Success Quote by Andrew Gould

A non-answer that’s also a tell: Gould’s line is the polished corporate way of admitting that “industry strategy” is often just client demand wearing a blazer. The question invites a macro prediction - will outsourcing keep rising? - but he pulls it back to the only lever executives reliably respond to: whoever pays the invoices. That pivot isn’t evasive so much as revealing. It frames outsourcing less as an ideological commitment to globalization or cost-cutting and more as a market service, a choice made on behalf of customers who want cheaper, faster, or more scalable work.

The subtext is accountability management. By locating the decision in the “client base,” Gould disperses responsibility: if jobs move offshore, it’s not management’s greed or a board’s spreadsheet fetish; it’s the market speaking. It’s also a subtle warning to employees and policymakers: you can’t regulate or shame your way out of this without changing incentives on the demand side.

Contextually, this kind of statement fits a late-20th/early-21st-century business environment where outsourcing has become normalized across sectors - from manufacturing to IT services to back-office operations - and where companies are judged quarterly. Saying “it depends” signals prudence, but it also protects optionality: if clients prioritize price, outsourcing accelerates; if they prioritize security, quality control, or geopolitical stability, the calculus shifts.

What makes the line work is its strategic modesty. It sounds reasonable, even boring, while quietly recentering power: not labor, not governments, not even “the industry,” but the customer as the ultimate author of corporate decisions.