Strategie di outsourcing e offshoring. Dal global sourcing all’holonic enterprise

Abstract

Outsourcing functions, processes and activities normally developed inside organizations through outsourcing contracts is not a new phenomenon. In recent years, however, outsourcing strategies have undergone a profound evolution, from simple forms of production contracts made with third parties to agreements that involve functions and activities which, requiring “core competencies”, were until then considered not capable of being outsourced. The tendency today is to attain “global sourcing” and offshoring ; that is, outsourcing that involves outsourcers located in countries other than that of the outsourcee. This tendency to outsource most of the functions and processes can take on the extreme form, which we can define as “ extreme outsourcing ”, and lead to the formation of a virtual organization , a company characterized by the pure business coordination of its businesses, where all the productive and economic processes have been outsourced through the formation of a stable but flexible network.