In recent years the strategy of concentrating on core competencies of companies
led to a vertical disintegration of processes along the value chain. Practical
experience shows that companies focusing on their core competencies in
first turn outsource logistics operations within their supply chain to external
service providers. A fundamental question to ask in this work is whether outsourcing
is really value enhancing and, in particular, whether the firm that
undertakes outsourcing becomes more efficient as a result.
It will be shown that in an attempt to increase efficiency by reducing...