This page will contain discussion groups about outsourcing, as they become available.

Outsourcing

Outsourcing (or contracting out) is often defined as the delegation of non-core operations or jobs from internal production within a business to an external entity (such as a subcontractor) that specializes in that operation. Outsourcing is a business decision that is often made to lower costs or focus on core competences. A related term, offshoring, means transferring work to another country, typically overseas. Offshoring is similar to outsourcing when companies hire overseas subcontractors, but differs when companies transfer work to the same company in another country. Outsourcing became a popular buzzword in business and management in the 1990s. EDS was the first company to establish the outsourcing business.

Overview

Outsourcing is defined as the management and/or day-to-day execution of an entire business function by a third party service provider.

Outsourcing and/or out-tasking involve transferring a significant amount of management control to the supplier. Buying products from another entity is not outsourcing or out-tasking, but merely a vendor relationship. Likewise, buying services from a provider is not necessarily outsourcing or out-tasking. Outsourcing always involves a considerable degree of two-way information exchange, co-ordination, and trust.

Organizations that deliver such services feel that outsourcing requires the turning over of management responsibility for running a segment of business. In theory, this business segment should not be mission-critical, but practice often dictates otherwise. Many companies look to employ expert organizations in the areas targeted for outsourcing. Business segments typically outsourced include Information Technology, Human Resources, Facilities and Real Estate Management and Accounting. Many companies also outsource customer support and call center functions, manufacturing and engineering. Outsourcing business is characterized by expertise not inherent to the core of the client organization.

The overhead costs of customer service are typically less where outsourcing has been used, leading to many companies, from utilities to manufacturers, closing their in-house customer relations departments and outsourcing their customer service to third party call centers. The logical extension of these decisions was of outsourcing labor overseas to countries with lower labor costs, this trend is often referred to as offshoring of customer service.

Due to this demand call centers have sprung up in Canada, China, Eastern Europe, India, Israel, Ireland, Pakistan, Philippines and even the Caribbean. Many companies, most notably Dell and AT&T Wireless, have gained significant negative publicity for their decisions to use non-US labor for customer service and technical support; one of the most prominent complaints being the expectation that the replacement staff will have more trouble communicating with customers.

A related term is out-tasking: turning over a narrowly-defined segment of business to another business, typically on an annual contract, or sometimes a shorter one. This usually involves continued direct or indirect management and decision-making by the client of the out-tasking business.

The term "outsourcing" became more well known largely because of a growth in the number of high-tech companies in the early 1990s that were often not large enough to be able to easily maintain large customer service departments of their own. In some cases these companies hired technical writers to simplify the usage instructions of their products, index the key points of information and contracted with temporary employment agencies to find, train and hire generally low-skilled workers to answer their telephone technical support and customer service calls. These agents generally worked in call centers where the information needed to assist the calling customer was indexed in a computer system. The agents were often not able to tell the customer they did not actually directly work for the original manufacturer. In some cases, the agents are not allowed to even give out their real name.

Outsourcing, Offshoring, and Offshore Outsourcing

Note that “outsourcing”, “offshore outsourcing” and “offshoring” are used interchangeably in public discourse despite important technical differences. To be consistent, “outsourcing”, in corporate context, represents an organizational practice that involves the transfer of an organizational function to a third party. When this third party is located in another country the term “offshore outsourcing” makes more sense. “Offshoring”, in contrast, represents the transfer of an organizational function to another country, regardless of whether the work stays in the corporation or not. In short, “outsourcing” means sharing organizational control with another organization, or a process of establishing network relations within an organizational field. "Offshoring”, on the other hand, represents a relocation of an organizational function to a foreign country, not necessarily a transformation of internal organizational control.

Arguments for Outsourcing

A recent poll of economists by the Wall Street Journal found that only 16 % of them saw outsourcing as having a significant impact on the overall job picture. [1]

One criticism of outsourcing is that product quality suffers. But the outsourcing firm has freedom to move a firm department or division back home if its profits are suffering as a result of poor quality. In fact, many American companies like Dell have moved customer service divisions back to America as a result of poor quality [2]. The decision to outsource is like any other business investment decision in that there is risk. Critics of outsourcing often talk about outsourcing failures without mentioning instances of outsourcing success. The decision to outsource is like the decision to expand a business overseas, to incorporate computer technology, or to hire new workers. If the company does it correctly, it benefits from higher profits. Proponents of outsourcing believe that arguing that outsourcing leads to lower product quality is pointless because if it were true, consumer demand will force firms to shift back to producing the good or service in-firm rather than out-firm. That many large businesses outsource and continue to outsource suggests that in many cases outsourcing is successful in that it increases product quality, lowers costs substantially, or both.

