Offshore outsourcing is the practice of hiring an external organization to perform some business functions ("
Outsourcing") in a country other than the one where the
products or
services are actually developed or manufactured (""). It can be contrasted with
offshoring, in which a company moves itself entirely to another country, or where functions are performed in a foreign country by a foreign subsidiary. Opponents point out that the practice of sending work overseas by countries with higher
wages reduces their own domestic employment and domestic investment. Many customer service jobs as well as jobs in the
information technology sectors (
data processing,
computer programming, and
technical support) in countries such as the
United States and the
United Kingdom - have been or are potentially affected.