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Roger Martin writes that “Chinese and Indian companies aren’t leaving design to the North Americans”:

“There is a romantic notion in North American business that its future lies in design and innovation, while India and China will be the home of less skilled, lower-paying operations churning out the products and services the U.S. comes up with.

…

These globally oriented outfits are not entrusting all creativity, design, and innovation to ‘first world’ opponents while they huddle over their workstations. True, they have staggering cost advantages over traditional competitors.”

Ritzer (1998) writes that globalized systems “do not excel at innovation: they are at their best in implementing and rationalizing ideas stemming from other sources” (p. 178). Is the heavily globalized West about to discover that creativity and innovation cannot be commoditized and managed as such?

Some U.S. students are taking note of a lesson learned by U.S. corporations and are outsourcing their homework. Lee Gomes at the Wall Street Journal writes:

Rent A Coder enables people — usually Americans — who need computer programs to put them out to bid — usually for cut-throat prices by Indians and Eastern Europeans.

…

Indeed, some programming students appear to be outsourcing their way through college. “Pascal Rookie,” from Colorado Springs, Colo., has put five school projects to bid. And while he may be a plagiarist, at least he treats his helpers well: Mr. Rookie has received the highest marks possible for a buyer in the eBay-like rating system used by Rent A Coder. “A pleasure to work with him,” said one.

Is the outsourcing of learning another sign that the U.S. is losing its innovation advantage?

More on the “innovation advantage” tomorrow morning…

Article link: Anti-outsourcing legislation unlikely as global outsourcing of IT jobs gains momentum

The German Innovations Report published a summary of an analysis on IT outsourcing by the consulting company Frost & Sullivan. The trend of outsourcing IT jobs from developed countries to less developed states cannot be stopped through legislation. If a country were to impose limitations, all others without such laws would have a market advantage.

The article continues: Moreover, to be effective, any legislative action to protect IT jobs in developed regions of the world will have to be part of a global alliance of developed governments - an unlikely scenario. Ultimately, developed countries will have focus on education and innovation to protect their IT workforce.