Some economists have argued that outsourcing is a form of technological innovation analogous to machines on a car assembly line. American Motor Company Ford relied heavily on workers in the past to assemble car parts. Today these workers are replaced by machines because they are cheaper in the long run, produce better quality products, or a combination of both (the firm is trying to increase its quality to cost ratio, quality being defined by the consumer and inferred from revenue). Economists argue that machines on the car assembly line must have a higher quality to cost ratio than workers because, if they didn’t, there would be no incentive for the firm to replace workers with machines. Although workers’ jobs were lost from this replacement of workers with machines, the Ford Motor Company made more money by lowering costs (or increasing quality, thereby increasing revenue). Some argue that greater profits to the labor owners lead to higher consumption, which leads to further job creation, allowing those who lost jobs to gain jobs in other sectors of the economy. However, economists do concede that labor is not always perfectly mobile and that some workers may have difficulty getting new jobs. Some economists suggest that government training programs be provided.

A firm's motivation for replacing workers with machines is identical to the motivation for outsourcing, i.e. the firm is trying to maximize the quality of its product given cost (its productivity). Because outsourcing allows for lower costs, even if quality reduces slightly or not at all, productivity increases, which benefits the economy on aggregate.

Economist Thomas Sowell from the University of Chicago said “anything that increases economic efficiency--whether by outsourcing or a hundred other things--is likely to cost somebody's job. The automobile cost the jobs of people who took care of horses or made saddles, carriages, and horseshoes.” [1] Walter Williams, another economist, said “we could probably think of hundreds of jobs that either don't exist or exist in far fewer numbers than in the past--jobs such as elevator operator, TV repairman and coal deliveryman. ‘Creative destruction’ is a discovery process where we find ways to produce goods and services more cheaply. That in turn makes us all richer.” [2]

Professor Drezner reports that for every dollar spent on outsourcing to India, the United States reaps between $1.12 and $1.14 in benefits. [3] Drezner also points out that large software companies such as Microsoft and Oracle have increased outsourcing and used the savings for investment and larger domestic payrolls. Nationally, 70,000 computer programmers lost their jobs between 1999 and 2003, but more than 115,000 computer software engineers found higher-paying jobs during that same period. [3]

Advocates of outsourcing also claim that outsourcing-related fraud is insignificant, averring that such malpractices can occur in any country. For example, 40 million credit card numbers were stolen in June 2005 at CardSystems Solutions in Tucson, Arizona. (See the full story.). In December 2005, nearly 50 people were indicted in connection with a scheme that bilked at least $200,000 from Katrina relief fund at Red Cross claim center in Bakersfield, Calif., which handled calls from storm victims.

Criticisms of Outsourcing

Because "outsourced" workers are not actually paid agents of the company, it has been argued that there is less incentive for the agent to show loyalty or work ethic in its representation of said company. It has been therefore argued that quality levels of customer service and technical support of outsourced tasks are lower than where they have remained 'in-house'.

The 2004 US presidential election race focused on outsourcing to some degree. This debate did not center on problems of declining quality of customer services but on the threat to US jobs and work. Criticism of outsourcing, from the perspective of US citizens, by-and-large, revolves around the costs associated with transferring control of the labor process to an external entity in another country. A Zogby International poll reports that 71% of American voters believe that “outsourcing jobs overseas” hurts the economy and another 62% believe that the US government should impose some legislative action against companies that transfer domestic jobs overseas, possibly in the form of increased taxes on companies that outsource. The poll of over 1,000 Americans was conducted in August 2004 (See Zogby International survey results online at zogby.com).

Outsourcing appears to threaten the livelihood of domestic workers and the American Dream. This is especially true for high-tech workers who were promised the “jobs of tomorrow”- a phrase Bill Clinton iterated in 1994 to justify his conservative position on NAFTA. Outsourcing appears to work contrary to the claim that “free trade” will create the “jobs of tomorrow” in America when high-tech or high paying white collar jobs are transferred to or created in foreign countries. Thus, outsourcing is criticized as it represents a new threat to labor, contributing to rampant worker insecurity, and reflective of the general process of globalization where the United States government fails to mediate business-labor relations in a way conducive to prevailing values that places the American middle class worker as a central priority.

Criticism of outsourcing from the public and media sometimes tend to concentrate on lackluster customer service and technical support being provided by either local workers who are not actually employees of the company, or by overseas workers attempting to communicate with Americans in broken or incomprehensible English. Defenders of outsourcing say if this were true, then companies would experience market forces compelling them to return service and support handling back from the outsourced company. However, service and support are often not considered by customers as part of their original purchases. Customers only experience outsourced service and support after they have spent their money since sales is generally done in-house by the original company. Dealing with lackluster outsourced service is a negative surprise after the money is already spent.

