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In recent years the strategy of concentrating on core competencies of com pa nies led to a vertical disintegration of processes along the value chain. Prac ti cal experience shows that companies focusing on their core competencies in first turn outsource logistics operations within their supply chain to external ser vice providers. A fundamental question to ask in this work is whether out sour cing is really value enhancing and, in particular, whether the firm that un dertakes outsourcing becomes more efficient as a result. It will be shown that in an attempt to increase efficiency by reducing ex pen ses and turning fixed costs into variable costs, companies pursue re struc tu ring procedures that include outsourcing of non-core activities to specialists ha ving a lower cost base due to better economies of scale and scope. Anyone who wants to outsource a function, or who wants to know more about how outsourcing works, can find within this book a discussion of se lec ted issues that may arise during this process, putting the main emphasis on the planning stage as it is considered to be the critical factor in a successful out sourcing project.

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Bachelor of International Businessand Management. Currently enrolled at the FH Münster, Master of Logistics (MSc).

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