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November 11, 2010
Comment of the Day: Outsourcing and Architecture
Posted by Derek
From reader Jose, in the comments thread to the most recent post:
"Published I find it ironic that so many pharma sites who hired hotshot architects to design labspaces that foster as much personal interaction as possible, are now pumping the virtues of collaborations across 10 time zones."
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1. Frank A. Adrian on November 11, 2010 1:04 PM writes...
"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." - Ralph W. Emerson
This is especially true in business leaders.
However, there really is no inconsistency here. Scratch the surface of any seemingly irrational business decision, you'll almost always find cost at the bottom (at least when you're not finding trading off short-term vs. long-term in addition or instead). The real reason for outsourcing? Reduce costa. The real reason for "personal interaction" space architectural designs? Again, cheap particle board cubes cost a lot less to reconfigure when the layoffs come than offices and walls. And, when you've laid everyone off, you can sell the cubes to regain a small amount of the capital outlays - you can't do that with walls.
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