In the Learning Activity “The Economist: Report on Outsourcing and Offshoring,” Tamzin Booth comments that companies are rethinking their offshoring strategies. 1. In briefly explaining the differences between outsourcing and offshoring mentioned in this topic one can boil the differences down to distance and control. The term "offshoring" refers to the fact that the work, production, or whatever it is that we are talking about has proven to be of less risk if done on another continent or overseas. Basically, the term implies that there is an ocean between where the work is generated and where it is performed. One instance might be when a company that is based in the U.S. decides to hire workers in the Philippines for the production of the item in question. Outsourcing does not make this distinction. One can Outsource to a party in the same town and it is still outsourcing. The second main distinction is that in offshoring the overseeing and control of the production stays with the firm, while in outsourcing the contractor, or vendor that is outsourcing oversees the entire production of whatever it is that they have been contracted for. The outsource vendor has only the contract that they must adhere to. 2. Industrial automation is increasing. The need for the masses of low-paid workers is now heavily offset with automation and robotic advancements. 3. Due to the indulging of herd behavior, companies were losing the benefit offshoring. Offshoring and Outsourcing seems to be herd behavior. As a result, when one company choose a location for low-paid worker production the rest of the companies follow them to that area. The end result is a worker to the highest bidder effect. It is possible to end up paying more for the outsourcing or offshoring than it would have cost to do the work in-house Lenovo is getting rid of Offshoring with a desire to have production closer to their main market. A. What automotive company is mentioned in the video that has turned to offshoring? General Motors is taking over all of its own IT systems itself. General Motors wants new information, new products, and these things are just better done in-house. Further, call centers are moving in-house to improve customer service. Because of automation, the pay cost is not that much. B. Research this company and comment on what the status of offshoring is with this company today. "Ten times more productivity. One thousand percent more data. Nearly 10,000 more employees."(Wayland, 2017). It seems that this new rebuilding and move from outsourcing is paying off big. C. What automotive company has followed in the footsteps of the company mentioned in the video? According to Wayland Ford Motor Company is following suit and broke ground on $200 million advanced data center in Michigan. In addition, other companies such as Toyota are joining in the transformation (Wayland, 2017). D. Do you support the strategies of these companies? Why or why not? I do support these strategies but for different reasons. The only avenue the U.S. has to prevent bankruptcy is to raise the Gross National Product. The current president helped by getting rid of NAFTA, but bringing the jobs back home must be done by our biggest companies. The U.S. needs to at least be able to pay the interest on its loan. If we cannot get to that point we are done. References Wayland, Michael. GM plots next phase of IT overhaul, Unlocking the potential of a vast data empire. Automotive News September 18, 2017, http://www.autonews.com/article/20170918/OEM06/170919754/gm-it-randy-mott ---------------------------------------------- In the video in the Learning Activity titled “Writing SMART Goals,” the presenter gives the “do’s and don’ts” of SMART Goals. Make a list of all of the words the presenter says should not be used to write SMART Goals. A list of the words one should not use as given by the narrator in the video are; try, end-of-the-year, shortly, should, could, probably, and as-soon-as-possible. The real Smart acronym is specific, measurable, agreeable, realistic and time-based. Choose one of these words and explain why it would be detrimental to the goal to include this word. Shortly is the word I chose. Originally my goal for this program was to be done in six months. I see now that this goal was not realistic. This was detrimental because when I reached the six-month mark and was not even near done my attitude plummeted at the site of what seems to be an endless list of classes yet to be completed. Then, write your own SMART Goal for a business or personal project. Goal: To finish Brandman within 50 weeks. This is easy if I keep to a schedule of a minimum of 1 class every 2 weeks. What words did you use that you think make your goal SMART? This goal is specific, measurable, agreeable, realistic and time-based. There are 25 classes left, most of which are 1 or 1.5 unit classes. List at least three reasons why you think SMART Goal setting is beneficial. The smart goal way is beneficial because it can be revamped when one or more of the estimates are off. Do you think SMART goals are motivating? Why or why not? Yes, it is motivating because as one reaches a milestone in the goal one feels a sense of success. ----------------------------------- In the Learning Activity “Case Study: Making Bold Moves to Accelerate Intel's Business,” the video contains a list of the top 25 supply chain companies in the U.S. The Gartners Supply Chain Top 25 Rank Company 1 Unilever 2 McDonald's 3 Inditex 4 Cisco Systems 5 H&M 6 Intel 7 Nestlé 8 Nike 9 Colgate-Palmolive 10 Starbucks 11 PepsiCo 12 3M 13 Johnson & Johnson 14 Coca Cola Company 15 Nokia 16 BASF 17 Schneider Electric 18 Wal-Mart Stores 19 HP Inc. 20 L'Oréal 21 Kimberly-Clark 22 BMW 23 Diageo 24 Lenovo 25 Samsung Electronics the Publisher if Gartner.com http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3728919 Who is the publisher of this list? Research this publisher’s most recent list and list the current top 5 companies. Intel fell to number 6. The presenter in the video attributes Intel’s profitability to their supply chain strategy. Research the profitability of the current top 5 companies on the list. Do you agree with the premise that profitability is tied to supply chain strategy? Why or why not? Yes according to my research all five have implememted SCM restructuring consentraiting and focusing on chosen items. As a result these compainies have shown increased profits. Amazon fell out from its decision to start owning its own logistics center with all the brick and mortar work which should have moved Intel up, however, Semi conductors have dropped in sales, this trend seems to be effecting the numbers all less is shipped. To add to this Cisco Systems and H&M are begining to show payoffs in there efforts of revamping logistics. One took Amazons spot and the other pushed Intel down one slot. We have this quote from the site in explination. "A general trend toward protectionism, as evidenced by Brexit and the policies of the current U.S. administration, has caused some companies to shift supply network design decisions and create contingency plans in anticipation of new trade policies. Continued investment in innovative supply chain capabilities will be required to meet this changing landscape."