martes, 17 de febrero de 2009

Excerpts on Death Penalty

The Death Penalty is a form of torture

The cruelty of torture is evident. Like torture, an execution constitutes an extreme physical and mental assault on a person already rendered helpless by government authorities. Abolitionist groups claim that the cruelty of the death penalty is manifest not only in the execution but in the time spent under sentence of death, during which the prisoner is constantly contemplating his or her own death at the hands of the state. Prison is an extraordinarily severe punishment that should not be exacerbated with torture or the death penalty.

Torture Defined

Torture of prisoners violates the Eight Amendment’s provision against Cruel and Unusual Punishment, and also constitutes a violation of several international laws. The United Nations Convention on Torture defined torture as “any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions.”

An example of torture in the US Criminal Justice System

In May 1998, a lawsuit was filed concerning conditions for death row inmates in Idaho Maximum Security Institution. The suit states that inmates are held in solitary confinement for 163 of every week's 168 hours in small concrete and steel cells with solid metal doors and a narrow slit for a window. Inmates are allowed out of their cells for a maximum of one hour a day, excluding weekends, for recreation, alone and handcuffed in one of 12 enclosed wire mesh pens measuring approximately seven by 15 feet. The prisoner named in the lawsuit, Randy McKinney, states that he has lived under such a regime for 16 years, and that such treatment constitutes torture.

martes, 10 de febrero de 2009

Sinking of the Lusitania


This attacked occured on May of 1915 and was not precisely in America, but in the Atlantic ocean near the coast of Ireland.
In that time World War One was taking place and Germans had warned that any ship sailing in the "European War Zone" would be a target for their submarines. America was a neutral country.
The warnings of Germans were published in newspapers and people talked about, and for that reason the ship only had half of its capacity to go to Liverpool.
The attack started when a torpedo fired by the Germans slammed into the side of the ship followed by an explosion that ripped the ship apart. Very few passengers had a chance. From the 1,924 passengers traveling in the Lusitania, less than a thousand survived. It only took the Lusitania 18 minutes to sink.

The ship was made by the British Admiralty
. Supposedly the Lusitania had munitions hidden for British war effort.

I think that was a huge mistake, you can't trust everyone and the americans trusted in other countries when they shouldn't have because a World War was taking place. The result of all this is that America declared war.

Bombing of USS Cole



On 12 October 2000, USS Cole set in to Aden harbor for a routine fuel stop. Cole completed mooring at 09:30. Refueling started at 10:30. Around 11:18 local time, a small craft approached the port side of the destroyer, and an explosion occurred, putting a 40-by-60-feet gash in the ship's port side according to the memorial plate to those that lost their lives.

The blast appeared to be caused by explosives molded into a shaped charge against the hull of the boat. It was reported that the boat was so close that the attackers aboard the boat and the sailors exchanged greetings before the blast. It is believed that sailors aboard the USS Cole thought the boat was just a garbage service boat.The blast hit the ship's galley, where crew were lining up for lunch.The crew fought flooding in the engineering spaces and had the damage under control by the evening. Divers inspected the hull and determined the keel was not damaged.

Seventeen sailors were killed and thirty nine others were injured in the blast. The attack was the deadliest against a U.S. Naval vessel since the Iraqi attack on the us on 17 May 1987.The asymmetric warfare attack was organized and directed by Osama bin Laden s al-Qaeda terrorist organization. In June 2001, an al-Qaeda recruitment video featuring bin Laden boasted about the attack and encouraged similar attacks.

Bombing of the Murrah Building in Oklahoma

I chose bombing of the Murrah builging. Well this attack took place on April 19, 1995 at oklahoma city. An office complex in downtown Oklahoma City, was bombed. Until the September 11, 2001 attacks, it was the deadliest act of terrorism on United Stated. In this attack were killed 168 people and more than 800 people injured.

A little time after the explosion Oklahoma state trooper Charlie Hanger stopped Timothy McVeigh of 26 years old, for driving without a license and for unlawfully carrying a weapon, and him was arrested for that. Within days after the bombing, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were both arrested for their roles in the bombing.
Mcveigh was executed by lethal injection on June 11, 2001 and Nichols was sentenced to life in prision, and a third conspirator Michael Fortier who testified against McVeigh and Nichols was sentenced to 12 years in prision for failing to warn the U.S goverment.

