Home
>
Small Business
>
Drivng Home the Point - An Outsourcing Story in China

Drivng Home the Point - An Outsourcing Story in China

A few years ago, I visited Beijing for the first time. At Beijing airport, I got into a taxi and paid 450 yuan (about US$54) to get to the city. I was horrified to find out later that the normal taxi fare for the same distance was 60 yuan!

The next time, I went to Suzhou from Beijing. My local friends advised me to take a plane to Shanghai airport and catch a taxi from there. They told me that the taxi fare from Shanghai airport to Suzhou should be around 400 yuan.

When I arrived at Shanghai airport, I saw a middle-aged man holding a placard, with "Suzhou, Wuxi" written on it. He wanted to charge 200 yuan for the ride.

That caught my attention! It was half the price I expected. I checked out the man-he looked pretty decent and it seemed like a good deal. And so I accepted the offer.

The journey

The man carried my luggage to his car, drove me to a nearby spot and asked me to wait. Five minutes later, he came back with another car and another driver. He explained to me that he did not have the licence to drive in Suzhou and had asked his friend to help.

Before parting, I paid him 200 yuan and confirmed with the new driver that he would take me to Suzhou. I transferred my luggage to the new car.

During the trip while chatting with the driver, I realised that he was on the way home to Wuxi, bypassing Suzhou. The man who had "contracted" him had paid him 50 yuan.

His car stopped outside the city of Suzhou. He told me that he was not familiar with the roads of Suzhou and would help me get a taxi.

Within a few minutes, he flagged down a taxi, told the taxi where I wanted to go, paid the taxi driver 10 yuan and transferred my luggage. The rest of the journey was uneventful and I arrived safely at my hotel, on time to meet my customers.

All benefit

There were three persons in this value chain. First, the man at the airport offered to meet my needs at half the normal price. He made his money by outsourcing the "production" to the Wuxi driver, who could do it at a cheaper cost. Second, the Wuxi driver "outsourced" to the Suzhou taxi driver for the same reason.

At the end, the man at the airport earned 150 yuan, while the Wuxi driver earned 40 yuan and the Suzhou taxi driver earned 10 yuan. I was the biggest winner because I saved 200 yuan!

The bottomline is companies should focus on what they are good at, and leverage on others' strengths. But today, many companies still try to do everything themselves in-house.

For instance, IT departments within big corporations try to develop applications that are available in the market-yet non-core to their business.

Many companies also think that manpower cost is fixed, so it is better to work with existing resources than to incur additional costs in IT applications or services.

They think that manpower cost is just basic salary, and forget about the other costs such as bonus and employee benefits, as well as overheads such as recruitment and rental. They underestimate their manpower cost.

The fact is unless you understand the actual costs of a particular process or project, it is difficult to decide if outsourcing is a better alternative.

Besides costs, the question is: can you do a better job than someone who specialises in the field? Just think of the Wuxi and Suzhou taxi drivers.

Source: http://www.justlogin.com

best cleaning company Highland Park ..

In The News:

MIT develops needle-free glucose monitor using light technology. Revolutionary device could replace painful finger pricks for diabetes management.

The ClickFix campaign disguises malware as legitimate Windows updates, using steganography to hide shellcode in PNG files and bypass security detection systems.

Researchers from Osaka Metropolitan University designed a 21-foot dome that combines aquaculture and hydroponics to create a self-sustaining urban food system.

The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.

ChatGPT data breach exposes personal info of users through partner Mixpanel. OpenAI confirms names, emails compromised in security incident.

Android rolls out Emergency Live Video for 911 calls, letting dispatchers see real-time scenes during emergencies. Great for holiday travel safety.

Malicious Chrome and Edge extensions collected browsing history, keystrokes and personal data from millions of users before Google and Microsoft removed them.

Google's new Call Reason feature lets Android users mark calls as urgent before dialing, displaying an urgent label to recipients using Phone by Google app.

Medical history made as surgeons successfully restore sight to legally blind patient using world's first 3D printed corneal implant grown from human cells.

Data brokers aggressively collect your holiday shopping data to fuel scams and targeted ads. Learn how to delete your digital profile before 2025 starts.

Scammers are sending fake MetaMask wallet verification emails using official branding to steal crypto information through phishing links and fraudulent domains.

Learn what background permissions, push notifications, security updates, auto-join networks and app refresh mean to better manage your phone's privacy settings.

Criminals test stolen data by applying for deposit accounts in victims' names to prepare bigger attacks. Learn why banks won't share fraud details.

New study of 10,500+ kids reveals early smartphone ownership linked to depression, obesity, and poor sleep by age 12. Earlier phones mean higher risks.

A phone phishing attack compromised Harvard's alumni and donor database, marking the second security incident at the university in recent months.

AutoFlight's zero-carbon floating vertiport uses solar power to charge eVTOL aircraft while supporting emergency response, tourism, and marine energy maintenance.

A new phone return scam targets recent buyers with fake carrier calls. Learn how criminals steal devices and steps to protect yourself from this fraud.

New Anthropic research reveals how AI reward hacking leads to dangerous behaviors, including models giving harmful advice like drinking bleach to users seeking help.

The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.

Holiday email scams, including non-delivery fraud and gift card schemes, spike in November and December, costing victims hundreds of millions, the FBI says.

Holiday visits offer the perfect opportunity to help older parents with technology updates, scam protection and basic troubleshooting skills for safer digital experiences.

Swiss scientists create grain-sized robot that surgeons control with magnets to deliver medicine precisely through blood vessels in medical breakthrough.

Researchers exploited WhatsApp's API vulnerability to scrape 3.5 billion phone numbers. Learn how this massive data breach happened and protect yourself.

Travel companies share passenger data with third parties during holidays, but travelers can protect themselves by removing data from broker sites and using aliases.

Xpeng's humanoid robot moves so realistically that crowds believed it was fake, marking a major advancement in robotics technology ahead of 2026 commercial launch.

Drivng Home the Point - An Outsourcing Story in China

Small Business