1、 外文翻译 原文 Productivity Impacts of Offshoring and Outsourcing: A Review Material Source: organisation for economic co-operation and development Author:Karsten Bjerring Olsen Despite the attention that offshore outsourcing currently demands in the public media, there is little empirical evidence on its
2、 economic impact. As a consequence of rising fears of job losses associated with the phenomenon, most existing research on the subject is primarily concerned with addressing related labour market issues. The impacts on productivity, however, have received only little attention. This paper surveys th
3、e empirical literature on offshore outsourcing and its productivity effects. Due to the small number of existing studies, the survey also includes research that may serve as indirect evidence of the phenomenons link to productivity, such as its effect on skill upgrading. The most apparent conclusion
4、 drawn from the review is that there appears to be no clear patterns as to how offshore outsourcing affects productivity, and that much depends on both sector and firm-specific characteristics. There are some indications, however, that positive productivity effects from foreign material sourcing dep
5、ends on the degree to which firms are already globally engaged, but also that such engagements generally could be close to their optimum level in developed economies. There is little existing research on offshoring of services, but it appears that its productivity enhancing effects generally are sma
6、ll in manufacturing plants while being of a somewhat greater magnitude for firms in the services sector. 1 Introduction Offshoring in services emerged already in the late 1980s and early 1990s with the contracting out of tasks related to customer services, but has since moved on to a broader range o
7、f activities including engineering, software development and other tasks requiring high-skilled human capital. Due to the significant size of the services sector in the Western economies, and the increasing broad range of tasks exhibiting offshoring potential, the number of jobs which could potentia
8、lly be affected through this channel is substantial. The phenomenon, however, appears to have entered into a new stage with offshoring of services becoming increasingly important. This change in structure has been underway for some time, and is generally attributed to the interplay between three fac
9、tors: technological advances, economic and competitive pressures to reduce costs and improve productivity, and institutional developments favouring trade liberalisation. 2 Theoretical perspectives of outsourcing To compete in increasingly competitive economic environments, decisions to offshore comp
10、any activities are essentially driven by factors related to costs of production, distribution and productivity. From the perspective of the firm offshoring is therefore seen as a part of its business strategy. For instance, if offshoring enables a firm to relocate its relatively inefficient producti
11、on processes to external providers with cheaper and perhaps more efficient production capabilities, the firm can turn its focus to areas where it has a comparative advantage and expand output, or engage in new business activities. Offshoring of tasks with high complexity levels or of core activities
12、, on the other hand, remains less attractive because of security issues such as the potential lack of control over the processes. The theoretical literature on the firms decision to produce in-house or outsource through market contracts is extensive and dates back to Coase (1937) and his theory of t
13、he firm. Recently, however, the attention on the foreign aspects of the phenomenon has grown. The majority of this work has most commonly focused on either transaction cost theory, or, in particular, the principal-agent framework. Agency theory: According to this theory bounded rationality and self-