On April 19, 2000, the Oklahoma City National Memorial was dedicated on the site of the Murrah Federal Building to commemorate the victims of the bombing and annual remembrance services are held at the time of the explosion.

Attack on Pearl Harbor


These events occurred in United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii the morning of Sunday, December 7, 1941.

The surprise was complete. The attacking planes came in two waves; the first hit its target at 7:53 AM, the second at 8:55. By 9:55 it was all over. By 1:00 PM the carriers that launched the planes from 274 miles off the coast of Oahu were heading back to Japan.

The strike was intended to neutralize the U.S. Pacific Fleet, and hence protect Japan's advance into Malaya and the Dutch East Indies, where Japan sought access to natural resources such as oil and rubber. 405 aircraft were intended to be used: 360 for the two attack waves, 48 on defensive combat air patrol (CAP), including nine fighters from the first wave. The first wave was to be the primary attack, while the second wave was to finish whatever tasks remained. The first wave contained the bulk of the weapons to attack capital ships, mainly torpedoes. The aircrews were ordered to select the highest value targets (battleships and aircraft carriers) or, if either were not present, any other high value ships (cruisers and destroyers). Dive bombers were to attack ground targets. Fighters were ordered to strafe and destroy as many parked aircraft as possible to ensure they did not get into the air to counterattack the bombers, especially in the first wave. Before the attack commenced, two reconnaissance aircraft launched from cruisers were sent to scout over Oahu and report on enemy fleet composition and location. Another four scout planes patrolled the area between the Kido Butai and Niihau, in order to prevent the task force from being caught by a surprise counterattack.

Behind them they left chaos, 2,403 dead, 188 destroyed planes and a crippled Pacific Fleet that included 8 damaged or destroyed battleships. After this, United States declared war to Japan, becoming enemies of Germany and Italy, leading to World War II.

Anthrax letters in New York and Washington, DC


The anthrax attacks in the United States began on September 18, 2001, 1 exact week after the WTC attacks. Letters that contained anthrax spores were sended by mail to several news media offices and two Democratic US Senators. The attacked killed 5 people and 17 infected. The primary suspect was Bruce Edwards Ivins, who suicide on August 1, 2008 after been told about his prosecution.
The anthrax attacks came in two waves. The first was on September 18, 2001. Letters were sent to NBC, CBS, and ABC News, and The New York Post, all in New York City, and one letter to the National Enquirer at AMI in Boca Raton, Florida. Scientists examining the anthrax from the New York Post letter said it appeared as a coarse brown granular material looking like Purina Dog Show.
The second attack occured 3 weeks after the first. The letters were adressed to Senators Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy. The material in this letters was more potent than the first ones, consisting on about 1 gram of nearly pure anthrax spores.
The US government has not found any guilties for the attack, although they insisted on blaming Al Qaeda and Iraq, since the attacks coincided with the tragedy on 9/11.
The role of technology in this attack clearly is the tool used to find a responsable person for the attack.

lunes, 9 de febrero de 2009

Beirut barracks bombing


United States Marine Corps barracks , in Beirut Airport was October 23, 1983 like at 6:20 am 241 American servicemen, 58 French servicemen, 6 civilians ,2 suicide bombers a rainbow Mercedes-Benz truck drove to Beirut International Airport, where the 1st Battalion 8th Marines under the 2nd Marine Division had set up its local headquarters. The truck had been substituted for a hijacked water delivery truck. The truck turned onto an access road leading to the Marines' compound and circled a parking lot. The driver then accelerated and crashed through a barbed wire fence around the parking lot, passed between two sentry posts, crashed through a gate and drove into the lobby of the Marine headquarters. The Marine sentries at the gate were operating under rules of engagement which made it very difficult to respond quickly to the truck. By the time the two sentries had locked, loaded, and shouldered their weapons, the truck was already inside the building's entry way.
The suicide bomber detonated his explosives, which were equivalent to 5,400 kg (12,000 pounds) of TNT. The force of the explosion collapsed the four-story cinder-block building into rubble, crushing many inside. In retaliation for the attacks, France launched an airstrike in the Beqaa Valley against alleged Islamic Revolutionary Guards positions. President Reagan assembled his national security team and planned to target the Sheik Abdullah barracks in Baalbek, Lebanon, which housed Iranian Revolutionary Guards believed to be training Hezbollah fighters. A joint American-French air assault on the camp where the bombing was planned was also approved by Reagan and Mitterrand. Defense Secretary Weinberger, however, lobbied successfully against the missions.
Besides a few shellings, there was no serious retaliation for the Beirut bombing from the Americans. In December 1983, U.S. aircraft attacked Syrian targets in Lebanon, but this was in response to Syrian missile attacks on planes, not the barracks bombing.
In the meantime, the attack gave a boost to the growth of the Shi'ite organization Hezbollah. Hezbollah denied involvement in the attacks but was seen by Lebanese as involved nonetheless as it praised the "two martyr mujahideen" who "set out to inflict upon the U.S. Administration an utter defeat not experienced since Vietnam ..."Hezbollah was now seen by many as "the spearhead of the sacred Muslim struggle against foreign occupation".
Amal militia leader Nabih Berri, who had previously supported U.S. mediation efforts, asked the U.S. and France to leave Lebanon and accused the U.S. and France of seeking to commit 'massacres' against the Lebanese and creating a "climate of racism" against the Shia. Islamic Jihad phoned in new threats against the MNF "pledging that 'the earth would tremble' unless the MNF withdrew by New Year's Day 1984.The Marines were moved offshore where they could not be targeted. On February 7, 1984, President Reagan ordered the Marines to begin withdrawal from Lebanon. This was completed on February 26, four months after the barracks bombing; the rest of the Multinational Force was withdrawn by April.

