Today’s business world relies on strategies that have gone beyond the geographical boundaries of one country to become International and in many cases “global”. This has only been made possible by a logistics industry that has not only learnt to manage with lower levels of inventory,...

Purpose The method of understanding and managing the diversity within a business is at the heart of the reasoning behind the concept of ‘supply chain segmentation’. The overarching principle is to find economical segments within the diverse product and customer mix and to match...

Purpose Pharmaceutical distributors and wholesalers have played a key part in the pharmaceutical products supply chains in the United Kingdom and the USA for many years (HDMA, 2009). Their role is changing as control of the “space” between manufacturers and retailers has become contested...

Over the past few decades, outsourcing has become a widely discussed and researched means for firms to change their performance. In this article, we attempt to link outsourcing to the market success of firms, specifically their market share. We argue that although firms may be able to increase...

Outsourcing has gained much prominence in managerial practice and academic discussions in the last two decades or so. Yet, we still do not understand the full implications of outsourcing strategy for corporate performance. Traditionally outsourcing across borders is explained as a cost-cutting...

Almost all managers have directly or indirectly been involved in the practice of outsourcing in recent years. But as they know, outsourcing is not straightforward. Outsourcing inertia, when companies are slow to adapt to changing circumstances that accommodate higher outsourcing levels, may...

In a highly competitive global environment, many manufacturers respond by setting up outsourcing relations for components and finished products with lower-cost producers on a contractual OEM (original equipment manufacture) basis. In the last decade, we have witnessed a spectacular growth in...

In this study we present and test a technological contingency perspective on two dimensions of international outsourcing: depth and scope. The depth of international outsourcing refers to the ratio of foreign to total outsourcing. The scope of international outsourcing captures the degree of...