Article at a glance:

Offshoring goes on the offensive

For many companies, offshore outsourcing is about little more than saving costs on low-skill, labor-intensive activities. Yet the leading offshore outsourcing companies offer their Western clients superior performance in high-skill business operations as well. And as computer industry players such as Dell, HP, and Gateway demonstrate, offshore outsourcers can even be used to launch attacks on adjacent product markets.

The take-away

Offshoring is no longer just about call centers and assembling products—it's about Western companies using the sophisticated design and management capabilities of their partners in the developing world to go where they can't go alone.