Offshoring trends and foreign direct investments in the Middle Europe and BRIC area

The changes we are witnessing have a crucial role in the nature of the global economy. Continuous globalization processes and the blurring of boundaries between countries allow businesses operate in a never seen before scale. One important effect of the increasing integration of the world economy is a rising importance of possibilities to offshore and outsource value-creating activities. In many industries, firms are able to disaggregate their value chains into smaller parts. This process allows for a less path-dependent approach to the firm’s ideal location profile (through offshoring and relocation) and control strategies (through outsourcing). Undoubtedly, offshoring based on information and communication technology now experiences its heyday. The main aim of this article is to show importance of offshoring and foreign direct investments for developing countries such as Poland, Czech Republic, and more generally speaking the Middle Europe and BRIC area. The article explains the concept of offshoring and its prospects, giving examples of companies like Apple, HP, IBM, Credit Suisse, UBS, Irevna, McKinsey & Co., Siemens, Google and Microsoft. Offshoring advantages and disadvantages were highlighted.