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May 29, 2009 - 00:00 GMT

Outsourcing, or simply subcontracting in its plainest form, has been part of business activity for decades, if not centuries. It came to the fore as a useful strategy for large companies in the 1990s, when a wave of corporations outsourced operation of their IT systems to third parties.

Outsourcing, or simply subcontracting in its plainest form, has been part of business activity for decades, if not centuries. It came to the fore as a useful strategy for large companies in the 1990s, when a wave of corporations outsourced operation of their IT systems to third parties. In common with many basic business practices, the theory is straightforward: divide your business into component parts, such as purchasing, manufacturing, marketing, sales, finance and r&d; identify divisions, or sub-divisions, of activity where your firm has special expertise and has, or can gain, a unique competitive advantage; build strong in-house teams to...

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