Policy solutions to outsourcing are also criticized. One solution often offered is retraining of domestic workers to new jobs. However, some of these workers are already highly educated and already possess a bachelor's and master's degree. Retraining to their current level in another field may not be an option due to years of study and cost of education involved. There is also little incentive given that the jobs in their new field could also be outsourced as well. Proportions of workers trained for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields fields in developing nations are viewed to outstrip traditional technology leaders such as the U.S. With these traditionally "safe" jobs perceived to be endangered, this raises questions regarding whether origin countries can maintain any comparative advantage given the losses in both low and high-value jobs.

There are also security issues concerning companies giving outside access to sensitive customer information. In April of 2005, a high-profile case involving the theft of $350,000 from four Citibank customers occurred when Indian call center workers in Pune, India, acquired the passwords to customer accounts and transferred the money to their own accounts opened under fictitious names. Citibank did not find out about the problem until the American customers noticed discrepancies with their accounts and notified the bank. (See the full report.)

Outright fraud is also a concern. In 2005, Intel discovered and fired 250 Indian employees after they faked their expense reports. The firings followed from Intel's internal Business Practice Excellence programme of expenses claims. The report concluded that fraudulent practises such as "faking bills to claim your allowances like conveyance [and] drivers’ salaries" were some common malpractices in India. Intel would not put up with such fraud. NASSCOM, which is a forum of IT and ITeS companies, has attempted to address these fraud concerns in India by creating the National Skills Registry. That database contains personal and work-related information, enabling employers to verify a staff member's credentials and allowing police to track the background of workers.

Democratic U.S. presidential candidate John Kerry blasted firms that outsource jobs abroad or that incorporate overseas in tax havens to avoid paying their fair share of US taxes during his unsuccessful 2004 campaign, calling such firms "Benedict Arnold corporations," in reference to the infamous traitor Benedict Arnold.

It is argued a malicious implementation of the Higher Education Role Analysis (HERA) in the UK may force Higher Education administrative and support staff to prematurely retire or seek for new employment in other organisations, thus freeing of staff many departments which could then be effectively outsourced. Outsourcing departments like Accounts, Payroll and Procurement is now common practice, as seen in August 2005 at the University of Portsmouth.

Notes

  1. ^  This view is borne out by a recent study by Richard Freeman at the National Bureau of Economic Research in Washington. He found that in the year 2000, 17 % of university bachelor degrees in the U.S. were in science and engineering compared with a world average of 27 % and 52 % in China. Universities in the European Union granted 40 % more science and engineering doctorates than the United States, with that figure expected to reach nearly 100 % by about 2010 according to Freeman's paper.
  2. 1. ^  “Outsourcing” and “Saving Jobs” by Thomas Sowell
  3. 2. ^  Should we “Save Jobs”? by Walter Williams
  4. 3. ^  "Outsourcing is the Kool" (kOOL PEOPLE)

Literature

Mark Kobayashi-Hillary. 2004. (2nd ed 2005) Outsourcing to India. ISBN 354023943X.


This page about outsourcing includes information from a Wikipedia article.
Additional articles about outsourcing
News stories about outsourcing
External links for outsourcing
Videos for outsourcing
Wikis about outsourcing
Discussion Groups about outsourcing
Blogs about outsourcing
Images of outsourcing

(2nd ed 2005) Outsourcing to India. ISBN 354023943X. information not available yet
. 2004. information not available yet
. Mark Kobayashi-Hillary. information not available yet
. Outsourcing departments like Accounts, Payroll and Procurement is now common practice, as seen in August 2005 at the University of Portsmouth.
.

It is argued a malicious implementation of the Higher Education Role Analysis (HERA) in the UK may force Higher Education administrative and support staff to prematurely retire or seek for new employment in other organisations, thus freeing of staff many departments which could then be effectively outsourced.
. presidential candidate John Kerry blasted firms that outsource jobs abroad or that incorporate overseas in tax havens to avoid paying their fair share of US taxes during his unsuccessful 2004 campaign, calling such firms "Benedict Arnold corporations," in reference to the infamous traitor Benedict Arnold.
. Democratic U.S.
. That database contains personal and work-related information, enabling employers to verify a staff member's credentials and allowing police to track the background of workers. source: Greek ministry of Sports http://www.sport.gov.gr the available information is up to 1997.

NASSCOM, which is a forum of IT and ITeS companies, has attempted to address these fraud concerns in India by creating the National Skills Registry. Men Trampolin 1m: 1991, 1992
Men Trampolin 3m: 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1967, 1969, 1992
Men: 1960, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1992
Women Trampolin 3m: 1992, 1993, 1996
Women: 1993, 1997
. Intel would not put up with such fraud. source: Greek ministry of Sports http://www.sport.gov.gr the available information is up to 1997. The report concluded that fraudulent practises such as "faking bills to claim your allowances like conveyance [and] drivers’ salaries" were some common malpractices in India. Men Single: 12
Women Single: 35
Men Double: 10
Women Double: 16
Team Men: 3
Team Women: 12
Men-Women Double: 17
. The firings followed from Intel's internal Business Practice Excellence programme of expenses claims. source: Greek ministry of Sports http://www.sport.gov.gr the available information is up to 1997 except "Finn".

