When the very last American manufacturing job was finally outsourced overseas, I couldn't help think of the sad Once-ler from Dr. Seuss's The Lorax after all the Truffula trees were chopped down. He entrusted the last seed to the boy representing the next generation with hope that someone would care enough to make things right, again.
For decades, manufacturing jobs, call centers, and back-office functions were shipped to distant shores in the quest for a tidier bottom line. At first, no one seemed to mind as we all enjoyed cheaper goods, but as our children moved back home, our neighbours lost their jobs, and families lost their homes, we began to wonder if sending jobs away made the most sense in the long run.
It's refreshing that some big corporations have done an about-face on this and have now started to "reshore" jobs back to North America.
1) Corporations don't have to worry about laws quickly changing to their detriment in countries with shaky governments.
2) Managers needing to visit local facilities may spend 2 - 3 hours commuting rather than the 30 hours required to visit Chennai or Bangalore.
3) Customers are more likely to remain loyal to companies who are perceived to be creating local jobs, rather than jobs that have no benefit to the domestic economy.
Will you "speak for the trees?"
