7. Outsourcing: Finger-pointing

One drawback of outsourcing to multiple vendors is that if an error occurs with some function related to all vendors responsibilities, the firm responsible for the error might blame the mistake on one of the other vendors, or the firm itself.  Finger-pointing is detrimental as it fosters hostility among the involved parties and may result in the firm never identifying the true source of the problem.  The result... wasted time, wasted money, and new enemies.  For this reason, among others, I believe that outsourcing should be limited to as few vendors as possible.  Fewer vendors equals better relationships with selected vendors, and less risk of finger-pointing.  

6. Outsourcing

Admittedly, before taking Dr. Schwaz's class I assumed that outsourcing was synonymous with off-shoring.  As a person who always values U.S. manufactured goods over foreign made products, I did not support [what I thought was] outsourcing.   It turns out that I do support outsourcing and am not much for off-shoring.

Outsourcing is beneficial as it allows firms to concentrate more on their core competencies and less on task to which they are not specifically oriented.  For example, a law firm can outsource marketing and concentrate more on what they were organized to do... practice law.  There are obvious drawbacks to outsourcing (i.e. control, cost, etc...) but I believe that functions outside of a firms scope should be outsourced until that firm, through expansion efforts, is capable of incorporating those functions in to their operations and strategic goals.

5. Knowledge sharing and innovation

It has been proposed that knowledge sharing might suppress innovation.  I disagree.  Though I am sure there are inherent dangers associated with relying on another’s data to base decisions, I believe that most innovators build upon the ideas of those before them.  For example, a manager who comes up with a new way of tracking inventory probably based his new method on the successes and failures of other managers who shared their experiences with him.  I doubt such a manager could develop a successful tracking method without this knowledge.  So if I am right, knowledge sharing becomes crucial to innovation.