The best way to avoid recession is to be working at a world-class level, said Julio Ramirez, managing partner and practice leader, globalization and outsourcing, for the Hackett Group.

Leaving aside for a moment the points that the Hackett Group's all-too-visible brand message at the event was 'world class defined and enabled' and that recessions are only observed in retrospect (ie when it is too late), Ramirez did offer some practical observations about outsourcing trends away from the subliminal advertising.

There are two approaches to globalisation, he said at this week's FT Outsourcing Conference. The first is the '"lift and shift' move from a high-cost to a low-cost geography” (I suspect he meant 'location' – business people, please note: geography is the study of the earth and its features), or the better option: “fix it, and then move”.

“We at Hackett believe that transformation and globalisation should be embedded into a company," he announced. "Very few have achieved world-class [that brand message again] performance levels from mere 'lift and shift'.

“You won't find world-class companies using the 'lift and shift' approach,” he added (in case you hadn't got the message, or thought he was advising against a cosmetic procedure).

To be fair to Ramirez, his presentation did eventually suck out the fat and tighten the buckle in the general direction of a notch. “The challengers [to world-class companies] are catching up very quickly,” he conceded, “pushing the envelope of globalisation... large transactions... and BPO models.” The rest of the market Ramirez dismissed as “the incrementals”, characterised by a silo mentality and a disjointed, non-strategic approach to outsourcing. Such companies are attracted by the 'lift and shift' model to get some level of labour arbitrage, he said.

So how to recession-proof the business? “There are vast opportunities for taking cost out of the back office, he began, enticingly. “Nothing can get you into worse trouble in this type of recession than an outdated back office! The typical global 1000 company is sitting on $3 billion of excess working capital, and yet there is a massive liquidity crisis," he warned, gearing himself up for the knockout.

And yet just as I was munching on a gratis mint and leaning discretely towards the underpowered soundsystem for the answer, Ramirez concluded: “World-class [kerching!] companies are there already! They've got captives built out, they have established relationships and so the upfront investment is already there and the work can be increased rapidly!”

So there you have it: if you're not already world class (can you think of a company that might be, readers?), then it's already too late. Sorry.

• The title of the presentation was "Will a Global Recession Drive More Offshoring and Outsourcing in the Future?