Bibliography by Authors - B  [home]



A| B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z


BAHL, S., 2005. Is Offshoring Demand Sustainable? Everest Research Institute (July).

A study by the Everest Research Institute (an arm of a consulting firm) and Sanford Bernstein in May 2005 indicate that attrition rates are in the 15 to 20% per year range for global service firms in India and up to 60% for BPO firms in India. Wages were 14.5% higher in 2004 than in 2003. To maintain a good supply of workers (at lower wages), many of the Indian suppliers are selecting for their facilities Chennai, Hyderabad, and Pune instead of Bangalore, Delhi, and Mumbai.

BAILY, M.N. AND FARRELL, D. 2004. Exploding the Myths About Offshoring. McKinsey Global Institute (April).

The paper argues that the policy issue is not about free trade or globalization but instead about how the United States should allocate the benefits of global trade. The paper analyzes ways in which offshoring benefits the United States: corporate savings, additional exports, repatriated profits, and productivity and new jobs. The authors consider the projected job loss in the context of the job churn in the dynamic US economy. They then discuss such topics as trade surpluses, the significance of large labor markets in India and China, the impact of offshoring on job loss and the jobless economic recovery in the United States, and challenges for policy makers. Baily is a Senior Fellow at the Institute for International Economics and was chair of President Clinton's Council of Economic Advisors. Farrell is the director of the McKinsey Global Institute.

BAILY, M.N. AND LAWRENCE, R. Z. 2005. Don't Blame Trade for US Job Losses. The McKinsey Quarterly 1.

This article analyzes trade and industry data to determine the impact of offshoring on job dislocation in the manufacturing and service sectors from 2000 to 2003. The authors find that only 11% of the manufacturing jobs lost in this period were lost as a result of trade; falling exports rather than rising imports were responsible. The causes were weak domestic demand, rapid productivity growth, and the dollar's strength, all of which reduced US exports. Counting software and business process jobs together, 274,000 jobs at most moved to India from the United States in the period 2000 - 2003. This is compared to 2.1 million new service jobs created every year in the United States during the 1990s, and 327,000 created per year in the 2000 -2003 period. Total employment in computer-related service jobs dropped only modestly from 1999 to 2003. One big category of recent job losses has been in computer support personnel. Their ranks went up rapidly from 1999 to 2000 before falling off, suggesting a Y2K effect. 2003 employment for computer support personnel is still higher than it was in 1999. The loss of 99,000 computer programmer jobs in the United States, the authors argue, probably was partly as a result of offshoring. In this same period, higher-level computer sector jobs such as software engineers and computer and network systems analysts increased. Baily is a senior fellow at the Institute of International Economics and was chair of President Clinton's Council of Economic Advisors. Lawrence holds a distinguished chair in the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.

BAJPAI, N., SACKS, J.D., ARORA, R. AND KHURANA, H. 2004. Global Services Sourcing: Issues of Cost and Quality. Center on Globalization and Sustainable Development Working Paper 16. Columbia University, New York, NY.

This paper takes on a "then and now" approach where first the pioneers of global sourcing, such as General Electric and Citibank, are discussed. Then survey results are presented from current companies engaged in offshoring. The survey identifies drivers for offshoring, problems encountered during the transition to offshoring, and the overall satisfaction levels.

BAKER, S. 2004. Software: Will Outsourcing Hurt America's Supremacy? Business Week (March) 84.

The article traces the lives of two elite students who are just finishing their computing education at Carnegie Mello and IIT Mumbay and the prospects for their careers. The greatest strength of the article is the personal view that it gives of the meaning of outsourcing to careers in the software profession. The end of the article has information about different software jobs (architects, researchers, consultants, project managers, business analysts, and basic programmers), typical salaries and salary trends for each of these professions in the United States, and predictions about the fate of these occupations in the United States in the future.

BALASUBRAMANIYAN, M. AND GUYER, L. 2004. Face Off: Do Offshoring's Benefits Outweigh Its Drawbacks?" Network World (July 5) 42.

