Since the early 1990s outsourcing has been a major industrial trend. In the literature the economic advantages of outsourcing are often taken for granted. This article aims to take a detailed look at actual outcomes in terms of costs and competences. The focus is on outsourcing of manufacturing...

Summary For a long time, the telecom equipment industry has been at the forefront of outsourcing and relocating production operations to contract manufacturing firms located in Asia and Eastern Europe. Recently, however, leading firms have begun to revise this strategy, based on their...