agent made homeless by outsourcing, there's a third world family who now will be living their dream: a two room cardboard box in the suburbs. I'm heartened when I visit our facilities in Siberia and see an 11 year old designing our next generation computers or a 90 year old woman answering questions about device drivers. 

Sometimes outsourcing takes a different form - for example, when we sell whole divisions to potential competitors and then depend upon them to supply us with our own products. Not only does this strategy squeeze out the costs, it also gives us someone for our sales force to blame when release schedules slip.

But the big news in outsourcing is that we're so good at it, other companies are coming to us for help. We've recently landed a $11 billion contract at Wallmark to outsource 750 retail stores throughout the US. It's our unique ability to look at a business and see what makes it tick that helped us win this contract. Stay tuned for more news about the Wallmark project as we begin relocating over 117 million square feet of retail floor space to China this spring.
  
Outsourcing is about global competition. No American is "entitled" to what was once their "high paying, high technology" job. Well, except for me, that is. So take a look at outsourcing in a different light. Just remember as I've said here many times: you're utterly worthless and replaceable!