Home/Vocabulary Exercises/ESL Vocabulary: Outsourcing

Outsourcing 1

A vocabulary exercise covering the language of outsourcing and third-party business relationships. These terms are used in vendor management, service agreements, and the broader discussion of make-vs-buy decisions.



📚 Key vocabulary
request for proposal (RFP) — a document inviting suppliers to submit bids for a specific product or service
purchase order (PO) — a commercial document authorizing a supplier to deliver specific goods or services at an agreed price
vendor management — the process of overseeing and controlling relationships with external suppliers and service providers
supply chain risk — the potential for disruptions or failures at any point in the supply chain that could affect operations
strategic sourcing — a systematic approach to procurement that optimizes costs and aligns supplier relationships with business goals
sole sourcing — purchasing from a single supplier when only one vendor can provide a particular product or service
competitive bidding — a procurement process where multiple suppliers submit offers and the best one is selected
vendor due diligence — the process of evaluating a supplier's financial stability, compliance, and capability before engagement
SLA (Service Level Agreement) — a contract defining the expected level of service between a supplier and a client
total cost of ownership (TCO) — the full cost of acquiring, operating, and maintaining a product or service over its lifetime


READY TO PRACTICE? LET’S GO!

Choose the correct response to complete each sentence.



1. The decision to outsource is often made _________________ lowering costs.
2. The process of __________________________ is similar to outsourcing, but it refers to finding the cheapest products, not services.
3. "Offshore outsourcing" refers to outsourcing __________________________.
4. One of the benefits of offshore outsourcing are the lower _______________ in developing countries.
5. Economically speaking, Canada is not a __________________________ country. Bangladesh is a __________________________ country.
6. What is the opposite of outsourcing?
7. Another benefit of outsourcing is that in many developing countries, there are fewer __________________________. This can also be seen as a negative thing from an ethical point of view.
8. Proponents of outsourcing claim that it allows companies to develop competitive strategies that will help them compete in the __________________________ marketplace.
9. _____________________ of outsourcing claim that the quality of a service is usually worse when it is outsourced.
10. Another __________________________ of outsourcing is that many people in developed countries become unemployed when their jobs are moved offshore/abroad.




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