These are pro and con arguments. Balasubramaniyan is a general manager at Wipro Technologies; Guyer is president of Alliance@IBM which is a Communications Workers of America union. Balasubramaniyan makes a predictable argument. There are two notable points in his presentation. (1) In analyzing these issues, it is useful to distinguish between offshoring through vendor partners and in-house offshoring. (2) Most of the reasons for outsourcing are well known, but he puts the call for local markets well: "Offshoring also helps a company be closer to its global customers, thereby providing appropriate offerings to its regional market and ensuring speedier problem resolution. Developers and support personnel in the relevant geographies have a better understanding of customers' needs, regulatory compliances and regional preferences, and can better implement the product or provide the service." Guyer gives three arguments against offshoring. (1) Outsourcing results in lower customer satisfaction - he complains about the language skills of the vendor's employees and gives examples of a lower quality of service in a particular call center. (2)The cost savings of outsourcing are counteracted by even greater productivity losses. (3)There is a high level of offshoring failure -he cites Gartner prediction that one in four offshore projects will fail in 2004.

BALATCHANDIRANE, G. 2004. Development of IT Industry in Bangalore and Hyderabad: IT Clusters and the Impact on the Local Economy. In Development of IT Industries and Regional Innovations in BRICs - The Case of India. Asian Institute for Regional Innovation, South Korea (Nov.).

This useful article describes the development of the IT industries in the two most important Indian centers, Bangalore and Hyderabad. The article provides basic statistical information about the cities, revenue of their IT industries, and employment in the IT sector. In the case of each city, the historical advantages for the formation of the IT sector is considered such as educational institutions, climate that attracts IT workers, public and private sector undertaking that led to a science and technology environment, good public schools, community tolerant of outsiders, government policies such as liberalized foreign exchange and tax incentives, and improved infrastructures. The impact of the IT industry growth on attracting other industries to these cities and raising tax revenues is also discussed.

BALATCHANDIRANE, G. 2004. Education and Training. In Development of IT Industries and Regional Innovations in BRICs - The Case of India. Asian Institute for Regional Innovation, South Korea (Nov.).

This chapter describes the history and current status of education and training for the IT industry in India. The most important historical points concern the early emphasis on postsecondary rather than primary education by the state, and the focus on developing IT education capacity as early as the 1970s. The paper describes the number and kinds of educational institutions providing IT education and the number of graduates annually. The paper also identifies various problems such as the shortage of trained people, the quality of postsecondary education in IT for as many as 70% of the students, and the dwindling number of doctoral students in IT disciplines. There is also a discussion of training programs in English language, business and management, and specific technologies. Various kinds of purveyors of IT training are described.

BARDHAN, A., JAFFEE, D., AND KROLL, C., 2004. Globalization and a High-Tech Economy: California, the United States and Beyond. Springer-Verlag.

Description from Amazon.com. High-technology and globalization are arguably the two most important forces driving the US economy today. This book analyzes how they interact and the implications of that interaction. The methodology applies data and statistical analysis to determine the impact of these forces over a broad spectrum of the US economy. Key topics addressed include why the US economy runs a continuing trade deficit in manufactured high-tech goods, why high-tech firms steadily lose manufacturing jobs while creating professional jobs, and why high-tech industries rely on foreign outsourcing for much of their manufacturing.

BARDHAN, A.D. AND KROLL, C. A.2003. The New Wave of Outsourcing. Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics, University of California, Berkeley, CA.

