Keenan Campbell

Module 3 

Off shoring and out sourcing, what’s the difference? The two business strategies are very similar in their methods and purpose but in fact are completely different from one another. Out sourcing is what we call it when a business takes one or two tasks and sends them to another country or area that the task can be completed by employees at a lower pay. In return, this saves the business money where as if they were to have U.S. employees handle the task they would need to be paid more. Now off shoring on the other hand, is when the business takes an entire process to another country to be completed. This is typically what is done with manufacturing processes. We have all seen the infamous “made in china” stickers on almost everything. This is because businesses have jumped on the opportunity to move manufacturing to china because of the very cheap labor and lower taxes. In short, out sourcing is when a part of a process is handled in another country by cheaper labor and off shoring is when the entire process is done out of country by cheaper labor.

A supply chain is what we call the network of manufactures, suppliers, retailers, and finally customers. The way the supply chain works is simple, the manufacture produces the product and sell it to a supplier for some amount of profit. The supplier then turns around and sells the product to a retailer for another amount of profit. The retailer then takes the product and stocks it on their shelves for the customers to browse and purchase the product for, you guessed it, profit. You can see how this strategy works, as the retailer doesn’t make the products they simply sell them for more than they paid. This can quickly cause an items price to go up and it goes through more links in the supply chain. Wal-Mart has capitalized on the supply chain. Essentially what they have done is removed the links between them and the manufacture thus allowing them to sell items for a much lower price than their rival retailers. That’s not all; Wal-Mart has also made the supply chain more efficient through the use of modern technology to be able to predict and foresee what items are in demand at any given time. This information is then relayed to the manufacture in near real time so that they in return know what to make, how much, and when to make it. This super efficient supply chain has allowed Wal-Mart to climb to the top as the world’s biggest retailer.

Google has made a huge impact on the way businesses today advertise. Before Google, businesses had to really on putting their advertisements out to the world and hope that someone is interested in what it is they’re trying to sell or promote. What Google has done is provided relevant advertising. For example, say you’re planning a trip with your family to go camping for the week end but you don’t know where to go. The first thing you do is jump onto Google and search, “Ogden Utah campsites.” What you’ll get is maybe a list of local campsites but also there might be websites on the list that sell camping gear. This type of advertising makes it more precise on determines what ads pop up based on what you’re looking for rather than just giving your so random ad for weight loss pills when you search for bulk up work outs. The result of this is that businesses are getting more customers actually wanting to buy what they have to sell.