Offshoring is an evolving issue full of minefields and new developments. It is a business tool and an economic phenomenon with significant potential to increase the world's wealth. But it also changes the structural dynamic of companies that employ it and increases the pace of change in the societies that it affects. These issues all need to be carefully managed if the economic benefits from offshoring are to translate into net gains in developed and emerging markets. This anthology aims to help decision makers manage offshoring better. Over the past four years, the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) has been studying offshoring intensively. The goal of this anthology is to give decision-makers and shapers in government and business a better understanding of the scope and economics of offshoring as well as its effects, so they can test their opinions against facts, and plan more strategically. This volume presents what McKinsey considers their most substantial contributions to the offshoring debate, including ten of MGI's published articles on the topic.
About the Author: Diana Farrell is the director of the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), McKinsey & Company's internal economics think tank. McKinsey Global Institute's research combines McKinsey & Company's rigorous understanding of companies and industries with the rigor of leading economic thinking to derive perspectives and publish reports on important global economic issues. The Institute is widely acclaimed as a leading contributor to the economic debate and is prominently featured in international publications. To date, MGI has published reports on 15 countries across nearly 30 industry sectors. Under Farrell's leadership,MGI's research agenda has spanned additional, related topics including foreign direct investment, offshoring, capital markets, and the relationship between IT and productivity. Farrell is the co-author, with Lowell Bryan, of Market Unbound, published by Wiley & Sons, 1996. She has also published numerous articles and op-eds. Farrell was previously a McKinsey partner in the Washington, D.C., office and a leader of McKinsey's Global Financial Institutions and Strategy practices. She has served clients around the world in a variety of capacities. Prior to joining McKinsey, Farrell worked with Goldman, Sachs & Company in New York. Farrell is a member of the Bretton Woods Committee, a trustee for the Committee for Economic Development, a Board Advisor to the Bay Area Economic Pulse, and a regular contributor in major U.S. and global economic forums.