Outsourcing

"If you deprive yourself of outsourcing and your competitors do not,
you're putting yourself out of business. " - Lee Kuan Yew
Brainyquote

I found 2 interesting movies on outsourcing:

1) Call Centre

2) Burger King Outsourcing




We can laugh over the movies but we laugh not on its implications. Due to wage gap in different countries and the primary objective for a company is to generate profits, outsourcing becomes an sensitive issue. It raises concerns on local employment issue and service quality to the masses. On a bigger context, we are concerned on the protection to specific industries, business survival and national security.

As the outsourcing epidemic spreads, A.J Jacobs tried to outsource his whole life to an Indian's Bangalore firm. The firm handles everything for his life including arguing with his wife, raise his son, reply his emails/calls, call his parents and read the papers on behalf of him. The ego overrides the guilt of imperalism and he proves that outsourcing works for individuals too.

Many US parents are also outsourcing child care to overseas (India @US$20.16/week while USA @US$300/week). Outsourcing seems to work fabulously and attractive to some. Perhaps, when they are old, their child will, in return, outsourcing them to Africa for retirement.

Is it a choice of priorities? Yes, it seems. Many parents choose career over duty as parents and employ overseas maids to take care of their children. It is a struggle for survival out there and only the most committed will survive. The long term repercussion will hit them just like a boomberang.

There are incidents of child abuse by maids causing panic and anxiety among parents but the question to ask is: "If you care so much, why do you still entrust this parental duty to a foreign stranger?". Sadly, the answer is a typical fact of single breadwinner cannot earn enough for a family. As such, Singaporeans are already reducing the number of children in a family and fanatically trying to earn more money. The rat race is always on despite we are already considered by many as a 1st class nation.

On another aspect, if we outsource our love life to agencies, where is the joy of making love if test tube method is chosen instead?