Abstract
Outsourcing is essentially about the companies’ position in the supply chain. There are many strategic reasons for outsourcing that despite the drawbacks have made it a trend in manufacturing. Outsourcing is normally viewed as involving the contracting out of a business function or process previously performed in-house to an external provider. This means that a company based on its strategic considerations will choose to split up some functions or processes and outsource them to an external organization mainly because they are not considered core business, or are perhaps too costly to perform in-house. Various support processes and functions are frequently not considered value adding for a manufacturing company. To maximize the advantages and minimize the risks of outsourcing the company needs to anchor these processes and decisions strategically. This means that the less tangible aspects such as control and knowledge need to be evaluated and dealt with in the strategic decision process. Of recent concern is the ability of businesses to outsource to suppliers outside of their national boundaries, sometimes referred to as offshoring or offshore outsourcing.
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Rolstadås, A., Henriksen, B., O’Sullivan, D. (2012). Make or Buy?. In: Manufacturing Outsourcing. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-2954-7_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-2954-7_11
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