The "new wave of outsourcing" in this report refers to the offshoring of white-collar jobs in contrast to the earlier wave of offshoring of manufacturing jobs. The authors' purpose was to understand the impact on labor and real estate trends in the United States and in California, in particular. However, in the course of doing so, they provided good insight and useful statistics for understanding the offshoring of software and services. Unlike many of the other studies, they believe that useful lessons can be drawn from the earlier offshoring of manufacturing jobs even though there are clear differences between the two. The authors see the software sector as only the first of a series of white-collar jobs that may be offshored and offer a list of attributes of jobs likely to be offshored. They note the specialization in offshoring specialty by nation. They consider the potential impact on the US economy of white-collar offshoring. Other organization's data is analyzed to give information on employment change in industries at risk to outsourcing (BLS), average salaries of programmers by country (from Merrill Lynch), and yearly graduates with science and engineering degrees by country (NSF). They also consider implications for US jobs as a whole, and then for various regions in the US. They use selected BLS data to consider some of the most at-risk occupations of being outsourced and find Forrester Research's forecast of 3.3 million jobs lost by 2015 as conservative. They expect that major urban areas - Boston, San Jose, and San Francisco - are especially vulnerable. The paper ends by sketching four possible scenarios. (1) Services offshoring has a greater impact on the US than the manufacturing offshoring did overall, diminishing the US's leading role in innovation, leading to prolonged unemployment, then offshored workers being absorbed into lower-paying jobs (or downward adjustment of salaries, making the US more competitive internationally). (2) A backlash against globalization, both worldwide and in the United States, could lead to protectionist measures and regulatory roadblocks; this is inefficient economically, but might lessen the loss of jobs/downscaling of jobs/lowering of wages in United States. (3) The development of domestic outsourcing instead of international outsourcing could occur which would lead to the redistribution of jobs within the United States and might involve shifting of jobs from large employers to smaller firms in support sectors. (4) Retain the most desirable new development at home, while offshoring more routine activities, leading to a continuing stream of new service and manufacturing activities, and hence new jobs and occupations. Low-wage jobs are lost to other countries but are replaced by higher-wage jobs in the new subsectors.

BARFIELD, C.E. AND SAUNDERS, P. 2005. Will Technology Be a Source of Chinese Influence in Asia? American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, Washington, DC. (May).

The presenters were Ernest Preeg of the Manufacturers Alliance and Tai Ming Cheung of the University of California, San Diego. The discussant was Will Martin from The World Bank. Preeg glossed his forthcoming book, The Emerging Chinese Advanced Technology Super State. Topics included export-led industrial strategy, national R&D investment, education policy, foreign direct investment in China, trade trends and policy, Chinese high-tech imports, moving up the value chain in Chinese technological development, the move of Chinese firms from domestic to international players, China as the economic hegemon of East Asia, Chinese military modernization, and US policy responses to China. Cheung focused on China's dual-use technological base (especially aviation, space, shipbuilding, nuclear technology, electronics, and information technology), its significance for producing military technology for internal use and export more quickly, and its implications for Asia. He assessed the dual-use technology as having pockets of excellence but not generally yet up to international standards. He discussed the Chinese government's efforts to bolster innovation through improvement in education and R&D investment. He also discussed the tension between national direction of technology policy by the government and the many pulls of a free marketplace.

BARTEL, A., LACH, S., AND SICHERMAN, N. 2005. Outsourcing and Technological Change. NBER Working Paper No. 11158, National Bureau of Economic Research (Feb.).

Abstract written by authors. In this paper, we argue that an important source of the recent increase in outsourcing is the computer and information technology revolution, characterized by increased rates of technological change. Our model shows that an increase in the pace of technological change increases outsourcing because it allows firms to use services based on leading edge technologies without incurring the sunk costs of adopting these new technologies. In addition, firms using more IT-intensive technologies face lower outsourcing costs of IT-based services generating a positive correlation between the IT level of the user and its outsourcing share of IT-based services. This implication is verified in the data.

BARTSCH, E. 2004. Germany: Offshoring - More a Myth Than a Matter? Morgan Stanley, Global Economic Forum (Aug.). Available at www.morganstanley.com/GEFdata/ digests/20040804-wed.html and www.morganstanley.com/GEFdata/digests/20040805-thu.html

A two-part series that looks at the offshoring in Germany by analyzing academic trends, employment trends with foreign affiliates, and statistics on corporate restructuring. The article concludes by stating that "offshoring is of secondary importance in Germany".

BATCHELOR, B. 2003. Will Wal-Mart last forever? Culture Watch (Dec.).

The author of this opinion piece states that customer dissatisfaction with Wal-Mart might eventually lead to Wal-Mart's demise. The author contends that consumers hate Wal-Mart but shop there only to stretch their budgets, while in contrast consumers rave about Target and Costco. "The notion that Wal-Mart's aggressive expansion has destroyed small-town America is nearly universal. Recently the store has faced censure for paying its employees substandard wages and for hiring illegal aliens. Public outrage could reach a point where shoppers turn away from Wal-Mart and give their business to retailers viewed as more employee -- and consumer - friendly."

