Outsourcing, outsourcing of marketing or outsourcing is the business economic process in which a commercial company transfers the resources and responsibilities related to the fulfillment of certain tasks to an external company, a management company or subcontractor, which is precisely dedicated to the provision of different specialized services. To do this, the latter may hire only staff, in which case the resources will be provided by the client (facilities, hardware, and software), or hire both staff and resources. For example, a demolition company may subcontract to a waste disposal company for the task of disposing of debris from demolished units, or a goods transport company may subcontract to a company specializing in identifying or packaging.
The terms associated with offshoring and border imply the transfer of jobs to other countries if services are outsourced to foreign companies, or establishing a base in sites outside the country. The difference lies in the relative proximity of the country in question (border) or its remoteness (relocation).
Analysis
Subcontracting defines the permanent management or execution of a business function by an external service provider. The subcontracting company must transfer part of the administrative and operational control to the subcontracted company, in such a way that it can carry out its work separately from the normal relationship of the subcontracting company and its clients. Outsourcing also involves a considerable degree of two-way information exchange, coordination, and trust.
Hiring the services of an external company is not necessarily outsourcing.
Organizations offering these services believe that outsourcing requires the corporate responsibility session to manage a portion of the business. In theory, this portion should not be critical to the operation of the business, but practice often indicates otherwise. Many companies hire companies specializing in outsourcing to commission the administration of the areas most conducive to it. These include information technology, human resources, property and asset management, and accounting. Many companies also outsource technical user support and phone call management, manufacturing, and engineering. In short, outsourcing is characterized by specialization not intrinsic to the core of the contracting organization.
Service overhead costs are typically lower if outsourced, allowing many companies, from services to consumer goods companies, to close their own customer relations departments and outsource them to third-party companies. The logical consequence of these decisions was the subcontracting of companies in countries with lower labor costs, a trend often referred to as (offshoring). Due to this demand, customer service call centers have multiplied in India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Chile, Uruguay, Canada, and even the Caribbean. Many companies, such as Dell and AT&T Wireless, have gained a certain notoriety for their decisions to use resources in India and Pakistan for their technical and customer care services – one of the most recurring complaints is potential communication problems between customers. and the substitute template.
A related term is out-tasking: delegating a strictly delimited portion of the business to another business, typically through an annual or even shorter-term contract. This normally implies a direct or indirect continuous management, of the decision-making, of the contractor.
The word outsourcing became widely known due to the growth in the number of technology companies in the early 1990s that were not large enough to maintain their own customer service departments. In some cases these companies have hired technical writers to simplify the instructions for use of their products, order the key points of the information; In addition, they have contacted temporary work agencies to find, train and hire low-skilled workers to answer the calls. These employees worked in telephone switchboards where the information necessary to assist customers was available on a computer system. On many occasions, workers were not authorized to tell the client that they did not work directly for the original company.
Reviews received
Opinions against outsourcing are based on three fundamental economic perceptions:
Outsourced workers are not paid employees of the company that actually provides the service, so they do not have a loyalty incentive towards it.
Normally, workers are hired with a work contract, despite the fact that the work carried out is usually continuous. Given the total precariousness produced and the abuse that usually occurs of this contractual figure, sometimes even to carry out arbitrary dismissals, the “flight” of workers is normal if they find a higher quality job, with which the quality of the service is reduced. usually resent.
Outsourcing (especially followed by outsourcing or offshoring) eliminates jobs.
Temporality, subcontracting and the worsening of working conditions are having an impact on a decline in occupational health.
Several cases of fraud or identity theft by employees of subcontractors against clients of subcontractors (Intel and Citibank in 2005) support the first point. This is supported by the fact that there is no real reason, other than business ethics, why the same company cannot provide services to two rival subcontracting companies at the same time. This is especially true in the case of companies that operate within a privileged legal framework or in a natural monopoly (for example, waste treatment).
Outsourcing makes replacement positions less desirable and outsourced positions less financially valuable. When outsourcing is mitigated by job retraining, for example, some of the affected workers are highly educated and may have a university degree and master’s degree. The conversion to another field may not be an option after years of study and the cost that this would have implied. There are also few incentives as target jobs may be amenable to outsourcing.
On the legislation of labor rights,
The eighties were the scene of momentous changes in aspects that go beyond mere commercial opening. Proof of this are the reforms in labor laws that had left workers’ guarantees of access to social security uncovered due to the exorbitant growth of concessions to large private companies. Proof of this is the emergence of new forms of employment such as “subcontracting” or outsourcing, whose objective by companies is to lower production costs. This trend, although not illegal, is reflected in the percentage of wage earners within the formal sector of the economy who lack access to social security programs and full enjoyment of their labor rights.
The legal nature of outsourcing is that of a contract, conceived as the “agreement of wills, by which a client company instructs the outsourcer to provide specialized services, autonomously and lastingly, that will allow it to carry out its core business”
In this sense, its structural characteristics are:
– Nominated contract: Its most used nomen juris is outsourcing.
– Atypical contract: Out of the ordinary.
– Organization contract: It involves the redefinition of the organizational structure of the client company.
– Duration contract: The benefits are extended over time.
– Results contract: The outsourcer is usually obliged to achieve the results initially set by the client company (as quantifiable goals in the market).
– Main contract: It has autonomy and is accompanied by other contracts, which are accessories to it.
– Consensual contract: Being atypical, there is no solemnity for its celebration, being sufficient the agreement of wills of the contracting parties.
As a result of the presence of outsourcing, the creation of various models of labor relations has been privileged, which have put aside the traditional relationship between employer and employer.