In 2005, Intel discovered and fired 250 Indian employees after they faked their expense reports. Dragon: 1970, 1971, 1972
Laser: 1976
Finn: 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005
Solling: 1980, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1992, 1993
Star: 1986, 1987, 1995
. Outright fraud is also a concern. In 2002, Olympiacos also won the European Super Cup, after beating in the final the European Cup-Winner. (See the full report.). Olympiacos had also played in the final of the previous year, as well as two European Cup finals in the late 90's. Citibank did not find out about the problem until the American customers noticed discrepancies with their accounts and notified the bank. The greatest moment in the club's history was its victory in the 2002 European Champions Cup, after beating Honved in the final.

In April of 2005, a high-profile case involving the theft of $350,000 from four Citibank customers occurred when Indian call center workers in Pune, India, acquired the passwords to customer accounts and transferred the money to their own accounts opened under fictitious names. source: Hellenic Volleyball Federation http://www.volleyball.gr. There are also security issues concerning companies giving outside access to sensitive customer information. Center
. With these traditionally "safe" jobs perceived to be endangered, this raises questions regarding whether origin countries can maintain any comparative advantage given the losses in both low and high-value jobs. Power Forward
. Proportions of workers trained for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields fields in developing nations are viewed to outstrip traditional technology leaders such as the U.S. Small Forward
.

There is also little incentive given that the jobs in their new field could also be outsourced as well. Shooting Guard
. Retraining to their current level in another field may not be an option due to years of study and cost of education involved. Point Guard
. However, some of these workers are already highly educated and already possess a bachelor's and master's degree. source: Hellenic Basketball Federation http://www.basket.gr. One solution often offered is retraining of domestic workers to new jobs.
.

Policy solutions to outsourcing are also criticized. has been voted as the Best Team of the 90s in Europe by FIBA
. Dealing with lackluster outsourced service is a negative surprise after the money is already spent. To conclude with we must say that Olympiacos B.C. Customers only experience outsourced service and support after they have spent their money since sales is generally done in-house by the original company. Its rich history, including a Euroleague title in 1997, will help guide Olympiacos as it tries to overcome a 2004-05 season that was full of roster changes and inconsistency. However, service and support are often not considered by customers as part of their original purchases. Returning to the very elite of European basketball is the goal in 2005-06 for Olympiacos, a proud club coming off one of its most difficult seasons in recent years.

Defenders of outsourcing say if this were true, then companies would experience market forces compelling them to return service and support handling back from the outsourced company. No one should forget that within the last decade, the Reds knew exactly what it took to win it all. Criticism of outsourcing from the public and media sometimes tend to concentrate on lackluster customer service and technical support being provided by either local workers who are not actually employees of the company, or by overseas workers attempting to communicate with Americans in broken or incomprehensible English. But if there is one truth about great, historic teams, they never stay down for long. Thus, outsourcing is criticized as it represents a new threat to labor, contributing to rampant worker insecurity, and reflective of the general process of globalization where the United States government fails to mediate business-labor relations in a way conducive to prevailing values that places the American middle class worker as a central priority. The Reds couldn't reach the Euroleague Top 16 and, despite rallying to make the Greek League playoffs, bowed out in the quarterfinals series. Outsourcing appears to work contrary to the claim that “free trade” will create the “jobs of tomorrow” in America when high-tech or high paying white collar jobs are transferred to or created in foreign countries. In 2004-05, an ever-changing roster made life tough for Olympiacos.

This is especially true for high-tech workers who were promised the “jobs of tomorrow”- a phrase Bill Clinton iterated in 1994 to justify his conservative position on NAFTA. A drought ended in 2001-02 with a Greek Cup victory, while Olympiacos also reached the Greek League finals and came within a victory of the Euroleague Final Four. Outsourcing appears to threaten the livelihood of domestic workers and the American Dream. Although there was a return to the Final Four in 1999, a few years went by before the Reds won another trophy. The poll of over 1,000 Americans was conducted in August 2004 (See Zogby International survey results online at zogby.com). During that game Olympiacos never used a zone defence, although it was played according to European basketball ruling and was defeated naturally by the team of one of the greatest basketball players ever, Michael Jordan (Olympiacos - Chicago Bulls: 78 - 104). A Zogby International poll reports that 71% of American voters believe that “outsourcing jobs overseas” hurts the economy and another 62% believe that the US government should impose some legislative action against companies that transfer domestic jobs overseas, possibly in the form of increased taxes on companies that outsource. Again Olympiacos is the only Greek team in history that played such a much.