BEDNARZ, A. 2004. The Downside of Offshoring. Network World (July 5) 33-35.

The article provides statistics and analysis from several consulting firms and provides some analysis of the downside of offshoring. Topics include satisfaction of US firms with regional and national outsourcing as well as with offshoring; premature termination of offshore contracts and reasons (provider had financial difficulties or failed to deliver on commitments, or the buyer consolidated its outsourcing vendors); unmet cost savings through offshoring; future plans for offshoring; decline in productivity experienced by most IT organizations during the first year of outsourcing; the importance of communication to successful offshoring contracts; and risks associated with offshoring (untested technological vulnerabilities, additional costs for patches and fixes, increased risk because of unauthorized access to business data, and operational instabilities).

BERNSTEIN, J. 2004. The Changing Nature of the Economy. Economic Policy Institute (March 11).

The presenter is a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, DC. He argues in this testimony to the House Committee on Education and Workforce that 1) the short-term labor problem in the United States is not due to a lack of workers with the right skills but instead to a protracted contraction in jobs; 2) outsourcing is a serious threat to white-collar jobs in the United States and that upgrading the skill set of our workers relative to those of our trading partners will only work to a limited degree, especially in occupations (such as radiologists) that are already highly skilled; 3) contrary to the widespread belief that our schools do not provide workers with skills that are adequate to worker demands, there is little economic evidence this is so (but there is evidence that education is unevenly distributed and notably worse in low-income communities). The testimony suggests several policies for creating new jobs and keeping jobs in the United States such as changing government procurement practices to reduce work being sent overseas, eliminating tax deferral of profits earned abroad, funding government-sponsored infrastructure projects that create jobs, and increasing R&D investment.

BHAGOWATI, G. 2004. India Responds to Growing Concerns over Data Security. Outsourcing Journal (Dec.).

The article reports on a survey of 115 information technology companies in the United States and India, conducted jointly by the Indian trade association NASSCOM and the US trade association ITAA. The survey found that companies are more concerned about security than they have been ever in the past, and 75% of the companies indicated that information security is a key differentiator in services offered. The article gives background information about a recent security case involving Geometric Software Solutions; problems with viruses, spam, and industrial espionage in India; India's IT Act 2000, which does not address many of the most important privacy and security issues; and attempts to change this law to bring it into line with the European Union's Data Protection Directive and the Safe Harbor privacy principles of the United States.

BHAGWATI, J. 2005. A New Vocabulary for Trade, Wall Street Journal (Aug. 4) A12.

This distinguished Columbia University economist argues against Tom Friedman's "the world is flat" thesis. He points to comparative advantages held by the United States such as strong infrastructure, strong venture capital, an ability to attract talent from around the world, and a culture of inventiveness. He also points to problems with education in India and democracy in China. Instead of Friedman's approach, Bhagwati reminds his reader of a theory of "kaleidoscopic comparative advantage" that he put forward ten years earlier, where countries gain, lose, and regain comparative advantage under rapidly changing circumstances.

BHAGWATI, J., PANAGARIVA, A., AND SRINIVASAN, T.N. 2004. The Muddles Over Outsourcing. Preprint of an article to be published in revised form in Journal of Economic Perspective (June 30).

The authors are professors of economics at Columbia and Yale. The purpose of their paper is to distinguish between four types of phenomena that are "routinely addressed interchangeably under the rubric of outsourcing" and then consider the differences in effect on economic efficiency, jobs, and real wages. In trying to sharpen the definition of outsourcing, they differentiate between outsourcing of online services, outsourcing as it relates to rising total imports, direct investment phenomena, and worries over growing high-skill workers in India and China. They conclude that 1) the public discourse over outsourcing has been confused by muddy definitions; 2) the best definition involves considering outsourcing as trade in services online; 3) when treated in this way, trade in services online differs little in economic character from trade in goods; 4) fears that outsourcing will harm jobs and wages are unjustified; and 5) the probability that growth of skills in India and China will have an adverse effect on US prosperity and wages of skilled Americans is unlikely, although possible.

