| [abstract] Critical factors affecting the global automotive supply chains are: globalization, cost pressures, protecting intellectual properties, speed to market and strategic collaboration.Some of these factors are increasingly putting pressure to outsource to low-cost countries (e.g. India and China). IT outsourcing has created significant debate as to its effect on the US economy.Unlike typical IT functions, outsourcing non-commodity items such as product design and engineering requires strategic intent, long term planning and developing trusted alliances.While nurturing suppliers domestically has taken time and effort to build trust and confidence in supplier abilities, outsourcing to low cost countries has created a need to revisit firm strategy and tactics. In this paper we present a detailed case study of a firm that designs automotive components using engineers in both India and the US. We will describe such issues as what parts of the product development process are most easily outsourced, how work must be organized in order to take advantage of time zone differences between the US and India, the nature of contracts and other incentives that govern such work (and their intended and unintended consequences). In doing so, we hope to shed light on questions such as whether the outsourcing of product design will be a substitute for or complement to US employment.
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