The correct term is “right sourcing”. Few use it. But if it costs me $4 per unit to source something from Singapore and $8 to source it from Kansas with the same availability and quality, what would you do?
Now many companies have experimented with foreign sourcing and could not get the availability and quality required for their businesses. They either switched back to the US or the went out of business.
Thomas Sowell is my favorite authority on outsourcing. This is just one of his many comments on the topic.
http://townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/2004/03/16/outsourcing/page/full/
Manufacturing costs are not half in China. Labor is on average 10% of the finished good’s retail price.