So reads the headline from the Earth Institute at Columbia University about its new study on offshore outsourcing. The report, a working paper of the Center on Globalization and Sustainable Development, finds that: –A major driver of offshore outsourcing is companies seeking skills they can’t find at home. –Seventy percent of companies that outsource report increases in quality of work. –Actual cost savings, which remain the primary reason for outsourcing, were achieved by 67 percent of the companies to the tune of 5 to 50 percent. –The main downside to outsourcing perceived by American businesses is loss of institutional knowledge, data security, loss of intellectual property rights and political risks.