Outsourcing, Supplier Relations, and the External Span of Control

The outsourcing and supplier relations literature focuses primarily on initial designs while ignoring how superior implementation skills can drive competitive advantage. The concept of external span of control, defined as a firm’s overall capability to manage multiple and varying relations with outside suppliers, is put forward to capture implementation differences. Its antecedents are described and strategies are provided for improving it involving growth, alignment, internal development, and inter-firm learning.