It seems pretty clear to me the authors of the article posted by Zeek are Boeing engineers concerned about their jobs. However I think they raise some valid points that ask the most important strategic questions when any company considers outsourcing. I've been involved in some outsourcing projects, and the important strategic questions are these (since we already know the primary driver of outsourcing is cost reduction in the world wide marketplace, I'll only focus on the corporation's strategic questions, which I think are raised by the Boeing engineers):
- What are the company's core competencies? (this can be a surprisingly difficult question to answer, because you MUST understand what processes and personnel make your company uniquely what it is)
- What processes can you safely outsource, that will not hurt your company's competitive advantage? (again this can be a hard question to answer, unless you understand EXACTLY what your company does better than your competitors)
- What will the long turn effects be for your company if you outsource a given process? (again a very difficult question to answer, unless you understand EXACTLY how to answer the first 2 questions).
The above questions assume that you (as a C-level manager) understand that lower level processes can be safely outsourced, and a number of administrative processes can be safely outsourced without causing strategic damage to your company.
Dell Computers found out that outsourcing their customer service to India didn't work as well as they had hoped. Does Dell's customer service processes constitute a strategic part of the company? I think they do, since one of the main reasons many people buy Dell computers (besides the good quality) is because of their reputation for providing excellent support for their products. The most recent customer satisfaction surveys show that the damage done to Dell's once highly regarded customer service has not been corrected yet, since these surveys (done just this month) still show that Dell is "average" at customer service instead of "superior" as it once was.
There a lot of other recent business cases that illustrate that not too many C-level managers seem to be able to accurately answer the 3 questions above.
For Boeing, how important are their engineering departments to the overall success of the company? Is basic aircraft design engineering strategically important to this company? Well, does the design engineering of a Boeing airliner create certain product attributes that are perceived by Boeing customers as making their airliners superior? Does Boeing design engineering create airliners that perform better than other airliners? If the answer is "yes" to these questions, that what does it take to sustain this level of performance from the design engineering processes in the long term? Is it important to sustain a company competitive advantage by continuing a high level of performance from this group of employees and their processes, and will outsourcing harm this effort in any way?
Again, I think the disgruntled engineers have raised some interesting questions about outsourcing at Boeing.