Evaluating ‘outsourcing issues’

‘Outsourcing’ is an economic issue. It is also a political issue. Trade and foreign investment are issues that impact in different ways upon different domestic and foreign communities. Political issues often have an emotional and value-laden basis. As an economic issue, ‘outsourcing’ can be subject to investigation through the use of conventional economic analysis. Economic analysis ought to be able make a contribution to the clarification of issues involved in ‘outsourcing’. The illustration developed here draws upon work on ‘Threshold concepts’ undertaken by Peter Davies at Staffordshire University in the UK: www.staffs.ac.uk/schools/business/iepr/info/Economics(4).html