miércoles, 4 de febrero de 2009

Assignment #1 Feedback...

Good job guys. You all found good articles and engaged in nice discussions. However, you did not follow directions properly. You were supposed to post the links to your articles in a single blog post, then discuss the articles all together in the COMMENTS section. For that, your team grade will fall just a little bit. Make sure that next time you do what the assignment says. 

Great job though, keep it up!

lunes, 2 de febrero de 2009

Outsourcing=),

Outsourcing has been talked about alot recently. Some look to outsourcing as the savior of their company; others see outsourcing as an evil-job-killing tactic of management. Before you start to evaluate if an outsourcing strategy is right for your company, you need to understand what it is and what it is not.
Outsourcing is any task, operation, job or process that could be performed by employees within your company, but is instead contracted to a third party for a significant period of time. Hiring a temporary employee while your secretary is on maternity leave is not outsourcing. In addition, the functions that are performed by the third party can be performed on-site or off-site.
The most common model of outsourcing that is in the news today refers to jobs that are being sent over seas to countries like India or China. This is more commonly called offshoring. Examples include telephone call centers, tech-support and computer programming. More common examples that are not going overseas are janitorial services, after hours answering services and security services.
Why outsourcing
There are many reasons why a company may choose to outsource a particular function of their business. Most managers have the end-result-in-mind that they are going to save time and/or money. Other reasons include:
Resource ShortageA particularly strong reason to outsource involves a shortage of a critical resource. This can be available employees that possess knowledge in a certain area (e.g. engineers), availability of material (e.g. petroleum or minerals) and a labor force at a level and price that will offset the cost of higher prices alternatives.
Ability to Concentrate On the Core BusinessSome necessary, but peripheral operations are outsourced most frequently. This gives the managers the ability to concentrate on the core business issues instead of getting distracted by required, yet minor matters. A good example is a major hospital in our area that outsources its security operations to a third party company specializing in security.
Cost savingsThe prices of labor and/or materials keep increasing and competition keeps forcing prices lower. If there is an outsourcing solution that can save your company money and overcomes the disadvantages of outsourcing, these areas should be investigated.
FlexibilitySeasonal or cyclical demands that ebb-and-flow put varying demands on the resources of the company. An outsourcing contract could provide the flexibility needed to stabilize these varying demands. Example: A business brings in extra accountants during tax season and when being audited by the holding company that owns the business.
Reduce Overhead CostsSome functions require a large outlay of money just to get started. This expenditure could be avoided by contracting with a third party. For example, expanding your call center’s capacity to the point where it exceeds the capabilities of your telephone system.
Common Outsourced Areas
Although many areas and functions are outsourced, here are some of the frequently outsourced areas:
· Information Technology Functions
· Network and Telecommunications
· Human Resources and Insurance Administration
· Accounting
Marketing
Security

http://operationstech.about.com/od/costsavingstrategies/a/OutSrcDefine.htm

In my point of view outsourcing is good because is a way that other companies of other countries (advance countries ) give us job and it can look like that they take advantage because they do this in countries that need works or poors etc.

