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Good morning, everyone. First of all, I’d like to introduce myself. My name is Joanna Brooks and I am working for ADC Consulting. The purpose of my talk today is to introduce a business practice which is becoming increasingly popular today. I am referring to the practice of outsourcing. My talk will last about 5 minutes and I would be grateful if you could hold your questions until the end of my talk.
     You may not be familiar with the term ’outsourcing’ -- it involves calling in professional help to catty out activities which don’t form the central core of a particular business. Outsourcing is now being used increasingly in special partnership arrangements with individuals and other companies. Outsourcing is popular because it makes it possible for other companies and individuals to perform functions previously done by a company’s own staff.
     For example, accounting--though a basic requirement of any business -- is carried out by accountants who may have little or no knowledge of the products manufactured and marketed by a business. An accountant working in one firm will do pretty much the same tasks as an accountant working in another, completely different business.
     Many years ago outsourcing was restricted to non-essential functions such as office cleaning, catering or garden maintenance. However, it has now spread into areas that include accounting -- as I mentioned in the example I’ve just given -- information technology, quality assurance, recruitment and marketing.
     The consulting company which I represent is ADC Consulting, one of the biggest consultancies specialising in outsourcing. Recently, we broke new ground when we formed a partnership deal to take over the accounting services of a well-known international shipping company. The agreement was drafted by a working party consisting of representatives front both companies.
     So how did this actually help the company? The arrangement meant our company absorbing more than 200 of the international shipping company’s staff as a part of our own staff. And the result was a 30 per cent reduction in operating costs for the shipping company.
     At ADC Consulting We’ve just published the results of an interesting survey carried out for us. We wanted the survey to explore how 200 American organisations were reacting to outsourcing. From this survey we found that ordinary outsourcing--that is, going to service organisations for cleaners, security staff, and so on -- was the most common way for organisations to reap, benefits. But the newer kind of outsourcing that I’ve described seemed to be gaining ground--that is, the kind where people from outside are brought in to participate in certain important functions -- accounting, marketing and so on. The survey showed that nine out of ten firms which completed our questionnaires have contracted out one or more functions.
     The main sense of unease -- or shall we say, reservation--well, the main reservation about outsourcing was the possibility of losing control over vital activities in a particular company. It is only natural that most companies would at first experience some concern about another company taking over the responsibility for doing their accounts or their recruitment. But once they’ve overcome this concern and experienced all the benefits of outsourcing, they’re usually hooked on the idea. Outsourcing is certainly a very big market now, and the predictions are that it will grow rapidly over the next few years.