"Offshoring is defined as the movement of a business process done at a company in one country to the same or another company in another, different country. Almost always work is moved due to a lower cost of operations in the new location. Offshoring is sometimes contrasted with outsourcing or offshore outsourcing. Outsourcing is the movement of internal business processes to an external company. Companies subcontracting in the same country would be outsourcing, but not offshoring. A company moving an internal business unit from one country to another would be offshoring, but not outsourcing. A company subcontracting a business unit to a different company in another country would be both outsourcing and offshoring."
So there is a small semantical difference between the two, offshoring is broader.
Edit: Offshoring is not necessarily broader than outsourcing, except offshoring applies to internal and external business processes.
If you have a Canadian make a logo for you, are you offshoring? NO--there's no shore by my definition, and there's no moving of an existing process according to Wikipedia.
I think for startups, outsourcing is the best term to use.
In this case the distinction between outsourcing and offshoring gets fuzzy because making the logo was not something that was previously done by Kevin Rose's company, because Kevin Rose's company didn't do any internal logo development or hire any local companies to do logo development. I don't think a correct use of the word offshoring requires crossing an ocean, it seems to be accepted that it just means a different country, even if the word itself doesn't imply this meaning.
I'll agree that outsourcing is a more appropriate term, I used the word offshoring in my initial post without thinking because I thought (incorrectly) it was less politically charged than outsourcing. I'm going to agree with SwellJoe and say that there's something inherently xenophobic about the word offshoring.
You guys. We all know you are all super intelligent and well educated, but this is exactly the problem that comes with being too smart. You make things a bit more complicated. Outsourcing = letting a third party handle a piece of your production. Offshore = outside defined geographical limits. The expression is offshore outsourcing.
"... this is exactly the problem that comes with being too smart. You make things a bit more complicated. Outsourcing = letting a third party handle a piece of your production. ..."
Your mistake is equating development to production. Making software is difficult because designing upfront and then expecting the result to reflect "what users want" is an oxymoron. Instead think "just-in-time" design and creation of a software product in very close communication with users.
'... total outsourcing leads to delayed and inferior products due to human factors and mis-communication ...'
The real "value add" here is being able to "optomise employee face-time" with your "unit profit generators" (users) through "space-time" savings of costs per "CSM" (cubicle square meterage), delivering superior "user expectations".
Outsourcing in this context is just another business fad. Feel free to insert your own business "Buzz words" in place of place of the ones inserted.
"Offshoring is defined as the movement of a business process done at a company in one country to the same or another company in another, different country. Almost always work is moved due to a lower cost of operations in the new location. Offshoring is sometimes contrasted with outsourcing or offshore outsourcing. Outsourcing is the movement of internal business processes to an external company. Companies subcontracting in the same country would be outsourcing, but not offshoring. A company moving an internal business unit from one country to another would be offshoring, but not outsourcing. A company subcontracting a business unit to a different company in another country would be both outsourcing and offshoring."
So there is a small semantical difference between the two, offshoring is broader.
Edit: Offshoring is not necessarily broader than outsourcing, except offshoring applies to internal and external business processes.