14、serving behaviour or opportunism of a firms employees can imply productivity losses. As such, conflicting goals and interests between the firm and its employees may pose a problem to the firm. To reduce inefficiencies stemming from this source the firm can outsource its activities to an external pro
15、vider and control the output or effort of the provider through an outcome based contract. Transaction cost theory: According to this theory, outsourcing is only desirable as long as the costs of related asset specific investments, contractual incompleteness and search efforts are lower than the expe
16、cted cost advantage. In the case of outsourcing it is often linked to specialization, i.e. to management theories focusing on the firms core competences. Outsourcing could also have productivity enhancing effects at a more aggregate level if offshoring would lead to the creation of new firms, and th
17、e destruction of old ones. This process is often associated with Schumpeters theory of creative destruction.Other relevant theories have examined the potential for productivity enhancing effects due to knowledge spill-over as well as firms abilities to focus on core competences by outsourcing relati
18、vely inefficient activities. 3 Survey indications the evidence of positive productivity effects stemming from offshore outsourcing of materials and services does not appear to be overwhelming. The large benefits of engaging in such activities may therefore be overrated, and much seems to depend on t
19、he heterogeneity between firms. A number of recent surveys support these views to some extent. With reservations about the quality of survey estimates, response rates and possible selection biases, one can at least draw two important messages from the above. First of all, although there is an impres
20、sion that offshoring brings large economic benefits, it is not clear cut how and if such benefits are indeed realised. Second, the large cost reduction differences that exist from survey to survey could indicate large disparities between the realised benefits depending on the activities that are off
21、shored as well as the sectoral- and firm-specific characteristics. In practice, it seems that few companies have the organisational and capital capacity to reap the full potential of internationalisation, and in this light offshoring remains a big-company phenomenon at its current stage. There is so
22、me support for this view. In a quarterly survey by TEC International, a CEO consulting company, only 5% of about 1 100 mid-size US company CEOs said they intended to outsource IT jobs overseas. Only 12% said they planned to offshore manufacturing jobs, and about 73% had no intention of engaging in o
23、ffshore outsourcing (TEC, 2004). Another survey conducted by Gartner including 956 chief information officers (CIO), of which half were from North America, draws a similar picture. Here nearly 80% did not see IT outsourcing or offshore outsourcing as a priority now or in four years. 4 Summary Given
24、the attention offshore outsourcing currently demands in the public debate, surprisingly little research on the subject exists. The growing trend in offshoring of services, and the number of jobs potentially affected in Western economies, has directed the main focus towards labour market concerns. As
25、 such, most studies address offshore outsourcing from a labour market perspective, while the phenomenons impact on productivity has been largely overlooked. It is the objective of this paper to give an overview of the existing research on the productivity effects of offshore outsourcing and its main
26、 results. Most research addressing the link between offshore outsourcing and productivity is based on micro-data with a strong focus on manufacturing establishments. More recent research, however, is directed more toward both distinguishing between offshoring of materials and services as well as wit
