Money isn't everything
The lesson is that some jobs just can't get exported 10,000 miles around the globe, while others can.
The New York Times ran a terrific piece about an Indian entrepreneur in Southborough, Mass., who tried offshoring but decided to move the jobs back because the experiment utterly failed. The lesson is that some jobs just can't get exported 10,000 miles around the globe, while others can. It all depends on what you're trying to accomplish, and anybody who thinks it's only about cost is missing the point.
Besides, don't count on Indians accepting lousy wages for brainwork too much longer. The Indian IT industry notched up double-digit salary growth in 2003. Barring the repeal of the laws of supply and demand, wage inflation is going to erode some of the motivation for sending U.S. jobs to South Asia.