Software Ousourcing to China
Computer Software
Software fundamentally is the unique image or
representation of physical or material alignment that constitutes
configuration to or functional identity of a machine, usually a
computer. As a content of memory, software in principle can be
changed without the adjustment to the static paradigm of the
hardware thus without the remanufacturing thereof. Commonly
software is of an algorithmic form which translates into being
to a sequence of machine instructions. Some software, however,
is of a relational form which translates into being the map of
a realization network (see VHDL).
Software is a program that enables a computer to perform a
specific task, as opposed to the physical components of the
system (hardware). This includes application software such as
a word processor, which enables a user to perform a task, and
system software such as an operating system, which enables other
software to run properly, by interfacing with hardware and with
other software.
The term "software" was first used in this sense by John W. Tukey
in 1957. In computer science and software engineering, computer
software is all computer programs. The concept of reading different
sequences of instructions into the memory of a device to control
computations was invented by Charles Babbage as part of his difference
engine. The theory that is the basis for most modern software was
first proposed by Alan Turing in his 1935 essay Computable numbers
with an application to the Entscheidungsproblem.
Excerpt from "Computer software." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
25 Oct 2006, 12:59 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 27 Oct 2006
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Computer_software&oldid=83627420 Outsourcing
Outsourcing entered the business and management
lexicon during the 1990's and is often defined as the delegation
of non-core operations from internal production to an external
entity specializing in the managment of that operation. The
decision to outsource is often made in the interest of lowering
firm costs, redirecting or conserving energy directed at the
competencies of a particular business, or to make more efficient
use of worldwide labor, capital, technology and resources. Though
often used interchangeably, "outsourcing" differs from "offshoring"
in that "outsourcing" is relative to the "restructuring" of the
firm while "offshoring" is relative to the nation (see below).
...
Benefits of outsourcing
The fact that many large businesses outsource and continue to
outsource suggests that, in many cases, outsourcing is successful
in that it increases product quality, lowers costs substantially,
or both. Some economists have argued that outsourcing is a form of
technological innovation analogous to machines on a car assembly
line. Ford Motor Company relied heavily on workers in the past to
assemble car parts. Today these workers are replaced by machines
because they are cheaper in the long run, produce better quality
products, or a combination of the two (the firm is trying to increase
its quality to cost ratio, quality being defined by the consumer
and inferred from revenue). Economists state that machines on the
car assembly line must have a higher quality to cost ratio than
workers because, if they didn't, there would be no incentive for
the firm to replace workers with machines. Although workers’ jobs
were lost from this replacement of workers with machines, the Ford
Motor Company made more money by lowering costs (and increasing
quality, thereby increasing revenue). Some argue that greater
profits to the labor owners lead to higher consumption, which leads
to further job creation, allowing those who lost jobs to gain jobs
in other sectors of the economy. A firm's motivation for replacing
workers with machines is identical to the motivation for outsourcing,
i.e. the firm is trying to maximize the quality of its product given
cost (its productivity). Because outsourcing allows for lower costs,
even if quality reduces slightly or not at all, productivity increases,
which benefits the economy in aggregate.
Professor Drezner reports that for every dollar spent on outsourcing to
India, the United States reaps between $1.12 and $1.14 in benefits.
Drezner also points out that large software companies such as Microsoft
and Oracle have increased outsourcing and used the savings for investment
and larger domestic payrolls.
Likewise, outsourcing can present advantages to non-Western states.
"Developing" countries, such as China or India, benefit from the patronage
of companies that outsource to them - in terms of increased wages, job
prestige, education and quality of life.
Excerpt from "Outsourcing." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
28 Oct 2006, 02:11 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 28 Oct 2006
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Outsourcing&oldid=84163144 China
China [...] Tongyong Pinyin: Jhongguó) is a cultural
region and ancient civilization in East Asia. China refers to one of
the world's oldest civilization comprising successive states and
cultures dating back more than 6,000 years. Due to the stalemate of
the last Chinese Civil War following World War II, China is currently
divided into two separate countries: the People's Republic of China
(PRC) and Republic of China (ROC). The PRC administers and governs
mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau, while the ROC administers and
governs Taiwan and its surrounding islands.
China has one of the world's longest periods of mostly uninterrupted
civilization and one of the world's longest continuously used written
language systems. The successive states and cultures of China date back
more than six millennia. For centuries, China was the world's most
advanced civilization, and the cultural center of East Asia, with an
impact lasting to the present day. China is also the source of many
great technical inventions developed throughout world history, including
the four great inventions of ancient China: Paper, the compass, gunpowder,
and printing.
...
Geography and climate
China is composed of a vast variety of highly different landscapes,
with mostly plateaus and mountains in the west, and lower lands on
the east. As a result, principal rivers flow from west to east,
including the Yangtze (central), the Huang He (central-east), and the
Amur (northeast), and sometimes toward the south (including the Pearl
River, Mekong River, and Brahmaputra), with most Chinese rivers emptying
into the Pacific Ocean.
In the east, along the shores of the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea
there are extensive and densely populated alluvial plains;. On the edges
of the Inner Mongolian plateau in the north, grasslands can be seen.
Southern China is dominated by hills and low mountain ranges. In the
central-east are the deltas of China's two major rivers, the Huang He
and Yangtze River (Chang Jiang). Most of China's arable lands lie along
these rivers; they were the centers of China's major ancient civilizations.
Other major rivers include the Pearl River, Mekong, Brahmaputra and Amur.
Yunnan Province is considered a part of the Greater Mekong Subregion which
also includes Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam.
In the west, the north has a great alluvial plain, and the south has a
vast calcareous tableland traversed by hill ranges of moderate elevation,
and the Himalayas, containing our planet's highest point Mount Everest.
The northwest also has high plateaus with more arid desert landscapes such
as the Takla-Makan and the Gobi Desert, which has been expanding. During
many dynasties, the southwestern border of China has been the high mountains
and deep valleys of Yunnan, which separate modern China from Burma, Laos and
Vietnam.
The Paleozoic formations of China, excepting only the upper part of the
Carboniferous system, are marine, while the Mesozoic and Tertiary deposits
are estuarine and freshwater or else of terrestrial origin. Groups of
volcanic cones occur in the Great Plain of north China. In the Liaodong
and Shandong Peninsulas, there are basaltic plateaus.
The climate of China varies greatly. The northern zone (containing Beijing)
has winters of Arctic severity. The central zone (containing Shanghai) has
a temperate climate. The southern zone (containing Guangzhou) has a subtropical
climate.
Due to a prolonged drought and poor agricultural practices, dust storms have
become usual in the spring in China. Dust has blown to southern China and
Taiwan, and has even reached the West Coast of the United States. Water,
erosion, and pollution control have become important issues in China's
relations with other countries.
Excerpt from Wikipedia contributors, 'China', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia,
28 October 2006, 05:21 UTC,
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=China&oldid=84186911
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