3COM: Managing outsourcing as "core competency"
For some companies, outsourcing means taking away the routine functions so
you can focus on what's important and brings in the moolah. But with more
and more companies following trend, sometimes proper management is the key
differentiator.
For networking company 3Com, outsourcing is not just about cost-savings.
Its about looking for the right partners to help keep the company
competitive.
In a Strait Times article, 3Com chief Bruce Caflin outlined some of the
strategies which helped bring back the company to profitability - and from
shaving annual capital expenditure from US$ 100 to US$ 20 million.
3Com's outsources not only routine stuff like marketing, finance or
marketing. Being a technology company that churns out products, it has
also outsourced the company's most important [and critica] process -
manufacturing.
The company's laundry list of outsourced items includes R&D and production
hru partners in China, Taiwan, US, Singapore and India.
In the words of Caflin himself, 3Com is in the business of "getting others
to do something you can't to be more complete in front of customers".
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