Click here for the article of the New York Times, June 24, 2009.
Small businesses increasingly are tapping a new talent pool: the world.
A new generation of online service marketplaces is giving small companies more opportunities than ever to find specialized expertise and affordable labor. Main Street businesses can shop a virtual international bazaar of freelancers to recruit computer programmers in Russia, graphic designers in San Francisco or data analysts in India.
“This is one more step in the path to leveling the playing field between small and large businesses,” said Thomas W. Malone, a professor at the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and author of “The Future of Work” (Harvard Business School Press, 2004). “A small-business person in a company of one can look to the world like a very large company and have access to all kinds of services — and that’s largely because of this kind of model.”
These online marketplaces are fueled by several trends. The recession and recent wave of downsizing have forced many corporations to eliminate in-house services and use independent contractors instead. Buyouts and layoffs have pushed many skilled professionals into the freelance marketplace...
Great article with a very accurate read on things I think. I like the fact such services are available, as your article mentioned it bridges the gap between the large and small companies.
Since the global economic meltdown we have noticed a large spike in our traffic and conversions. Doing a little research via Alexa has also shown we aren't the only ones with all the top outsourcing/freelance websites having a very similar spike pattern.
Posted by: Mark Asciak | Wednesday, 08 July 2009 at 02:46 PM