Criticism of outsourcing, from the perspective of US citizens, by-and-large, revolves around the costs associated with transferring control of the labor process to an external entity in another country. The same year they played against Chicago Bulls and it was a game between the European Champion and the NBA Champion. This debate did not center on problems of declining quality of customer services but on the threat to US jobs and work. At the Euroleague final, the most valuable player of the game was David Rivers (Olympiacos' playmaker). The 2004 US presidential election race focused on outsourcing to some degree. Olympiacos is the only Greek team to have achieved this and one of the very few in the history of European Basketball. It has been therefore argued that quality levels of customer service and technical support of outsourced tasks are lower than where they have remained 'in-house'. all competitions in which they participated; Greek League, Greek Cup and Euroleague(by beating FC Barcelona 73-58 in Rome.

Because "outsourced" workers are not actually paid agents of the company, it has been argued that there is less incentive for the agent to show loyalty or work ethic in its representation of said company. Dusan Ivkovic came to the bench in 1997, when it was the most successful year in the history of Olympiacos Basketball Club as they won the Triple Crown, i.e. In December 2005, nearly 50 people were indicted in connection with a scheme that bilked at least $200,000 from Katrina relief fund at Red Cross claim center in Bakersfield, Calif., which handled calls from storm victims. It is worth mentioning that in order to advance to the two finals Olympiacos played with archrivalsPanathinaikos and won both games. (See the full story.). Head coach Ioannis Ioannidis led Olympiacos to four consecutive Greek League titles between 1993 and 1996, and to the Euroleague final in 1994 and 1995. For example, 40 million credit card numbers were stolen in June 2005 at CardSystems Solutions in Tucson, Arizona. The middle of that decade belonged to Olympiacos, not only in Greece, but all around the continent.

Advocates of outsourcing also claim that outsourcing-related fraud is insignificant, averring that such malpractices can occur in any country. It would also add seven Greek Cup titles to its trophy case, but it was in the 1990s that the Reds made their biggest mark. [3]. Olympiacos won the first of its nine Greek League titles in 1949. Nationally, 70,000 computer programmers lost their jobs between 1999 and 2003, but more than 115,000 computer software engineers found higher-paying jobs during that same period. source: Hellenic Football Federation http://www.epo.gr. [3] Drezner also points out that large software companies such as Microsoft and Oracle have increased outsourcing and used the savings for investment and larger domestic payrolls.
.

Professor Drezner reports that for every dollar spent on outsourcing to India, the United States reaps between $1.12 and $1.14 in benefits.
. That in turn makes us all richer.” [2]. Their arch-rival Panathinaikos is 12 back after a 3-2 loss to Olympiacos at the home of the Greek leaders. ‘Creative destruction’ is a discovery process where we find ways to produce goods and services more cheaply. Therefore Olympiacos appointed Trond Sollied.
As of January 2006, Olympiacos is first in the Greek league standings by 6 points. The automobile cost the jobs of people who took care of horses or made saddles, carriages, and horseshoes.” [1] Walter Williams, another economist, said “we could probably think of hundreds of jobs that either don't exist or exist in far fewer numbers than in the past--jobs such as elevator operator, TV repairman and coal deliveryman. The end of the season found Olympiacos with both domestic trophies (Championship and the Greek Cup) but without their manager Dusan Bajevic, as he resigned.

Economist Thomas Sowell from the University of Chicago said “anything that increases economic efficiency--whether by outsourcing or a hundred other things--is likely to cost somebody's job. Last season (2004/05) Olympiacos appointed again Dusan Bajevic and transferred World Champion Rivaldo. Because outsourcing allows for lower costs, even if quality reduces slightly or not at all, productivity increases, which benefits the economy on aggregate. In the 2003/04 season, Olympiacos finished second. the firm is trying to maximize the quality of its product given cost (its productivity). Since then Olympiacos won seven consecutive Championships, even after Bajevic left in 1999. A firm's motivation for replacing workers with machines is identical to the motivation for outsourcing, i.e. The same season Kokkalis transferred to the reds all the Greek young talents he could find, such as Predrag Djorgevic, Grigoris Georgatos, Stelios Giannakopoulos, Giorgos Anatolakis, Dimitris Mavrogenidis,Alexis Alexandris,Giorgos Amanatidis,Andreas Niniadis, etc - Most of whom are still members of Olympiacos today.

Some economists suggest that government training programs be provided. In 1996 Kokkalis appointed Dusan Bajevic which was already out of contract with AEK following a class with the management team regarding financial issues and uncertainty. However, economists do concede that labor is not always perfectly mobile and that some workers may have difficulty getting new jobs. Having agreed to a settlement of the club's debts with the Greek government, Kokkalis slowly resurrected the team. Some argue that greater profits to the labor owners lead to higher consumption, which leads to further job creation, allowing those who lost jobs to gain jobs in other sectors of the economy. The situation improved after Sokratis Kokkalis took over Olympiacos's shares in 1993. Although workers’ jobs were lost from this replacement of workers with machines, the Ford Motor Company made more money by lowering costs (or increasing quality, thereby increasing revenue). On the pitch, the team without a serious management team went nine seasons without a league title (1986/87 to 1996/97.

