Offshore Outsourcing Consultants

Want to see what the business and management consultants are doing now to help U.S. companies export jobs and business to China, India and other countries?

Click on these links below:

--Deloitte and Touche

--Everest Company

--Michael Corbett and Company

--Outsourcing Institute

--Accenture

These are just a few. There are many more, including McKinsey, KPMG, and others. Who are these companies? They are smart consultants helping U.S. companies (in manufacturing and service industries) export jobs and business abroad. When you compare the number of jobs they are recommending go abroad versus those that stay in the US, you see that most of their attention is focused on helping to "un-do" the benefits of the cluster-based and other economic development strategies all of you have put into place in US states and regions in the past decade.

Don't get me wrong--I am not against globalization and management consultants, but I am very concerned about the short and long term effects of shifting vast numbers of businesses and jobs offshore without seeing at least an equal return of high quality jobs and businesses to U.S. soil.

My operating assumption is that what can go abroad will go abroad. Right now, a great part of our economic base can go abroad, and it probably will.

Is your industry cluster effort strong enough to counter or make-up for the effects of offshore outsourcing in your area? My impression in looking at many of these efforts across the country is that they are not. Should they be addressing this issue? Yes, they should. Once again, what does this say about the effectiveness of our place-based economic advocacy model of economic development?

Just yesterday alone, I receive 11 emails from folks in the U.S., Canada, and Japan about the most recent issue of ED Futures. Most agreed with me that the ED business model must change. Even the Japanese economic developers are concerned about this trend.

Jump in here with your ideas...please.