http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...ng_survey_dc_2

More **** YOUS from the corporations that you the American worker and
consumer have made wealthy beyond compare! Fight back by stopping
working, going on welfare and stop consuming. I have and it really is
a great life. Going to go outside and work on my tan and read now.
Cheers suckers! *SMIRK*
Melvin


Most U.S. Companies Plan More Outsourcing-Survey
2 hours, 27 minutes ago Add Business - Reuters to My Yahoo!

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Most U.S. companies plan to outsource more of its
back-office functions overseas where labor is cheaper, despite a
public relations backlash and weaker prospects for cost savings,
according to a survey of 182 companies released on Friday.

About 86 percent of U.S. companies plan to increase the use of
offshore outsourcing firms, according to a poll by Chicago-based
management consulting firm DiamondCluster International .


But companies have lost the illusion of dramatic cost savings from
outsourcing, the survey said, because managing far-flung international
operations can be costly and difficult. They expect outsourcing to
save only 10 percent to 20 percent of their costs, down sharply from
50 percent two years ago.


"The reality is the euphoria has come down a little," said Tom
Weakland, who leads DiamondCluster's outsourcing advisory services
practice. "Expectations for cost savings are lower but more in line
with reality."


As a result, customers are demanding lower prices, leading to fierce
competition between U.S. outsourcing providers such as International
Business Machines Corp. and Accenture Ltd. and their India-based
rivals.


Despite the higher demand, pricing is falling overall, particularly
for routine tasks such as software maintenance and support work. But
in newer areas, such as managing other companies' operations, rates
have held up.


Weakland said pricing for U.S.-based vendors will fall further as they
themselves move jobs overseas. But offshore vendors will see the
outsourcing market stabilize or even rise slightly because their
prices are still lower than those of large U.S. service providers.


U.S. companies also suffered from negative publicity and lack of
cooperation from their home workforce as the migration of white-collar
jobs overseas becomes a hot button issue in the 2004 U.S. presidential
campaign.


About 85 percent of customers and 81 percent of providers are
concerned that legislation or political pressure may prevent them from
shifting jobs offshore.


Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry (news - web sites) will
propose a broad change in international tax laws on Friday to
discourage companies from shifting jobs to foreign countries. The plan
would eliminate the tax break that lets U.S. companies defer tax
payments on income earned abroad.


Weakland said the tax law change is unlikely to deter offshoring
because companies are now sending abroad expenses, not profits. But
the political backlash combined with lower-than-expected savings could
pull the trigger.


"If return on their investment is not high enough, outsourcing will
slow a little bit," he said.


According to the survey, 74 percent of customers are satisfied with
their outsourcing efforts, while 21 percent said they had stopped
outsourcing arrangements in the last year.

MCTD