OUTSOURCING

OUTSOURCING

Outsourcing means that two companies associate in order to provide better services of jobs that are usually made in separate ways. So it saves money, it is like having a double function instead of just one, many things can be done in the same company.

To outsource, companies have to follow these four steps:
1-. Strategic thinking: to develop the organization's philosophy about the role of outsourcing in its activities.
2-. Evaluation and selection: to decide on the appropriate outsourcing projects and potential locations for the work to be done and service providers to do it.
3-. Contract development: to work out the legal, pricing and service level agreement (SLA) terms; and
4-. Outsourcing management or governance: to improve the relationship between the client and the outsourcing service providers.


The success of outsourcing depends on executive-level support in the client organization for the outsourcing mission, ample communication to affected employees and the client's ability to manage its service providers.

Many companies do this because it saves money, but they don't provide benefits to their workers so I don't think that is good or fair to the employees. It is really convenient for companies that are in the middle of a crisis or having problems.







Outsourcing (Article)

So, what is outsourcing? Outsourcing is contracting with another company or person to do a particular function. Almost every organization outsources in some way. Typically, the function being outsourced is considered non-core to the business. An insurance company, for example, might outsource its janitorial and landscaping operations to firms that specialize in those types of work since they are not related to insurance or strategic to the business. The outside firms that are providing the outsourcing services are third-party providers, or as they are more commonly called, service providers.

Although outsourcing has been around as long as work specialization has existed, in recent history, companies began employing the outsourcing model to carry out narrow functions, such as payroll, billing and data entry. Those processes could be done more efficiently, and therefore more cost-effectively, by other companies with specialized tools and facilities and specially trained personnel.

Currently, outsourcing takes many forms. Organizations still hire service providers to handle distinct business processes, such as benefits management. But some organizations outsource whole operations. The most common forms are information technology outsourcing (ITO) and business process outsourcing (BPO).

Business process outsourcing encompasses call center outsourcing, human resources outsourcing (HRO), finance and accounting outsourcing, and claims processing outsourcing. These outsourcing deals involve multi-year contracts that can run into hundreds of millions of dollars. Frequently, the people performing the work internally for the client firm are transferred and become employees for the service provider. Dominant outsourcing service providers in the information technology outsourcing and business process outsourcing fields include IBM, EDS, CSC, HP, ACS, Accenture and Capgemini.

Some nimble companies that are short on time and money, such as start-up software publishers, apply multisourcing -- using both internal and service provider staff -- in order to speed up the time to launch. They hire a multitude of outsourcing service providers to handle almost all aspects of a new project, from product design, to software coding, to testing, to localization, and even to marketing and sales.

The process of outsourcing generally encompasses four stages: 1) strategic thinking, to develop the organization's philosophy about the role of outsourcing in its activities; 2) evaluation and selection, to decide on the appropriate outsourcing projects and potential locations for the work to be done and service providers to do it; 3) contract development, to work out the legal, pricing and service level agreement (SLA) terms; and 4) outsourcing management or governance, to refine the ongoing working relationship between the client and outsourcing service providers.

In all cases, outsourcing success depends on three factors: executive-level support in the client organization for the outsourcing mission; ample communication to affected employees; and the client's ability to manage its service providers. The outsourcing professionals in charge of the work on both the client and provider sides need a combination of skills in such areas as negotiation, communication, project management, the ability to understand the terms and conditions of the contracts and service level agreements (SLAs), and, above all, the willingness to be flexible as business needs change.

The challenges of outsourcing become especially acute when the work is being done in a different country (offshored), since that involves language, cultural and time zone differences.



















domingo, 1 de febrero de 2009

Outsourcing:),

Outsourcing i think is when different countries extend in other states or elsewhere, but i think in mexico its not good because the other countries have more technology and, more things better than mexico. I was reading about outsoucring in mexico, and i found this article more detailed.

