| When I talk about outsourcing, I don't mean of supporting functions, like tech support (although there are also drawbacks to outsourcing that). I'm talking about core business. Skilled engineering doesn't get appreciably cheaper if done by outside agents (contractors, etc.), and you end up either losing know-how, paying 2-3 times as much for it as you would for engineers on staff, or end up with inferior quality. And it doesn't get much better when it comes to manufacturing, once we're not talking about low-price consumer goods. |