BHARATI, P. 2005. India's IT Services Industry: A Comparative Analysis. Computer (Jan.), 71-75.

The article compares the IT services industry in India with the East Asian electronics and computer hardware industries. Comparisons include revenue growth, networks of suppliers and distributors, supply chains, dependency relations between suppliers and distributors, the role of multinational companies as owners and buyers of suppliers, the role of government in supporting the industry, the focus on quality, and consolidation of the industry into a few dominant firms. The author finds that "With some differences, particularly the absence of multiple supply tiers, India's IT services industry is undergoing a transformation similar to that of East Asia's electronics and computer hardware industries. Currently, this industry is dependent on MNCs [multinational corporations], partly as owners and mostly as buyers, who are outsourcing more IT service operations to remain internationally competitive. MNCs have adopted different production models, with the subsidiary plus IT service provider emerging as the dominant one."

BILLO, C. AND CHANG, W. 2004. Cyber Warfare: An Analysis of the Means and Motivations of Selected Nation States. Institute for Security Studies, Dartmouth College (Nov.).

Working under a grant provided by the Department of Homeland Security, the authors of this study attempted to "assess potential foreign computer threats to information technology networks in the United States" as well as focus on overseas cyber threat capabilities, and dispel popular myths and anecdotal understanding about the nature and degree of the cyber threat by taking into account public and private digital network vulnerabilities. The goal of the report is "to examine the open source evidence to develop a rigorous and dispassionate assessment of both cyber 'offense' by selected nation states and the likely impact of an attack through the wires on the United States."

BISHOP, J.H. AND CARTER, S.D. 1991. How Accurate Are Recent BLS Occupational Projections? Monthly Labor Review (Oct.) 37-43.

Authors' abstract. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) occupational projections made since 1981 have substantially underestimated the growth of skilled occupations and substantially overestimated the growth of occupations requiring lower or more moderate skills. Overall, projections of the 1970s appear to have been significantly more accurate than those of the 1980s. It appears that, when occupational staffing ratios are assumed to exhibit a relatively constant trend, much better projections result. However, even when past trends in the occupational composition of industries are extrapolated into the future, there is still a tendency to under project the relative growth of higher skill jobs that prevailed during the 1960s and 1970s. It may be that the upskilling demand effects of technological progress and work organization are inherently unforeseeable.

BIVENS, J. 2004. Will the New International Division of White-Collar Work Make the U.S. Rich? ACM Job Migration Task Force Meeting Washington, DC. (Dec.) (Available at http://www.epinet.org".

This presentation presents various statistics related to offshoring. Topics presented include why offshoring became a political issue, poor US data, the impact of offshoring on jobs and on wage and salary growth, free trade theory and offshoring, and social insurance as a solution to the impacts of offshoring.

BLUM, D. 2004. Weigh Risks of Offshore Outsourcing. Network World (Aug. 3) 35, (Available at http://www.nwfusion.com).

The author is the research director of the consulting firm, Barton Group. This brief article concerns security risks to clients from workers of the vendor to whom they are outsourcing work. Dangers of VPN access to vendors are noted. Possible security solutions such as user authentication, firewalls, intrusion-detection systems, background checks, and code audits are discussed and problems with these solutions are identified.

BOO, K. 2004. The Best Job in Town. The New Yorker (July 5).

This is an excellent depiction of life in an outsourcing firm in India. The company, Office Tiger, was founded by two Princeton graduates who cut their teeth on Wall Street. Topics include the infrastructure in the city, the qualification of workers and competition for jobs, business concessions from the government, the nature of the work, the contrast between wealth in the company and poverty in the city, the Americanization of life, conflicts between work and home life, the local political climate, and the expansion of business.

BOOZ ALLEN HAMILTON. 2004. Outsourcing Globally: Trends and Implications of Offshoring for Australia.

