May 25, 2004 10:44 AM

The other "O" word
Posted by Douglas Eisenhartat 10:44 AM

Today's Globe reports that the other nasty "O" word - outsourcing, as in moving jobs overseas - may have started right here with a husband-wife team, Indian-born MIT graduate Narendra K. Patni and his bride, Poonam, in Cambridge, Mass. in the early 70's. Now, with the practice having taken root over 30+ years and showing strong signs of being on the rise, Patni is no apologist for the trend:

While he recognizes that international outsourcing has rankled critics here, Patni, who attended Woodstock in 1969, raised his family in the Boston area, and became a US citizen in 1980, believes the trend will ultimately benefit both the US and Indian economies.
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Outsourcing advocates, such as Patni, point out that the lost work represents a small fraction of US gross domestic product. And they contend the overseas flow of low-wage jobs, in fields such as customer call centers, brings savings to the US economy and enables it to invest in higher-value activities, such as biomedical research.