The role of the Western engineer in the emerging Asian multinational corporation

In recent years there has been a growing trend of Western companies outsourcing many engineering jobs to Taiwan, India, and China. While companies have been outsourcing and moving manufacturing jobs for decades, there is a recent acceleration of sending “high tech” engineering jobs overseas. While the job loss in the Western world is alarming to Western engineers, there is another trend that is keeping jobs in the West that deserves some consideration. Asian multinational corporations are acquiring engineering operations in the United States and Europe. Since there is seemingly abundant talent available in their home countries, what motivates these Asian multinational corporations to invest in Western engineering operations? Is this investment a long term viable employment option for Western engineers? This paper will address these two critical questions.