Company outsourcing strategy

Roche was also one of the first companies to formulate an outsourcing strategy in the mid-1990s. The basic concept was to outsource APIs for... 

Outsourcing strategy refers to defining what operational areas the company should keep in house and what areas should be outsourced. Areas where the company has expertise or that will provide a competitive advantaged for the... 

Do not oppose outsourcing and contract manufacturing strategies. Point out to corporate management, however, that the ultimate responsibility for API manufacture rests with the internal operational functions of your company and not with those of the vendor or supplier. 

With this strategy, the sponsor outsources nearly all of its clinical development activities to CROs. Some pharmaceutical senior executives have expressed the desire to minimize in-house staff and outsource everything . Small companies may have minimal, if any, drug development staff and must rely extensively on CROs. 

Over the last few years, an increasing number of pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies have resorted to outsourcing activities in chiral synthesis, process development, and manufacturing. Dr. Peter Pollack demonstrates this strategy, provides useful pointers about the do s and don ts, and beautifully elaborates the risks and rewards inherent in outsourcing in the pharmaceutical industry. 

Consider Bharti Tele-Ventures, the largest private telephone company in India. It recently outsourced and integrated its core functions - such as network and program management, help desk support, disaster recovery, IT, and billing - which freed it to focus exclusively on marketing and customer service strategies. As a result, Bharti tripled its subscriber base - from six to 18 million subscribers - in just 20 months. 

One way in which staff reductions can be made, while keeping the organization functioning, is to outsource work to outside companies and personnel. If the work is truly one-off, such as the engineering and installation of a new piece of equipment, then the use of an outside company will usually be the best choice. However, if the work being outsourced is a core function then this strategy can create difficulties. No outsider, no matter how experienced and talented, can know all aspects of an operation in the way that a long-term employee can. 

In the development of the supply chain strategy, there is a critical question for each company to answer. It is, "How and what should be outsourced " Outsourcing to third parties can happen in all supply chain links—sales, distribution, manufacturing, procurement, and iimovation— in building a value chain. It can add value, reduce costs, and improve time to market, but it increases the need for planning, supply chain coordination of day-to-day activities and inventory, and visibility. Although companies can outsource their day-to-day supply chain activities, they cannot outsource... 

Operations strategy refers to the decisions on how the company will produce its goods and services. Examples of decisions are which production strategy will be used (e.g., make to stock, make to order or some combination), what is the best balance between in source and outsource, will the company pursue a low cost offshore manufacturing strategy, just to enumerate some examples. 

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