Economists argue that machines on the car assembly line must have a higher quality to cost ratio than workers because, if they didn’t, there would be no incentive for the firm to replace workers with machines. Soon Koskotas was accused of and convicted for embezzlement, leaving Olympiacos deep in debt. Today these workers are replaced by machines because they are cheaper in the long run, produce better quality products, or a combination of both (the firm is trying to increase its quality to cost ratio, quality being defined by the consumer and inferred from revenue). In the mid 80s Olympiakos came into the hands of Greek Businessman George Koskotas. American Motor Company Ford relied heavily on workers in the past to assemble car parts. Olympiacos experienced its darkest days from the mid-1980s until the mid-90s. Some economists have argued that outsourcing is a form of technological innovation analogous to machines on a car assembly line. The highlight for that side was the 1973/74 season, when Olympiacos won the league with record points (59) and of goals (102).

That many large businesses outsource and continue to outsource suggests that in many cases outsourcing is successful in that it increases product quality, lowers costs substantially, or both. He appointed Lakis Petropoulos as coach and signed star players Giorgos Delikaris, Yves Triantafyllos, Julio Losada, Milton Viera and Dimitris Persidis. Proponents of outsourcing believe that arguing that outsourcing leads to lower product quality is pointless because if it were true, consumer demand will force firms to shift back to producing the good or service in-firm rather than out-firm. Another glorious chapter began in 1972, after Nikos Goulandris became president. If the company does it correctly, it benefits from higher profits. In the 60s and the 70s Olympiacos won just 5 Championships and 8 Cups, but even in the lean years, the club remained the team every other Greek side wanted to beat. The decision to outsource is like the decision to expand a business overseas, to incorporate computer technology, or to hire new workers. It is worth mentioning that Olympiacos for several seasons was not allowed to make use of the Karaiskaki Stadium and with permition from Panathinaikos found a temporary home in “Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium”.

Critics of outsourcing often talk about outsourcing failures without mentioning instances of outsourcing success. In fact, with key performers such as Andreas Mouratis, Elias Rossidis, Thanassis Bebis, Elias Yfantis, Kostas Polychroniou, Giorgos Darivas and Savas Theodoridis, Olympiacos won Six consecutive titles from 1953/34 to 1958/59. The decision to outsource is like any other business investment decision in that there is risk. In 1940 Olympiacos had already 6 Championships in 11 seasons and by 1960 he had won 15 Championships in 23 Seasons as well as 9 Cups and 6 Doubles. In fact, many American companies like Dell have moved customer service divisions back to America as a result of poor quality [2]. Olympiacos won the Greek Championship for the first time in that season, and has since become the most winning team in Greece. But the outsourcing firm has freedom to move a firm department or division back home if its profits are suffering as a result of poor quality. From the season 1930/31 (which started in January of 1931) and on, the best teams from the country participated.

One criticism of outsourcing is that product quality suffers. The second Greek Championship took place in 1929/30 only with three teams (the local champions of: Athens, Piraeus and Thessaloniki). [1]. and during that season they played fiendly games with each other. A recent poll of economists by the Wall Street Journal found that only 16 % of them saw outsourcing as having a significant impact on the overall job picture. Panathinaikos and AEK decided to follow Olympiacos and together they formed a group called P.O.K. "Offshoring”, on the other hand, represents a relocation of an organizational function to a foreign country, not necessarily a transformation of internal organizational control. However in that season Olympiacos came to a dispute with the Hellenic Football Federation and did not participate.

In short, “outsourcing” means sharing organizational control with another organization, or a process of establishing network relations within an organizational field. In 1926 the Hellenic Football Federation (EPO) was founded and in 1927 tried to organize the first Greek Championship. “Offshoring”, in contrast, represents the transfer of an organizational function to another country, regardless of whether the work stays in the corporation or not. Olympiacos immediately caught the attention of locals, with the team filling the Piraeus Velodrome (now the Karaiskakis stadium); their fanbase consisted mainly of the working class. When this third party is located in another country the term “offshore outsourcing” makes more sense. "The Legend" after the classic side of the 1930s which won a hatful of titles. To be consistent, “outsourcing”, in corporate context, represents an organizational practice that involves the transfer of an organizational function to a third party. In 10 March, 1925 two older Piraeus clubs, "Piraeus Sports and Football Club" and "Football Fan Club of Piraeus," merged to form a new club, Olympiacos CFP; which would come to be known as "Olympiacos Fan Club of Piraeus" a.k.a.

