Most – OK many – of us can remember when there was no Internet, when email was a clunky toy for a few that could never revolutionize communication, when computers were huge, slow and really annoying, when wireless was just another word for radio, when a phone sat on a table, hung on a wall […]
John Nash: Playing Nice is Good for Everyone
Next in my mini-series about the great economic thought leaders who were seminal in the development and success of modern outsourcing is one of my favorites, the mathematician John F. Nash, who took economists a step or two beyond Adam Smith with his ideas on Game Theory and Behavioral Economics. His conclusions are right in […]
Ronald Coase: Business is a Math Problem
Lately I’ve been thinking and writing about the economic theorists and thought leaders who set the stage for modern outsourcing to really take off. For me, the obvious choice to begin this mini-series of posts is with Ronald Coase, who was a pioneer in the area of transaction costs and the nature of the firm. Coase’s […]
Outsourcing is NOT Offshoring – it’s Best-shoring AND Doing It Right
It’s unfortunate that mistaken perceptions are often perceived as reality; in a diabolical way the mistake then becomes reality. When people ask what I do and I explain that I teach people how to do their outsourcing better and smarter, invariably they jump into the conversation with their experience about how their company “outsourced” their […]
Is it Better to Leave Money on the Table?
If it seems like I’m a little stuck lately on Oliver Williamson’s Nobel Prize-winning research on Transaction Cost Economics (TCE), and specifically how he has tied outsourcing contracts and supply chain dynamics to his TCE research, it’s because I am. Stuck may not be the right word actually, it’s more like really impressed and fascinated […]
Walking the Walk on Collaboration
If there’s one thing that the economic woes of 2008 and 2009 taught us, it’s that collaboration – that oft-used (and often over-used) word in supply chain and outsourcing circles – must be more than lip service and feel-good fodder for slick annual reports. It’s fair to say that collaboration is an essential key to […]
A Nobel Laureate with undertones for Vested Outsourcing
I’m always on the lookout for academically rigorous studies that support the concepts of Vested Outsourcing. Now there’s a new and very important one to add to the Vested Outsourcing backpack: It’s the work of the 2009 Nobel Laureate Oliver E. Williamson. Dr. Williamson, professor emeritus of business, economics and law at the University of […]
Vince Lombardi was wrong….
Or was he? It depends on which of the many quotes about winning, losing and life from the legendary Green Bay Packers football coach, who died in 1970, you pick. For instance Lombardi famously said, “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.” I recently had dinner with Mr. Sylvan Schefler, a very wise and seasoned […]
The Five Rules: Laying the Foundation – What’s in it for We?
Any Vested relationship flourishes best in a culture in which participants work together to ensure their mutual success. While many organizations boast that they have solid partnerships in place, the University of Tennessee’s experience and research has found that most organizations really want to enhance and push their own self-interest. This is often known as […]
Rule# 1 Focus on Outcomes, Not Transactions
Any Vested relationship flourishes best in a culture in which participants work together to ensure their mutual success. In essence, Vested buys desired outcomes, not individual transactions. The service provider is paid based on its ability to achieve the mutually agreed desired outcomes. Success in Vested requires engagement of Five Rules. Here we examine the […]
