Strategic Outsourcing
Book

Strategic Outsourcing

A Structured Approach to Outsourcing Decisions and Initiatives

Maurice F. Greaver II
AMACOM, 1999
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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Applicable

Recommendation

Books on corporate outsourcing generally reflect one of two themes: Outsourcing is either the ultimate answer to all your strategic worries or it’s the ultimate evil. Maurice F. Greaver II leaves little doubt about which camp he belongs to in his boosterish review of the outsourcing process. The fact that the author is an unabashed outsourcing proponent takes nothing away from this comprehensive overview of an important business trend. Greaver achieves a feat that most strategists-turned-writers do not even strive for: He quickly disposes of the why and gets right to the how. Outsourcing can be a complex, controversial and sometimes painful practice. This book will tell you how to approach it, how to implement it, and how to proceed once it’s in place. The book does have a couple of shortcomings: It’s heavy with jargon and it doesn’t provide enough detail about how managers should address employees dissatisfaction, which is arguably the biggest hurdle an outsourcing company must clear. Despite these weaknesses, the book is an impressive work, which getAbstract.com recommends to executives, managers, employees and students.

Summary

Outsourcing: An Overview

Outsourcing is a management tool that offers a new model for conducting business. Schooled in the old, industrial model of business, managers used to believe that a company had to own or control all of its own production. With outsourcing, which is based on the service and knowledge model of business, you contract with the best and fastest sources of production.

But employees misunderstand outsourcing. They hate it and fear a loss of jobs. Managers question it, fearing a loss of control and budget dollars. Executives worry that it will lock companies into inflexible contracts. Companies tend to make six excuses not to outsource: uncertainty, loss of control, loss of core competencies, employee unhappiness, difficulty in reversing an outsourcing arrangement and risk of failure. Your organization needs to understand these excuses, and the people who make them. Employee and executive fears are all natural, but they do not spring from real-world truths. Outsourcing can benefit everyone in a company. It can offer executives long-range flexibility, give managers more money to work with and provide employees with training and career opportunities.

About the Author

Maurice F. Greaver II is a former corporate CFO and CPA at Haskins & Sells. He now heads his own financial and management consulting firm and teaches the American Management Association’s course on strategic outsourcing. He lives in Washington, D.C.

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