Globalization along with the rise of information technology has led to changes in the global business world. Outsourcing occurs when a company hires another entity to perform its functions. This can be on-shore (in the same country) and off-shore (in another country), but this paper will be based on offshoring because the overall aspect must be put into perspective. First, the emergence of outsourcing will be discussed, followed by the reasons and scope of outsourcing. The article will then focus on the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing. Emergence of Outsourcing Global outsourcing first became popular in the clothing and textile industries in the late 1960s and 1970s. Then it continued with automobiles, computers, electronics and other forms of assembly work during the 1980s. More recently, in the 1990s, outsourcing today and tomorrow focuses on "knowledge" tasks such as software design, technical support, telemarketing, call center and back office work. By the end of 2009, information technology outsourcing (ITO) revenues were over US$250 billion, while business process outsourcing (BPO) revenues exceeded US$140 billion. . By 2006, more than 200 Forbes 2000 companies and nearly half of the Top Global 250 had offshored their IT and business process activities. In 2008, India managed 65% of the ITO market and 43% of the BPO market. Generally speaking, India, China, Latin America, the Philippines and Mexico were the main offshoring countries. The United States is a major player in the offshoring of information technology and business processes, but Europe is also catching up. The growth in global supply has been triggered by technological advancements in the telecommunications and internet industry with...... middle of paper ...... meeting major targets. If there are just a few core skills after outsourcing, companies can strive to develop the best capabilities in the world. Companies that outsource can leverage the innovative capabilities and skills of the service provider, which may not be possible to develop in-house. For example, if a company outsources its IT solutions to a service provider in India, the service provider will provide the company with access to its software solutions and data warehouses, which would be very difficult to replicate by them- even. A supplier network can provide organizations with the ability to adjust production capacity up or down, at lower cost, as they attempt to meet demand conditions. Outsourcing can also reduce product design cycle time