27、h a growing focus on companies in the services sectors. There are no clear patterns as to how outsourcing affects productivity, and much seems to depend on both sector- and firm-specific characteristics. However, it is possible to draw some indicatory conclusions from the literature. First of all, t
28、here appear to be signs of diminishing returns to offshore outsourcing of materials in manufacturing companies as the productivity effects from such activities generally are found to be either small or insignificant. Contrary to offshoring of services, companies have long been engaged in offshoring
29、of materials and the benefit from material offshoring might therefore already have reached its saturation point. Secondly, offshoring of services generally appears to have no productivity enhancing effects if undertaken by manufacturing companies while the opposite is true for firms in the services
30、sector. Thirdly, the positive productivity impact associated with offshore outsourcing of materials is generally more pronounced if the company is already active on the international scene. There are indications, however, that the opposite is the case for enhancing productivity through offshoring of
31、 services which could suggest rapid diminishing returns to offshoring of services. And lastly, there are several indications that part of the productivity enhancing effects from material offshore outsourcing is driven by firm-specific strategic elements such as increasing the focus on core competenc
32、es. 译文 离岸外包生产力的影响与外包的综述 资料来源 : 经济合作与发展组织 作者： Karsten Bjerring Olsen 尽管目前对离岸外包的要求很少，在 公共媒体 上也不是很常出现 ，很少有关于它 经济影响 的 实证研究 。由于失业率 不断上涨的现象，大多数现存的 关 于这个主题的研究主要涉及劳动力市场解决 等 相关问题。然而对生产力的影响，只获得很少关注 。 本文 主要 调查离岸外包和生产力影响的实证文献。由于现有的研究数量少 ， 调查还包括研究可能 作 为这种链接生产力现象 的 间接证据， 如对技能升级。 最明显的结论 是 如何影响离岸外包生产力， 从审查 中 似乎得不出一
33、个清晰的模式，并 在很大程度上 取决于两 个 部门和公司的特点。有一些迹象显示 ，积极从国外采购材料生产力的影响取决于其公司已经在全球范围进行，但在这种参与程度 下 也可能接近 他们在发达经济体的最佳水平。目前很少有关于服务外包研究，但似乎其提高生产率 的影响通常是在制造工厂，而一 旦 出现大的幅度 是在 小企业服务部门 。 1、引言 服务离岸外包 出现在 20世纪 80年代末到 90年代 初 ，是与承包的客户服务相关的工作，但此后已转移到更大范围的活动，包括工程、软件开发和其他需要高技能的人力资本。 由于西方经济中的服务业的巨大规模 和增加广泛的任务的离岸外包的潜力 ,境外参展的就业人数可能
34、会受到影响。 然而这一现象，似乎已经进入了新的阶段，外包服务越来越重要。这一结构的变化已经进行一段时间 ,通常归因于 三个因素之间的相互作用： 技术进步、经济和竞争压力，以降低成本和提高生产效率，有利于贸易自由化的体制发展。 2、外包的理论观点 参加竞争日益激烈的经济环境，决定离岸公司在本质上是活动等相关因素驱动生产成本、分销和生产率。从这个角度来 看离岸外包公司被视为是其业务战略的一部分。例如，如果外包使公司在 相对低效率的生产运行过程，外 部供应商比较便宜，或者 更有效的生产能力，公司能将他们的目光转移到重点领域，有一个比较优势和扩展输出，或从事新的商业活动。任务离岸外包水平或高复杂性的核
35、心活动，另一方面，仍然缺乏吸引力，因为安全问题可能难以控制过程。 对公司的 决定产生的内部或通过合同外包市场 的 理论文献是广泛的，可以追溯到科斯（ 1937）和他的企业理论。但是，最近 在外国 对这一现象的关注已经成长。这项工作最常 见 的主要依据 是 交易成本理论，或者，特别是委托代理框架。 代理理论：根据这一理论有限理性和自私的行为或者机会主义对公司的员工可以意味着生产力的损失。这样， 冲突的目标之间的公司及其员工的利益可能会对公司 造成 问题 。 为了减少低效率 ， 从源头制止这种公司可以外包的活动，外部供应商和控制的结果为基础，通过合同的输出或供应商的努力。 交易成本理论：根据这一理
36、论 ,外包只是 理想的只要成本的相关资产具体投资、合同不完全性和搜索努力比预期的低成本优势。外包的情况下，通常是与专业化的管理理论， 即管理理论对企业的核心竞争力为重点。 在总体水平上，外包可以提高生产力的影响， 如果外包会导致新企业的创建，以及旧的破坏。这个过程往往与熊彼特的创造性破坏理论 相关。 其他相关理论，已审查了提高生产率的效果，由于知识溢出的潜力，以上以及企业的能力，把重点放在核心竞争力，通过外包相对低效的活动。 3、调查指示 从积极的生产力和服务离岸外包的材料没有出现有说服力的产生影响的证据。在这种活动的 显着效益，因此可能被高估，而且很多国家都依赖于企业间的异质性。最近的一些调
37、查的数目在一定程度上支持这些意见。 随着有关调查估计，响应率和可能的选择偏差质量有所保留，至少可以得出两个以上的重要信息。 首先 ,尽管目前的印象是离岸外包带来巨大的经济效益，目前还不清楚这些 效益 是 如何实现的。其次，降低成本差异较大，从调查问卷 调查可能表明存在之间的是外包的部门和企业的具体特点，以及不同活动所实现的效益大的差距。 在实践中，似乎很少有公司的组织和资金能力获得国际化的全部潜力，现阶 离岸外包是公司的主要现象。 有一些 人 支持这一 观点。在一个季度调查及国际的首席执行官的咨询公司 ， 1100 家中等规模的美国公司大约只有 5% 的首席执行官表示他们打算将 IT 工作外包
38、海外 。只有 12的人表示他们计划 将从事离岸生产工作，约 73 无意从事离岸外包 。由 Gartner 包括 956 位首 席信息官（ CIO），其中一半来自北美进行了另一项调查，得出了类似的情况 。 近 80的人没有看到 IT 外包或离岸外包作为优先 考虑在最近 四年 里 。 4、总结 目前离岸外包在公众讨论中不是很重视，令人惊讶的是几乎没有这个主题的研究。 在服务外包的发展趋势 下和 在西方国家潜在的就业 人数 下 ，对劳动力市场的关注 越来越多 。因此， 大多数研究报告离岸外包 都是从 从劳动力市场的角度 ， 而这种对生产力现象的影响已 经 在很大程度上 被 忽略了 。 这是本文的目的
39、 ，对已有的生产离岸外包的影响及其主要的结果研究作一概述 。 大多数研究解决 表明 离岸外包和生产力之间的联系是基于一份关于制造业机构的强烈关注的数据。 但是最近的研究 ， 更倾向 于离岸外包的材料和服务以及 在服务行业的公司。 外包如何影响生产力 ， 没有明确的模式， 很多国家都依赖于 部门和公司的具体特点。但是， 就有可能得出一些 文献 中得出的 结论。 首先 ， 出现报酬递减的征兆 ,离岸外 包材料的制造企业 ,生产等活动的影响 ,很少被发现。 相反的离岸外包服务， 公司长期从事材料外包和离岸外包从物质利益可能因此已经达到饱和点。 其次，一般看来服务外包，如果没有通过提高生产力，而制造公司进行相反的是对服务部门企业的真正影响。 第三 ，如果该公司已经在国际舞台上活跃 ， 生产力的积极影响与离岸外包相关的材料一般比较明显。 有 迹象显示 ， 与之相反的个案，通过提出“收益递减”的境外投资的服务 ，可以 提高产能的离岸外包服务。最后， 有几个迹象表明，从原材料的提高 看 ， 离岸外包是企业特有的战略要素驱动，例如增加对核心竞争力的重点影 响生产力的一部分 。
