The Outsourcing Dilemma - The Search for Competitiveness.pdf

introduction
xiii
it’s time for revolution’. Again, the revolutionary or ‘start again’ approach to restructuring
business functions has been responsible for some successes, but in the real world not every
organization believes it can find a suitable time to begin a revolution.
Internal performance improvement projects are normally very expensive, time and
resource consuming and prone to failure. Likewise outsourcing projects are also normally
very expensive, time and resource consuming and prone to failure. The radical solutions
will work for some, but most organizations would not even consider taking such steps on
the grounds that their use would be inappropriate ‘at this moment in time’.
Given these problems, it is necessary to ask: ‘Is there a performance improvement
answer “for the rest of us”’ Is there some way that the average organization can become
competitive in its non-core functions, thereby improving overall competitiveness Could
we find an answer for the majority of organizations that goes further than the aims of the
in-house, external and radical solutions discussed, i.e. one that enables the organization to
remain competitive long after the change has been adopted Web-enabling developments
do offer some prospect for improvements in this area, but in addition, I believe that there
is one simple solution that could be utilized by a significant number of organizations and
it is explained in the last chapter of this book.
Back to the structure of the book. I have abbreviated the history of the subject matter
and avoided detailed case histories because they tend to suggest that everything relating to
the project concerned was a lasting success and this is not always the case.
The aim of this book is to present the arguments as fairly as possible and to suggest
ways in which the monumental problem of maintaining competitiveness might be
approached. In order to make the story flow, the main body of the book is confined to
issues that need to be considered before taking a decision to outsource and most of the
more technical ‘how-to’ outsource considerations are relegated to appendices.
Chapter 1 – deals with the changing times that have brought about the need to be competitive
in all the functions and processes undertaken by organizations.
Chapter 2 – starts by asking the question ‘How can you become competitive’ and then
runs through the various internal solutions to the problem and questions the likelihood
of success from pursuing these options.
Chapter 3 – introduces outsourcing, the external solution and probes the advantages and
disadvantages of this option.
Chapter 4 – examines the extent to which outsourcing is currently being practised and the
functions being outsourced.
Chapter 5 – looks at the growing range of alternatives to full outsourcing, including the
various types of Shared Service Centres and the potential for ASP developments.
Chapter 6 – lists a range of factors that potential clients should know about outsourcing service
providers and makes suggestions as to how to avoid some of the resulting problem areas.