Saturday, September 27, 2008

Inflation the un-flattener...

Thomas Friedman said that 'The world is Flat' . He explained the ten flatteners in his book. One of the ten flatteners being the Outsourcing and offshoring. The prime motive that aided the growth of outsourcing and offshoring is cost cutting. The outsourcing has caused backlash in USA. Benefits of outsourcing are so strong that media rating agency Nielsen forgo the tax breaks provided by Florida state government.

Inflation - the Un-flattener...
The reason for cost difference is mainly because of the availability of cheap labor in countries like India, Philippines, Mexico, China etc. India is known to outsourcing destination. Inflation has increased the cost of living around the world. This increase in cost has narrowed the cost difference between US and outsourcing destinations.

The other day i read an article on how inflation has changed the business dynamics of furniture business-owner. He used to purchase raw material in one country and have it shipped to a different country, where the product is manufactured and shipped to United States. Of late, because of inflation the difference of the cost for producing it in United States and else where in the world. He now started producing it in United States.

Also, some of the major banks in Europe who outsourced their IT work to India and other countries are now toying with the idea of having work transferred to Europe. Is the world un-flattening?

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