Note that “outsourcing”, “offshore outsourcing” and “offshoring” are used interchangeably in public discourse despite important technical differences. The club was founded in 1925 in the city of Piraeus, where the team still plays today. In some cases, the agents are not allowed to even give out their real name. . The agents were often not able to tell the customer they did not actually directly work for the original manufacturer.
. These agents generally worked in call centers where the information needed to assist the calling customer was indexed in a computer system. In football, Olympiacos hasn't lost in a Home League game against Panathinaikos since 1995 (02.12.95 with 1-2), that is nearly 11 years unbeaten.

In some cases these companies hired technical writers to simplify the usage instructions of their products, index the key points of information and contracted with temporary employment agencies to find, train and hire generally low-skilled workers to answer their telephone technical support and customer service calls. 28 in the World where Panathinaikos is No.97 and AEK is No.120. The term "outsourcing" became more well known largely because of a growth in the number of high-tech companies in the early 1990s that were often not large enough to be able to easily maintain large customer service departments of their own. Currently, according to the International Federation of Football and Statistics Olympiacos is No. This usually involves continued direct or indirect management and decision-making by the client of the out-tasking business. Running up second on trophies won count is Panathinaikos FC and the third is AEK FC. A related term is out-tasking: turning over a narrowly-defined segment of business to another business, typically on an annual contract, or sometimes a shorter one. With an outstanding 33 national championships in football in 69 seasons, while all the other major Greek clubs (AEK, Panathinaikos, PAOK) having 32 championships combined, no Greek team has been as successful as Olympiacos in this area.

Many companies, most notably Dell and AT&T Wireless, have gained significant negative publicity for their decisions to use non-US labor for customer service and technical support; one of the most prominent complaints being the expectation that the replacement staff will have more trouble communicating with customers. Fans point out as remarkable the fact that Olympiacos is the only Greek sports club to have done the Treple in two different sports. Due to this demand call centers have sprung up in Canada, China, Eastern Europe, India, Israel, Ireland, Pakistan, Philippines and even the Caribbean. Olympiacos has won European and International titles in Football, Basketball, Volleyball, Waterpolo and Athletics. The logical extension of these decisions was of outsourcing labor overseas to countries with lower labor costs, this trend is often referred to as offshoring of customer service. With over 400 officially recognized titles, Olympiacos CFP is one of the biggest multisport clubs in Europe. The overhead costs of customer service are typically less where outsourcing has been used, leading to many companies, from utilities to manufacturers, closing their in-house customer relations departments and outsourcing their customer service to third party call centers. 7 Championships.

Outsourcing business is characterized by expertise not inherent to the core of the client organization. 11 Championships. Many companies also outsource customer support and call center functions, manufacturing and engineering. 16 Championships. Business segments typically outsourced include Information Technology, Human Resources, Facilities and Real Estate Management and Accounting. 1 Championship [1971]. Many companies look to employ expert organizations in the areas targeted for outsourcing. 25 Championships
.

In theory, this business segment should not be mission-critical, but practice often dictates otherwise. 105 Titles
. Organizations that deliver such services feel that outsourcing requires the turning over of management responsibility for running a segment of business. 34 Greek championships (Men)
. Outsourcing always involves a considerable degree of two-way information exchange, co-ordination, and trust. 47 Greek championships - 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1967, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005. Likewise, buying services from a provider is not necessarily outsourcing or out-tasking. 1 European Super Cup 2002.

Buying products from another entity is not outsourcing or out-tasking, but merely a vendor relationship. 1 European Champions League 2002. Outsourcing and/or out-tasking involve transferring a significant amount of management control to the supplier. 1 Treple 2002. Outsourcing is defined as the management and/or day-to-day execution of an entire business function by a third party service provider. 6 Doubles 1992, 1993, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004. . 8 Cups 1992, 1993, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004.

EDS was the first company to establish the outsourcing business. 19 Championships 1933, 1934, 1947, 1949, 1951, 1952, 1969, 1971, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005. Outsourcing became a popular buzzword in business and management in the 1990s. 2 European Cups: 1996, 2005. Offshoring is similar to outsourcing when companies hire overseas subcontractors, but differs when companies transfer work to the same company in another country. 10 Doubles: 1981, 1983, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1998, 1999, 2001. A related term, offshoring, means transferring work to another country, typically overseas. 12 Cups: 1981, 1983, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001.

Outsourcing is a business decision that is often made to lower costs or focus on core competences. 22 Championships: 1968, 1969, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003. Outsourcing (or contracting out) is often defined as the delegation of non-core operations or jobs from internal production within a business to an external entity (such as a subcontractor) that specializes in that operation. Sofoklis SCHORTSANITIS. ^  "Outsourcing is the Kool" (kOOL PEOPLE). 15. 3. Lazaros AGADAKOS.

