Insourcing/Outsoucing—The FlexCon Piston Decision
This case addresses many issues that affect insourcing/outsourcing decisions. A complex and important topic facing businesses today is whether to produce a component, assembly, or service internally (insourcing), or whether to purchase that same component, assembly, or service from an external supplier (outsourcing).
Because of the important relationship between insourcing/outsourcing and competitiveness, organizations must consider many variables when considering an insourcing/outsourcing decision. This may include a detailed examination of a firm’s competency and costs, along with quality, delivery, technology, responsiveness, and continuous improvement requirements. Because of
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Shorter cycle times, for example, encourage greater outsourcing with less vertical integration. The time to develop a production capability or capacity may exceed the window available to enter a new market.
▪ Wall Street recognizes and rewards firms with higher ROI/ROA. Since insourcing usually requires an assumption of fixed assets (and increased human capital), financial pressures are causing managers to closely exam sourcing decisions. Avoidance of fixed costs and asset is motivating many firms to rely on supplier assets.
▪ Improved computer simulation tools and forecasting software enable firms to perform insourcing/outsourcing comparisons with greater precision. These tools allow the user to perform sensitivity analysis (what-if analysis) that permits comparison of different sourcing possibilities.
One topic that interested FlexCon managers was a discussion of how core competencies relate to outsourcing decisions. FlexCon management commonly accepted that a core competency was something the company "was good at." This view, however, is not correct. A core competence refers to skills, processes, or resources that distinguish a company, are hard to duplicate, and make that firm unique compared to other firms. Core competencies begin to define a firm's long run, strategic ability to build a dominant set of technologies and/or skills that enable it to adapt quickly to changing market
After analyzing all these risks and criteria Id like to present some points to demonstrate why we should go for outsourcing:
Because many businesses in the US have more often began outsourcing different business products instead of doing them in-house, it is important to understand why outsourcing may be the best option. Although many tie outsourcing to foreign markets, outsourcing can include both foreign and domestic markets. By entering into a contractual agreement, outsourcing allows organizations to pay for services they need. This gives the option for a business to get professionals to perform services for them that the business may not have the staff for. Outsourcing provides a cost saving-strategy that is usually more affordable. Ultimately,
Therefore, manufacturers face a trade-off between gain from the efficient technology and loss from paying the information rent. When a firm decides on in-house production instead of outsourcing, although a manufacturer can obtain the entire profit, it loses the gain from the cost efficiency of outsourcing. When outsourcing is selected, although a manufacturer can acquire the gain from cost efficiency, it is required to share the gain with the outsourcer.
List and describe at least three factors that a firm should consider when making an outsourcing decision.
It is a concept that has evolved from a manufacturing perspective to a strategic perspective, which views the concept as a way for organizations to focus and be more competitive. The basic premise of outsourcing is that a specialist organization can perform a particular service more efficiently than can internal operations because a specialist organization has an inherent advantage in producing and delivering a service. Superior technology, management skills, or economies of scale may contribute to this perception. The type of sourcing relationship depends on whether a long-term or short-term need exists. To save funds used for benefits for regular employees, temporary workers are hired. In this case, the organization (outsourcer) provides all necessary resources except the workers, who are provided by the vendor. For long-term services, the vendor has full responsibility for delivering the service; the outsourcer provides only a liaison.
