The intagibles of place, outsourcing, cost-cutting vs. innovation
By Jason Moriber • Jul 9th, 2008 • Category: Insight & AnalysisI first heard the story on outsourcing local reporting to an Indian firm a few months back, and was reminded of this shift recently while listening to the NPR piece Newspapers Make Cuts At Home, Hire Abroad. Today Businessweek has added their ten rupees. I don’t run a newspaper or news gathering service, my angle is purely social/small business, and my experience running satellite offices, managing overseas projects, and doing business on the road.
Two points:
1. Being-there is 70% of describing-there. There are great intangibles from being at the place where you are working. Working in NYC is not the same as working in Chicago. Describing NYC to a Chicagoan who has never been to NYC is a game of comparisons. And when the Chicagoan gets to NYC they tell me they had a totally different experience than they had expected from my descriptions, that I was about 30% right.
2. Innovation trumps cost-cutting. Cutting-costs in downtimes is difficult, noble, and necessary. More important is the need to shift course and seek innovative ways to find new revenues. Shifting staff over-seas doesn’t solve your issue, it passes the buck until the innovation is born, tested, and implemented.
The newspaper industry is in a time of change, either they figure out a new path or fail. Sending jobs overseas to cut costs puts a band-aid on the issues they face, and continues to send-away economic dollars that could wisely be spent on innovation.
Jason Moriber is a veteran product/project/marketing manager, underground artist/musician, and online community developer, Jason expertly builds/produces/manages clients' projects, programs, and campaigns.
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