Position Paper: Offshoring – Pro or Con?
Format and Guidelines:
A “Position Paper” is different than your typical written assignment! In a position paper, you will choose a side on a particular controversial topic and build up a case for your opinion or position. Once you state your position, you will use facts, opinion, statistics and other forms of evidence to convince your reader that your position is the best one. As you collect research for your position paper and begin to craft an outline, you must remember that the goal is a well-constructed argument.
Two documents are posted here for your reference:
- Position Paper guidelines and outline: BUS280 Format and Outline for Position paper
- Position Paper grading rubric: BUS280 Position Paper RUBRIC
If you need or want additional information, I suggest using this link to the Purdue University Online Writing Lab which is the best resource out there for writing assistance! Bookmark it … because as you continue in your academic pursuits it will be useful! https://owl.english.purdue.edu/
Please read the following carefully BEFORE beginning your assignment:
Companies have been outsourcing work for many years. This trend has been carried to an extreme in the case of offshoring – sending work to other countries where labor is cheaper. The competitive environment of global business, the struggle to create and maintain competitive advantage as well as the demands by stakeholders for return on their investment of the basic factors of production have made the Outsourcing/Offshoring topic one bathed in controversy. Is it good business or profit driven short sightedness? Does it build or break economies? These are but a tiny sliver of the arguments surrounding these practices. Almost every business now faces this decision, and with every decision controversy arises. Currently, India’s low-cost labor has made it an offshoring destination for global firms like HP, IBM, Accenture, Intel, AMD, Microsoft, Oracle Corporation, Cisco, SAP.
Arguments for and against this strategy are plentiful and in your position paper you will take one side of this debate. However, in writing about this issue you must examine your opinion of the issue critically. Prior to writing your position paper, define and limit your argument carefully. The situation is complex with multiple solutions. Narrow the scope of your position paper to something that is manageable. Research your position thoroughly, consulting experts and obtaining primary documents. Consider feasibility, cost-effectiveness, economic and political/social climate when evaluating your position.
Format guidelines and a rubric have been posted to help you construct your paper. Please refer to these as you draft your assignment. The link to the Purdue OWL has also been provided to help with the mechanics of writing this paper. There are a few key differences in this assignment compared to others you have completed in this course. Please note the following:
- Your reasoning and strength of evidence/argument is weighted at 80% of the total grade. So, clearly this is where you should focus your efforts.
- The LENGTH of the paper has been expanded to permit UP TO 4 pages. However, if you can state your points, support them with evidence and come to a conclusion in fewer than 4 – there is NO deduction for length unless you fall below the MINIMUM of 2 pages. This does NOT include your bibliography or table of references!
- This paper REQUIRES citations! What is the best and easiest way to do this? Use a web-based citation generator such as http://www.bibme.org/. It is fast, FREE and accurate. When you create your citations please use APA Format.
- This assignment will be submitted as a SafeAssign. Safe Assign is used to prevent plagiarism and to create opportunities to help you identify how to properly attribute sources rather than paraphrase. SafeAssign compares your submitted assignments against a set of academic papers to identify areas of overlap between the submitted assignment and existing works.
- This assignment will represent TWO assignment grades since it requires more work on your part, so this is your chance to make up a low score somewhere else in the course.
If you have ANY questions or would like for me to REVIEW A DRAFT of your work, please email/text/call me. I am looking forward to reading your papers!