^  Should we “Save Jobs”? by Walter Williams. 14. 2. Eurelijus ZUKAUSKAS. ^  “Outsourcing” and “Saving Jobs” by Thomas Sowell. 11. 1. Andrija ZIZIC.

Universities in the European Union granted 40 % more science and engineering doctorates than the United States, with that figure expected to reach nearly 100 % by about 2010 according to Freeman's paper. 20. were in science and engineering compared with a world average of 27 % and 52 % in China. Martin RANCIK. He found that in the year 2000, 17 % of university bachelor degrees in the U.S. 07. ^  This view is borne out by a recent study by Richard Freeman at the National Bureau of Economic Research in Washington. George PRINTEZIS.

16. Panayiotis VASILOPOULOS. 13. Nikos BARLOS.

12. Quincy LEWIS. 08. Dimitris KALAITZIDIS.

31. Renaldas SEIBUTIS. 10. Nikos CHATZIS.

09. Christos CHARISIS. 32. Nikos ARGYROPOULOS.

06. Manolis PAPAMAKARIOS. 05. Tyus EDNEY.

04. 4 Doubles 1976, 1978, 1994, 1997. 1 Treple 1997. 1 Euroleague 1997.

7 Cups 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1994, 1997, 2002. 9 Championships 1949, 1960, 1976, 1978, 1993, 1994, 995, 1996, 1997. 1 Balkan Cup 1963. 3 Super Cups 1980*, 1987, 1992.

11 Doubles 1947, 1951, 1954, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1973, 1975, 1981, 1999, 2005. 21 Cups 1947, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1963, 1965, 1968, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1981, 1990, 1992, 1999, 2005. 33 Championships 1931, 1933, 1934, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1947, 1948, 1951, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1966, 1967, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1987, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005. Y: Ilias Yfantis.

T: Savvas Theodoridis, Yves Triantafyllos, Giotis Tsalouchidis, Nikos Tsiantakis. S: George Sideris. R: Ilias Rossidis (played in the mid-20th century). P: Oleg Protasov.

M: Tasos Mitropoulos, Andreas Mouratis. L: Houlio Losanta. K: Christos Kaltsas, Vassilis Karapialis, Kyriakos Karataidis, Christian Karembeu. G: Stelios Giannakopoulos, Nikos Gioutsos, Giovanni Silva de Oliveira, Sinica Gogic, Achilleas Grammatikopoulos (played in the 1940s).

D: Georgios Delikaris, Lajos Détári. B: Thanasis Bebis, Vassilis Botinos. A: Nikos Anastopoulos, Andrianopoulos Brothers(5), Romain Argyroudis (played in the 1970s). Trond Sollied.

Alexandre Joaquim D'Akol (on Loan to Kerkira FC). ??. Haruna Babangida. 40.

Michalis Konstantinou. 23. Dani (Daniel Garcia Lara). 20.

Ioannis Okkas. 09. Marco Ne (from 01.07.06). ??.

Kostas Mendrinos (on Loan to Ionikos FC). ??. Charilaos Pappas (on Loan to Apollon Kalamarias FC). ??.

Nick Salapatas. ??. Anastasios Kyriakos. 77.

Giannoulis Fakinos. 36. Zhora Hovhannisyan. 27.

Erol Bulut. 22. Grigorios Georgatos. 21.

Ioannis Taralidis. 17. Yaya Touré. 15.

Predrag Djorjevic. 11. Rivaldo Vitor Borba Ferreira. 10.

Miloš Marić. 08. Nery Alberto Castillo. 07.

Ieroklis Stoltidis. 06. Pantelis Kafes. 01.

Michal Zewlakow (from 01.07.06). ??. Christos Lisgaras (on Loan to Panachaiki FC). ??.

Giorgos Anatolakis. 32. Anastasios Pantos. 30.

Spyros Vallas. 25. Thanasis Kostoulas. 19.

Dimitrios Mavrogenidis. 14. Gabriel Francisco Peralta Schürrer. 12.

Michalis Kapsis. 05. Stelios Ventetidis. 03.

Christos Patsatzoglou. 02. Panagopoulos. ??.

Giannis Siderakis. 87. Antonios Nikopolidis. 71.

Kleopas Giannou. 34. Erwin Lemmens. 33.

Theodoros Ntougeroglou. 29.

05-25-13 FTPPro Support FTPPro looks and feels just like Windows Explorer Contact FTPPro FTPPro Help Topics FTPPro Terms Of Use ftppro.com/1stzip.php ftppro.com/zip ftppro.com/browse2000.php PAD File Directory Business Search Directory Real Estate Database FunWebsites.org PressArchive.net WebExposure.us Display all your websites in one place HereIam.tv Celebrity Homepages Opinions from HereIam.tv Members Charity Directory Google+ Directory Craigslist Manager