Business Finance Homework Help
Florida Atlantic University Business Outsourcing Discussion Responses
Stephanie – respond with 150 words
if I had to consider all things possible about outsourcing, one would have to understand it logic. According to David (2017), outsourcing is defined as, “involving companies that hire other companies that take over various parts of their functional operations (pg.152). Now if I had to decide which nine factors that would make outsourcing beneficial, the first would have to be, cost. Cost is always a common factor within any busy who are designed to make money, which only means, in order to ensure it, they must find a way to save. Secondly, the quality of the service. This element would, mean that it would be a requirement to hire the best specialist to make it possible. Thirdly, the supplier, with this production, it allows for fair reproduction time of the product. Forth, would be hiring outside help for protection (security). Fifth, operational control, find a way to reduce the cost of repairs or worker. Sixth, access to a talent pool, of you do not have the sources to hire, then learn from the other source. Seventh, when hiring outside workers, you become less responsible (insurance). Eighth, hiring outside the company would be less tedious on staff when it comes to a workload. Ninth, Tax benefits, capitalizing on goods earned. It has also been speculated to be a positive move because, “The practice of outsourcing both to domestic and foreign firms allows businesses to harness dramatic innovations in communications and information technology more effectively… than a new computer” (Taylor,2005).So, in theory, these are the nine most potential elements considered beneficial for outsourcing.
Olivia – respond with 150 words Outsourcing can be described as ” companies hiring other companies to take over various parts of their functional operations, such as human resources, information systems, payroll, accounting, customer service, and even marketing” ((David et al., 2020)). There are many different benefits to outsorcing, and our book exaplains in detail 13 potential benefits, however I am going to list 9 of the 13 that I think are the most important. One, cost savings, this is self explanatory but I think it very beneficial. Two, improve quality, this is always a good thing. Three, knowledge, the saying knowledge is power is very true and applicable in business. Four, operational expertise, this is very beneficial and saves time and money becasue doing things in house at the same level would be more challenging. Five, access to talent, this is beneficial because it allows more reach for talent on certain things like engineering. Six, enhance capacity for innovation, this allows in house operation to benefit from knowledge from outside the compnay. Seven, reduce time to market, the faster products make it on the market the happer customers are so this is clearly beneficial. Eight, risk management, this is always a good thing and risk can be managed by partnering with outside firms. Lastly, nine, tax benefit. This is a wonderful benefit becasue high taxes can create a lot of issues within a business (David et al., 2020).
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Vanessa – Respond with 150 words Strategic alliances are agreements between two or more independent companies to cooperate in the manufacturing, development, or sale of products and services, or other business objectives. Over the years companies have been open to a joint venture, a long-term contractual relationship, but not too open to international alliances. A real alliance means sharing control and managers seem to avoid that. This avoidance would not harm any company dealing in a stable competitive environment, however, businesses deal in an unpredictable world of rapidly globalizing markets and industries a world of meeting consumer tastes, rapidly increasing technology, escalating fixed costs, and growing trade barriers. Globalization requires alliances, it makes them an essential strategy to stay competitive. Many managers are under the impression that alliances are, at best, a convenience, a quick-and-dirty means of entry into foreign markets. However, research has shown that alliances are not tools of convenience. They are important, even critical, instruments of serving customers in a global environment (Balboni, et al. 2018). According to David and David (2017) small- and medium-sized firms can suffer from resource restrictions as they move out of the country. To improve this problem, research suggests joining strategic alliances. For small- and medium-size companies international alliances are more effective with non-competitors. Alling with competitors is more expensive due to high monitoring and control costs. In addition, competitors avoid sharing useful knowledge and resources. Research shows that small and medium-sized companies with limited resources that expand worldwide are more likely to grow and perform better internationally when they associate with non-competitors.
Kelly – Respond with 150 words The nine most important benefits of outsourcing are: cost-savings, improved quality, knowledge, operational expertise, enhanced capacity for innovation, access to talent, focus on the core business, catalyst for change, and cost restructuring (David, David, 2020).
As far as cost-savings go, you are able to get people to work for lower wages in other countries. Improved quality occurs when certain job functions are outsourced to business specialists. Outsourcing also allows for knowledge to be gained from experience and access to intellectual property. With operational expertise, you are able to get insight into operational best practices in order to save time and money. Outsourcing allows for an enhanced capacity for innovation because external knowledge is used in order to take the place of limited in-house capabilities for product innovations (David, David, 2020). It also allows for access to a larger talent pool with sustainable sources of skills, especially within science and engineering. A bigger focus can be placed on the core business when other business functions are outsourced. When a company wants to make changes that they know they cannot achieve alone, they might outsource so that it can serve as a catalyst for change. Lastly, the benefit of cost restructuring occurs when you outsource because the balance of fixed costs changes to variable costs by moving the firm more to variable costs. This in turn makes variable costs more predictable (David, David, 2020).