This is an instructive analysis of the impacts of offshoring on a nation, Australia, that is likely to offshore work but also set up some offshoring businesses in a few selected industries. Several tables provide useful general information (not only about Australia): The Drivers of Outsourcing, Level of Outsourcing Maturity, Breaking Down Offshoring Savings Opportunities, Advantages and Disadvantages of Offshoring Decision Factors, Level of Offshore Processing. Australia has depended heavily on globalization for access to a wide variety of products and services as well as to increase its markets. Larger markets and larger business inputs have enabled specialization, which, in turn, has increased productivity. While the public outcry against job loss to offshoring has been similar in Australia to that in the United States, Australia is more severely constrained against protectionist measures because of its sensitivity to retaliation, given that its economy is so highly reliant upon exports. Australia has been a popular site for companies that want to offshore financial services because of the language, cultural similarities to the United States, and stronger infrastructure than countries that have lower labor costs. However, there is a likelihood that India will soon topple Australia 's leading position in financial services outsourcing.

BREJA, A. AND MATHEW, M.K. 2005. Inevitability of Innovation in India. Nasscom, (Available at http://www.products.nasscom.org/downloads/InevitabilityofInnovationinIndia.pdf ).

The article analyzes what drives innovation and how well India is prepared to be innovative. Some of the problems that the authors identify are noted here. The Nehru government stifled competition and risk taking, and the absence of competition stifled innovation; similarly, huge public sector enterprises created by the Nehru government were risk averse. Lack of a good mechanism to govern and protect intellectual property has hampered innovative efforts, led to greater emphasis on re-engineering and reverse engineering than on new product development, and weakened enforcement of contractual agreements which makes for a hostile environment for business investment. The educational system has problems with too great an emphasis on rote learning and applications and not enough emphasis on creation and innovation; and, academic-industrial interactions are weak. Data is not readily available about consumer demographics, industry players, or buying behavior that would enable Indian businesses to make informed judgments about product development. India's banking system has been the principal source of capital for Indian businesses, and these organizations are very conservative in their lending practices, unlike the risk-taking venture capital system that has funded Silicon Valley. India has only a limited number of clusters of firms, suppliers, and customers; this is unfortunate because clusters have been found to be a stimulus to innovation. These and other problems are identified. Some suggestions on how India might overcome them are also given.

BRINK, L. 2004. Job Losses and Trade: A Reality Check. Center for Trade Policy Studies, Cato Institute (March 17).

The author is director of the Cato Institute's Center for Trade Policy Studies. The center's mission is "to increase public understanding of the benefits of free trade and the costs of protectionism." The report is based on statistics from the BLS and the Economic Report of the President (2004). The argument is engaging and decidedly partisan. The author argues that there is currently a temporary, cyclical shortage of jobs but that the long-term forecast is positive, and that there is always a large number of jobs lost even in an economy where the net number of jobs is growing (since an even larger number are being created than are lost). He also argues against calls for new trade restrictions and downplays the influence of foreign sources on job loss. The paper cites BLS forecasts for continued expansion of IT jobs in the future to dispel the loss of jobs overseas and points out that the Forester projection about job loss in IT is modest compared to the size of the labor market. It argues that the trade surplus of the United States in the IT sector is positive, indicating that this industry remains robust. He points to cost savings to US companies from lower-cost foreign labor and the opportunity for US companies to pass these cost savings on to US consumers, spurring further demands for goods and services. He also notes that information technology has been eliminating jobs (bank tellers, receptionists, telephone operators, back-room clerical jobs, and others for many years and the loss to technology is no worse than the loss to foreign competition.

BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION 2005. China Plays Down the Nuclear "Threat". BBC News (July 16).

The Chinese government has downplayed remarks by Major General Zhu Chenghu suggesting that China might use nuclear weapons if the US attacked it over Taiwan by stating that the remarks were the general's opinion and not official Chinese policy.

BRODY, W. 2005. The West Has Lost the Will to Fund Basic Research. Finanacial Times (Aug. 19) London, UK.

This editorial, by the president of Johns Hopkins University, argues that the United States and Europe have unprecedented challenges from India and China to their technological leadership but are doing little to meet that challenge. Industrial basic research has failed the short-term return on investment test and industrial funds are now being redirected to development and applied research. University research funding, especially in the physical and information sciences has been drastically reduced. DOD funding for basic research continues to decline. What is needed is "a cadre of talented scientists and engineers and an environment that supports the funding of high-risk ideas." Brody calls for tax incentives for companies to invest in long-term payoff, basic research; support for universities to train more graduates in science and engineering through grants and scholarships; and increase government spending on basic research.