Article
Outsourcing has come to imply manufacturing in Asia. But closer to home, outsourced manufacturing is also booming in Mexico. Mexico has long been a location for large-item manufacturing. Automotive and large appliance manufacturers have utilized Mexico plants for decades. In recent years, however, the electronics industry has placed more emphasis on Mexico. Our southern neighbor is close, the Mexican time zones roughly match the United States business day, and there is a growing pool of skilled Mexican engineers to support manufacturing. For high volume, low mix products, Asia is still the first choice for outsourcing. Typically Mexico gets manufacturing projects that include small production runs, big product runs or new products. Microsoft’s Xbox, for instance, was manufactured initially in Mexico before it was shipped to Asia for high-volume production. “Mexico has not gotten into high volume production,” says Beth Ely, SVP of new channel development at Avnet Inc. in Phoenix. “Traditionally, Mexico has produced low volume, high mix products and new product introductions.” Outsourcing in Mexico comes in a couple distinct flavors. The border has long been home to twin plants – or maquiladora plants – that are owned by OEMs. The electronic manufacturing services (EMS) providers tend to congregate around Guadalajara, which has become a growing territory for electronics outsourcing. “Guadalajara is the manufacturing hub for top-tier EMS companies,” says Ely. “That’s the fastest growing area for manufacturing. The border areas have the OEM-owned twin plants and lower-tier EMS companies.” Avnet supplies global EMS companies and North American OEMs that are producing products in Mexico. The distributor also supplies indigenous OEMs that tend to congregate along the border. “We support indigenous Mexican manufacturers along the board as well as EMS providers in Guadalajara,” says Ely. “Much of the product for the border plants comes from our Arizona warehouse, but we also have branches along the border to support Mexican manufacturers.” Avnet also maintains a large warehouse in the Guadalajara area that is designed to serve EMS providers. Proximity to the United States matters Because of its closeness to the United States, Mexico has been a preferred outsourcing location for big products such as autos and big-box appliances. “Automotive has always been big in Mexico, as well a refrigerators and washers because the logistic costs of shipping those items over the ocean is ridiculous,” says Eric Miscoll, senior consultant and COO of Technology Forecasters Inc. in Alameda, Calif. Mexico is also a likely spot to produce new products, since it’s easier for company personnel to pop down to Mexico than it is to travel to Asia. “If the company has just recently started outsourcing, or they have a new product, they will often take it to Mexico because of the proximity,” says Avnet’s Ely. “In Mexico they can be more hands-on and keep it closer to home. Because of that, you see a lot of industrial manufacturing but not much consumer high volume production.” Mexico is handy for outsourcing also because it is roughly in the same time zone as the United States. One of the biggest complaints about outsourcing to Asia is the time difference between North America and Asia. One distribution executive says he doesn’t even give out his business card when traveling to Asia any longer because the late night calls are disruptive. Plus, it helps to be close if there are production problems. “Even Asian companies are now setting up shop in Mexico so they can more effectively serve U.S. customers,” says Miscoll of Technology Forecasters. Another recent development in Mexico that has lured outsourced manufacturing, is the country’s emerging engineering talent. “We’ve seen an increase in the use of engineers in Mexico because the labor rate is low” says Miscoll. “Mexico is doing more design because their engineers are very competent. So it isn’t just cost that’s attractive, it’s also the quality.” Miscoll attributes the quality engineering to the technical universities Mexico has produced in recent years. Avnet’s Ely notes a distinct improvement in Mexican engineering in recent years. “Over the past 10 years, a middle class has evolved in Mexico, and that middle class puts a high emphasis on education as a way to move up the economic ladder,” says Ely. “So a lot of people are coming out of Mexican engineering schools.” She notes that most of the engineering work tends to support manufacturing and industrial production. But she notes there has also been a recent trend toward design engineering. “The design engineering is relatively new, but design centers are getting set up,” says Ely. “That’s part of Mexico’s maturing workforce.”

http://www.sourceesb.com/configurable/article20060517.html

Outsourcing =)

Here is a summary of the article I found and below is the original article.

Outsourcing is contracting with another company or person to do a particular function. Almost every organization outsources in some way; although it has been existing as long as work specialization. In recent history, companies began employing the outsourcing model to carry out narrow functions, such as payroll, billing and data entry; now, outsourcing takes many forms. Organizations still hire service providers to handle distinct business processes, but some, outsource whole operations. The most common forms are information technology outsourcing (ITO) and business process outsourcing (BPO). BPO encompasses call center outsourcing, human resources outsourcing, finance and accounting outsourcing, and claims processing outsourcing. These outsourcing deals occupy multi-year contracts that can run into hundreds of millions of dollars.
Some quick companies that are short on time and money apply multisourcing in order to speed up the time to launch. They hire a multitude of outsourcing service providers to handle almost all aspects of a new project, from product design, to software coding, to testing, to localization, and even to marketing and sales.
The process of outsourcing generally encompasses four stages:
1) Strategic thinking, to develop the organization's philosophy about the role of outsourcing in its activities.
2) Evaluation and selection, to decide on the appropriate outsourcing projects and potential locations for the work to be done and service providers to do it.
3) Contract development, to work out the legal, pricing and service level agreement terms.
4) Outsourcing management or governance, to refine the ongoing working relationship between the client and outsourcing service providers.
Outsourcing success depends on three factors: executive-level support in the client organization for the outsourcing mission; ample communication to affected employees; and the client's ability to manage its service providers.
The challenges of outsourcing become especially acute when the work is being done in a different country, since that involves language, cultural and time zone differences.