The fourth advantage to outsourcing is that it can help develop internal staff. As I stated in the advantage above, outsourcing projects help meet performance peaks, but it can also assist in completing projects that are nearing the end of its requirements. What this does is allow the company staff to focus on new initiatives that
Outsourcing has become an integral part of many organizations today. Outsourcing has its advantages and disadvantages that organizations will have to weigh to decide whether or not outsourcing is the best possible solution to their current problems and business operations. Outsourcing refers to the process of hiring external provider to operate on a business or organization function (Venture Outsource, 2012). In this case, two organizations or businesses enter a contract where there will be an exchange of services and payments. This paper will discuss the possible risks an organization may encounter in outsourcing in relation to the use of an external service
(Pearlson,2001). Cost is the most important factor when the enterprise make a decision of insourcing or outsourcing. If the company produce the products or service on its own, there are costs more than producing, which can include investments of researching, training, and equipment.The investment of insourcing can be a lot more than the outsourcing because of economies of scale.Outsourcing providers can gain significant savings from economies of scale, which client companies usually can’t get on its own(Pearlson,2001). This benefit could be magnified in IT outsourcing.In the case of Project Harmony, as a food company, Campbell soup was a lack of sufficient scale within their own IS departments and IT technical expertise, so the saving between outsourcing and insourcing was significant.To conclude, cost reducing is the first of core benefits of outsourcing due to economies of
Outsourcing is when a company purchases products or services from an outside supplier rather than performing the same work within its own facilities, in order to cut costs. In other words, outsourcing is an organization's contractual relationship with a specialized outside service provider for work traditionally done internally by that organization. The decision to outsource is a major strategic one for most companies because it involves weighing the potential cost saving against the consequences of a loss in control over the product or service. Some common examples of outsourcing include manufacturing of components, computer programming services, tax compliance and other accounting functions, as well as payroll and other
To take on these competitive challenges, corporations are outsourcing to specialized companies that can use their capability to increase the efficiency of an outsourced function (Burt, 2010). Outsourcing has become so common that it is listed as one of the five basic forms of collaboration among supply chain participants (Bowersox, 2010). However, over the past several years there has been a surge of outsourcing taking place in the United States and abroad and this trend has added a new dimension to procurement (Burt, 2010). Today, procurement is used as a competitive weapon that differentiates successful, highly profitable companies from others within the same commerce. (Simchi, Kaminski, Simchi,
The vendors are investing in their employees by various training programs on different technologies. This gives a chance for the vendor to provide the outsourcing services to a company with the help of the well trained employees who are ready to work on the projects. Before outsourcing some of its products and services to a third part vendor, the company has to analyze all the factors that might result from the outsourcing decision, the advantages and disadvantages of the company both in short term and long term due to outsourcing. According to Aubuchon, outsourcing some of its products can be a good thing for a company and the judgment to outsource the services must not only based on the cost factor, but the company has to take all other significant factors into consideration (Aubuchon, 2014).
Core competencies are the most significant value creating skills within a company and key areas of expertise that are distinctive to a company and critical to the company's long-term growth. Core competencies are the pieces that a company is superior than its competitors in the critical, central areas of the company where the most value is added to its products. These areas of expertise may be in any area from product development to employee dedication. A competence which is central to business's operations but which is not exceptional in some way is not considered as a core competence, as it will not generate a differentiated advantage over rival businesses. It follows from the concept of core competencies; resources that are
First advantage of outsourcing is that the organization is in the position to ensure that it is able to complete its activities in a swift and expert manner. Second advantage of outsourcing is that it helps organization to concentrate on core process instead of supporting processes carried out by it. Third advantage of outsourcing is that the organization will be in the position to ensure that it is engaged in activities of risk sharing over a period of time (Carroll, 2007). First disadvantage of outsourcing is that the organization will have risk of exposing confidential data. Second disadvantage of outsourcing is that it can cause some problem to
Outsourcing involves the transfer of an organization’s regular business activities (functions and processes) to an outside service provider that provides the services back to the organization, as defined in a (typically) long-term contract. The core of an outsourcing arrangement is that the control and ownership of the business activities are put into the hands of the service provider. The service provider then owns and manages the business processes, including the resources that are used to provide the services to that organization. In a typical outsourcing, the people, the facilities, the equipment and the technology are transferred to the service provider. Given the magnitude and complexity involved, outsourcing relationships tend to be long-term propositions, usually in the 5 to 10 year range, and sometimes longer.
Outsourcing should only be implemented when a company’s core competitive advantages are not affected and then when