BRONFENBRENNER, K., AND LUCE, S. 2004. The Changing Nature of Corporate Global Restructuring: The Impact of Production Shifts on Jobs in the US, China, and Around the Globe. Corporate Restructuring and Global Capital Mobility (Oct. 14).

This 87-page report provides information on production shifts out of the United States to China. The work is based on online media tracking and corporate research conducted in 2000 and 2001 with an update for 2004. Much of the study concerns manufacturing as opposed to call centers, BPOs, and software development and maintenance. The paper argues that BLS estimates of jobs lost due to shifting jobs out of the country are extremely understated. The authors found examples of software jobs being denied consideration under the Trade Adjustment Assistance Act. The study notes the significant increase in production shifts to India for IT work from both the United States and United Kingdom. There are several examples of how devastating to rural/small town economies loss of call centers has been due to outsourcing. 99% of job losses in 2001 were manufacturing jobs with just a handful of IT jobs lost, including call centers; but the number of IT jobs outsourced increased dramatically by 2004. Some anecdotal evidence is given of IT multinationals being concerned about the public relations aspects of moving jobs overseas, e.g., internal memos of how to handle the issue. There are also examples given of call center outsourcing and the effect it has on local communities.

BROOKS, F. 1995. The Mythical Man-Month. Addison-Wesley Professional Publishing.

Book description from Addison-Wesley. The Mythical Man-Month is a blend of software engineering facts and thought-provoking opinions. Fred Brooks offers insight for anyone managing complex projects. These essays draw from his experience as project manager for the IBM System/360 computer family and then for OS/360, its massive software system. Now, 20 years after the initial publication of his book, Brooks has revisited his original ideas and added new thoughts and advice both for readers already familiar with his work and for readers discovering it for the first time.

BROWARD DAILY BUSINESS REVIEW. 2004. Offshoring Begins to Reveal Hidden Costs that Reduce Its Benefits. Broward Daily Business Review 45, 98 (April 28) 8.

The article discusses hidden risks and costs in an outsourcing contract. Some of the issues discussed include the short amount of time to consider the legal and financial factors before signing a contract, the need to avoid "scope creep" in a fixed-price project, understanding about whether subcontracting will be allowed, setting performance standards and penalties that are clear and meaningful to both sides, the differences between different national legal systems and how they will affect the upholding of the contract, differences in intellectual property laws and their enforcement (both copyright and trademark), how labor laws in the vendor country affect the client's employees who come to work with the vendor, severance packages required by law to employees replaced by foreign workers, protection of trade secrets and confidentiality provisions, national regulatory practices in such application areas as banking and medical practice, currency fluctuation problems, established arbitration procedures when things go wrong, and political stability of the vendor nation.

BUFFETT, W. 2005 Chairman's Letter, Berkshire Hathaway (Feb. 28) (Available at http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/2004ltr.pdf).

This letter to shareholders discusses the long-term implications of large trade deficits for the United States, given the large run-ups of trade deficits over the past several years. They include reduced ownership by the American people of the nation's wealth and ongoing payments from the US economy to foreign investors as well as other financial and political effects.

BURN, J.M., MA, L.C K., AND NG TYE, E. M. W. 1995. Managing IT Professionals in a Global Environment. Computer Personnel (July) 11-19.

This study, by three researchers at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, looks at perceptions of working environments by IT professionals in their first five years after graduation and compares them to the expectations of final-year IT students. For cross-comparison purposes, data was collected from IT workers and IT students in both Hong Kong and the United States. Topics include difference in psychological and cultural factors between US and HK workers; differences in training offered and training desired by the workers; differences in reward systems and career paths in the two countries; and differences in attitudes in the two countries about fair treatment, teamwork, feedback and promotion inside IS environments.

Copyright © 2006 ACM 0001-0782/06/0200. Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. To copy otherwise, to republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee.