A Shift in Engineering Offshore

This paper discusses the impact of the transfer of research and development (R&D) resources to low-wage countries. This transfer may promise major changes for engineers in developed nations. Offshoring is reaching critical mass in many engineering fields. Offshore engineers are bright, highly motivated, and have climbed the skill ladder rapidly. Multinational companies believe that offshoring enables them to reduce costs to consumers, increase market share, and use profits to create more high-paying jobs. European and Japanese engineers tend to have more job protection than American engineers, and US corporations are believed to be in the forefront of offshoring. The paper also highlights that for many companies, offshoring engineering is an extension of outsourcing, a business model that calls for companies to concentrate on core businesses and contract peripheral projects to vendors. Classical economists defend offshoring by calling on a centuries-old principle called comparative advantage. It states that countries are better off when they trade without restrictions, so each trading partner can specialize in what it does best rather than try to hang onto floundering industries.