14 December 2006

Businesses must send work overseas if they are to remain competitive despite new research that found most people are opposed to the trend.

The offshoring claim from Deloitte follows a survey showing that 82 per cent of the public believe it is a threat to UK business and enough jobs have already moved abroad.

Chris Gentle, director of research at Deloitte, told SM: "Businesses that do not offshore will be very much in the minority and will have to embrace change - how will they remain competitive if not?"

He said there weren't any easy answers to balancing cost savings and competitiveness on one side, and the feelings of customers and employees on the other. Gentle added that differences between outsourcing and offshoring were "somewhat irrelevant", as customers should not be able to tell the difference in performance.

One-third of the 2,044 respondents said companies should be forced to bring jobs back to the UK.

SMdec2006