Article.

Outsourcing is contracting with another company or person to do a particular function. Almost every organization outsources in some way. Typically, the function being outsourced is considered non-core to the business. An insurance company, for example, might outsource its janitorial and landscaping operations to firms that specialize in those types of work since they are not related to insurance or strategic to the business. The outside firms that are providing the outsourcing services are third-party providers, or as they are more commonly called, service providers.
Although outsourcing has been around as long as work specialization has existed, in recent history, companies began employing the outsourcing model to carry out narrow functions, such as payroll, billing and data entry. Those processes could be done more efficiently, and therefore more cost-effectively, by other companies with specialized tools and facilities and specially trained personnel.
Currently, outsourcing takes many forms. Organizations still hire service providers to handle distinct business processes, such as benefits management. But some organizations outsource whole operations. The most common forms are information technology outsourcing (ITO) and business process outsourcing (BPO).
Business process outsourcing encompasses call center outsourcing, human resources outsourcing (HRO), finance and accounting outsourcing, and claims processing outsourcing. These outsourcing deals involve multi-year contracts that can run into hundreds of millions of dollars. Frequently, the people performing the work internally for the client firm are transferred and become employees for the service provider. Dominant outsourcing service providers in the information technology outsourcing and business process outsourcing fields include IBM, EDS, CSC, HP, ACS, Accenture and Capgemini.
Some nimble companies that are short on time and money, such as start-up software publishers, apply multisourcing -- using both internal and service provider staff -- in order to speed up the time to launch. They hire a multitude of outsourcing service providers to handle almost all aspects of a new project, from product design, to software coding, to testing, to localization, and even to marketing and sales.
The process of outsourcing generally encompasses four stages: 1) strategic thinking, to develop the organization's philosophy about the role of outsourcing in its activities; 2) evaluation and selection, to decide on the appropriate outsourcing projects and potential locations for the work to be done and service providers to do it; 3) contract development, to work out the legal, pricing and service level agreement (SLA) terms; and 4) outsourcing management or governance, to refine the ongoing working relationship between the client and outsourcing service providers.
In all cases, outsourcing success depends on three factors: executive-level support in the client organization for the outsourcing mission; ample communication to affected employees; and the client's ability to manage its service providers. The outsourcing professionals in charge of the work on both the client and provider sides need a combination of skills in such areas as negotiation, communication, project management, the ability to understand the terms and conditions of the contracts and service level agreements (SLAs), and, above all, the willingness to be flexible as business needs change.
The challenges of outsourcing become especially acute when the work is being done in a different country (offshored), since that involves language, cultural and time zone differences.

http://www.sourcingmag.com/content/what_is_outsourcing.asp
OUTSOURCING...=)
by Karina Limon


Outsourcing can be defined as passing of service provision or production to another internal or external party. The main reason of outsourcing is to reduce capital expenditure over a business process and its advantages go on and on like, management gets more time to concentrate over more competencies. This also reduces the dependency upon internal resources and increases the flexibility to meet the changing business and commercial conditions.

But outsourcing is not about rainbows and treasures. Of course, it has it disadvanges and I want to focus on them. Why is outsourcing not really a good idea? Well...

It tends to loose the managerial control. This happens because it is harder to manage the outsourcing service provider as compare to managing one's own employees. Also because we generally tend to skip (or miss to calculate) the potential hidden costs of outsourcing which includes legal costs of putting together a contract between companies and time spent on coordinating the contracts, we feel that outsourcing reduces the overall expenditure of a business process, one of the major reasons why a company goes for outsourcing. This hidden and missed out costs of outsourcing is hard to predict causing overall costs to be underestimated.

