Inside Outsourcing: Managing the Secrets of Strategic Sourcing

In Inside Outsourcing Charles Gay provides a true insider's knowledge of the realities of managing the outsourcing process. Many organizations outsource such activities as property, payroll and computer services as a tactical solution to a particular problem, yet fail to realize the full power of this critical strategic business tool. Few go so far as British Airways. Inside Outsourcing can change all this with its blueprint for liberating the full potential for an organization's profitability, efficiency and cost-effective operations, while allowing maximum flexibility for retaining and broadening their customer franchise. From contracting out to co-sourcing, from partnering to insourcing, the authors explain what the rationale for outsourcing ought to be, whether an organization ought to be doing it and if so, the practical details of how it should go about it. Unlike other more theoretical approaches to outsourcing, they present a detailed and practical guide through each step of the process - from decision making to implementation - to identify what a company does more creatively, more energetically, and more uniquely than the competition, not simply what conventional wisdom says it does best. Every company, every organization has a core activity that makes it unique, untouchable by the competition. Many focus on their one true asset: ownership of the customer, and many public and private sector firms have used outsourcing as a strategic business tool to strip away the extraneous and exploit the very core that allows them to exploit their full potential. But outsourcing requires new management skills - from the disciplined selection process to an understanding of the crucially important elements of culture and corportate chemistry that can make or break a relationship. Inside Outsourcing explains how to adopt a successful approach to managing your organization's outsourcing relationships, from defining the right approach in the first place to monitoring the outsourcing as it progresses. Included are many case studies from international organizations are included, such as EDS, the BBC, Rolls Royce, GEC, Bethlehem Steel, British Aerospace, Pharmacia Upjohn, Gillette and DuPont.

About the Author :
Charles L. Gay is managing director of Shreeveport Management Consultancy which has implemented outsourcing initiatives for numerous blue-chip organizations in the private sector, and which also undertakes considerable work in the public sector under Government initatives to streamline operations and maximise service quality. A frequent speaker on outsourcing and business strategy issues at conferences worldwide, he has more than 20 years experience of consulting in outsourcing and other forms of sourcing around the world.