Offshoring and the Global Marketplace

While quality and costs have always been a primary concern, Witman says, today, "there is significant pressure for lower and lower prices with high quality standards and faster turnaround times."

The possibility of significant cost savings is enough to inspire many publishers to sign on for the next overseas expedition.

Negative public opinion

No matter the reasoning, most publishers are aware that any overseas journey likely portends a certain amount of peril. Companies like Harcourt seem to escape much, if not all, negative backlash from printing overseas due to the nature of what they're printing; many companies are not so lucky. "There has been a lot in the news lately about jobs moving overseas. But Harcourt Trade represents a product line that doesn't lend itself to U.S. equipment. We have odd trim sizes, low page counts, our print runs usually aren't very high," says Grebenar.

But the air surrounding the issue of offshoring is sometimes bitter, especially of late. A recent article in The New York Times stated, "Globalization is having a bad year. Unions do not like it. Politicians … rail against it. As each monthly employment report confirms the anemic pace of job creation … more members of Congress talk about obstructing it."

Some reports, however, may suggest the tides will be turning in the future. According to a July 21 article in The Times of India, "After a year of decline and slowdown, BPO deals are picking up steam. More than 20 outsourcing global projects, each valued over $1 billion, are under active consideration according to U.S.-based Technology Partners Inc. (TPI), a consulting firm that tracks pending outsourcing deals on a quarterly basis."

Another potentially big negative for sourcing overseas is that it can wreak havoc on your employees, and as a headline in CFO magazine stated, "It's a public relations nightmare." The CFO article explained that "there is no longer a clear limit to the level of job function that can be outsourced overseas." In fact, according to a survey the magazine conducted, almost 50 percent of respondents (CFOs at American companies) indicated "most of the jobs that moved overseas paid $50,000 or more before being outsourced."