Another disadvantage is that outsourcing can also prove to be a threat to the security and confidentiality of issues of a company. If your company is outsourcing business process such as payroll, confidential information such as salary will be known to the outsourcing service provider. Therefore one must be very careful in choosing which business process to outsource and which one not.

http://www.softwareprojects.org/disadvantages-outsourcing.htm

Outsourcing..

I was reading about outsourcing until I found this article which talks about India, It states some advantages that India has in outsourcing. It says that in India is cheaper WAY cheaper, it has high quality services, it has organizations that wish to work ALL year, a stable government, etc. Here I list the complete facts for you to read and undestard better.
Today, outsourcing has almost become the order of the day. So why are global organizations choosing outsourcing? More and more global companies are choosing to outsource today for a number of reasons, such as, cost-effective services, increased efficiency, increased productivity, shared risks, reduced operating costs, increased quality, better services and more time to focus on core competencies. These are just a few of the reasons why organizations are outsourcing today. But why outsource to India and why do companies outsource to India. India is the most ideal place to outsource to, because India offers several advantages.

India has been a pioneer in providing outsourcing solutions and has been providing a range of outsourcing services to countries across the globe. Today, India can be called as the world’s outsourcing hub. Outsourcing to India can help your organization benefit from cost-effective services, high-quality services, reduced operating costs, greater flexibility and faster-time-to-market amongst others. These are just a few reasons why companies outsource to India. Another reason why outsourcing to India makes good business sense is because India has high-end technology and best-of-breed infrastructure. India has now become the world’s most preferred outsourcing location. India is also the global hub for software enabled services and software development.
Outsourcing to India can give your organization a competitive edge. The following are a list of reasons why companies outsource to India.
1. Cost-effective services
The numero uno reason why global organizations outsource to India is because India offers cost-effective services. Outsourcing to India can help you save more than half of your operating costs! India has a large, educated, trained and technically skilled manpower and this number only keeps growing every year. Unlike the west, where technical talent is rare, India has a large pool of highly-skilled professionals. Having a large technically skilled manpower has enabled India to provide cost-effective services without compromising on quality. Outsourcing to India, can help you save on your operating costs, while increasing your productivity, quality and efficiency.
2. High-quality services
India uses the latest in software, technology and infrastructure to provide global customers with high-quality outsourcing solutions. India has proved that it is technically superior when compared to other countries that provide outsourcing solutions. So, when you outsource your work to India, you can be assured that the best technology and software would be used for your services. India has the largest English-speaking audience after the U.S. India also has a highly educated manpower that is talented, educated, experienced, technically-skilled and computer literate. Outsource to India and be assured of high-quality services.
3. Time Zone Advantages
The time zone advantages between India and countries in the U.S and U.K has proved to be another important factor why companies outsource to India. Organizations who wish to provide their customer with 24x7x365 days customer support or helpdesk services can outsource to India.
4. India’s stable government
India has celebrated more than 60 years of democracy and has one of the world’s most stable governments. Building up the IT sector has been a top priority for the Indian government. India has a ministry of information technology that quickly approves the implementation of IT projects and streamlines regulatory processes. The Indian government has even released a bill termed as the “IT act 2000” India has been rated to have the most excellent investment potential in the coming years. The Indian government has given complete support to the IT and ITES industry in India. With ample support from the government, Indians have been able to build high-tech IT parks which has the best in technology and infrastructure. The Indian government has even permitted 100% foreign equity. India’s fast growing economy has been yet another reason why companies are outsourcing to India.
5. The Indian Advantage
Cost-effective services are one of the primary advantages that India offers, but it is not the only advantage of outsourcing to India. Outsourcing to India can give you access to professional and skilled outsourcing solutions within a fast turnaround time. By outsourcing to India, your organization can concentrate on core business activities and save on time, effort, manpower and infrastructure. More than 20 Indian software companies have achieved the prestigious SEI-CMM level. India also has the highest number of ISO-9000 software organizations. Outsource to India and give your organization a competitive advantage.
6. Global organizations’ most preferred choice
India has been the most preferred choice among global organization when it comes to outsourcing. In the U.S alone, more than 80% have ranked India as their first choice, when outsourcing software and IT services. The U.S has also recognized India as an outsourcing superpower. The number of organizations outsourcing services to India has only been increasing over the years. This is reason enough to outsource to India.

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