Development of Silicon Border
Silicon Border is a specialized industrial park. It is a large science park focusing on semiconductor manufacturing and other innovations such as medical devices and biotechnology, solar, nanotechnology, aerospace, and optoelectronics. Semiconductor industry executives who sought to offer advanced manufacturing solution for Americans and Mexicans developed it (Silicon Border, 2021) . This park brings various companies together to work on development. It combines Asian low labor costs, master plans, and quality controls with optimal closeness to American markets. Silicon Border is constructed on a cost-effective location suitable and manufacturing. The park also collaborates with surrounding technology organizations for continued research. Closeness to the American markets solves the problem of cultural disconnects that stem from offshoring to other countries such as China and India. The park also offers various advantages through different industry experts, low-cost electricity, and plentiful water supply. The industry experts are in close proximity enabling them to work together without incurring high shipping fees.
Merits of Nearshoring As Compared To Offshore and Outsourcing
Nearshoring involves transferring an organization’s work and services to another company within the same region and time zone. In this case, the organization works with companies closer to the home country. On the other hand, outsourcing involves transferring some business activities to third-party firms, while offshoring involves transferring an organization’s business activities and work to a distant region. Nearshoring has various advantages over offshoring and outsourcing. Since nearshoring mostly involves contracting business activities to companies in neighboring countries, these companies will be under the same legal and financial constraints and have similar operating instructions and schedules. The proximity also minimizes communication barriers involving different languages and increases access to more resources (Slepniov, Brazinskas, & Waehrens, 2013) . For instance, most offshore personnel are not fluent in English, resulting in inefficiency issues.
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Unlike offshoring and outsourcing, nearshoring allows the companies to enjoy small time-zone differences and few or no cultural disparities. Few or no cultural disparities eliminate the need to adjust working styles and communication habits. Furthermore, since the companies are within the same region, companies enjoy less travelling costs (Slepniov et al., 2013). In this case, it allows cost-effective and frequent face-to-face meetings, rapid communication and interaction, and promotes a more collaborative operating model. Consequently, it has a positive effect on productivity. Unlike in offshoring and outsourcing, nearshore partners do not have to work overtime or synchronize their meetings. Besides, nearshoring facilitates a great extent of control of the development processes. This aspect enables timely decision-making, especially during critical situations. Unlike offshoring and outsourcing, nearshoring has minimal hidden costs. Nearshoring also focuses on core competencies through specialization, and it has reduced the prospect of IP theft. These aspects imply that unlike offshoring and outsourcing, nearshoring is cost-effective.
Opinion on the Text
In my opinion, the debate for and against offshoring is an endless discussion because offshoring varies from one organization to another. Moreover, its role in workplaces and economy varies. Organizations embrace it because it saves costs through cost-effective, high-quality labor (Peng, 2018) . The text also mentions that offshoring is beneficial to offshore companies. Consequently, it creates new wealth for the countries involved through cost savings, increased exports, wages, extra taxes, and profits. This aspect implies that this business concept plays a significant role in global business. It is also debatable whether offshoring has positive effects on the American economy since it causes some American employees to lose their jobs. Furthermore, it may result in unending issues, as some companies tend to distance themselves from American business values as they embrace the global values. I think offshoring is more beneficial because it enables companies to save costs while allowing other countries to gain from the exchange.
References
Peng, M. (2018). Global Business. Cengage Learning.
Silicon Border. (2021). Silicon Border: Overview . Retrieved from Silicon Border Development LLC: https://www.siliconborder.com/company-overview.php
Slepniov, D., Brazinskas, S., & Waehrens, B. (2013). Nearshoring practices: An exploratory study of Nearshoring practices: An exploratory study of Scandinavian manufacturers and Lithuanian vendor firms. Baltic Journal of Management, 8 (1), 5-26.
