Alliances, Outsourcing, and the Lean Organization

Alliances and outsourcing are flavors of the month, says the author of this succinct, tightly reasoned book, but how much is known about how to make them succeed? Too many are initiated for the wrong reasons, improperly thought out, and--as quick solutions to difficult problems--they just don’t work. Dr. Milgate does not try to sell alliances and outsourcing as options, but instead asks, why consider them at all? And what must you do to get the most out of them, if you decide to proceed? He offers practical advice and illustrates it with real-world case study examples. The result is a lucid, readable advisory for corporate decision makers and a useful classroom aid for their academic colleagues.

Never have pressures on corporations to trim down in size been so great. But Dr. Milgate’s research shows that corporations’ efforts to make themselves lean, to focus on core competencies, and to create mutually advantageous alliances with other corporations have not paid off. The lean organization is clearly the paradigm for business at the start of the new millennium, but how is it achieved? Instead of pure theory, Dr. Milgate offers practical advice and illustrates it with real-world case studies, chosen for their ability to demonstrate best practices in lean organizations and to provide answers to questions that, inevitably, arise repeatedly. He agrees that corporations must focus on the basics and leverage their core competencies up through a range of alliances and outsourcings, toward the goal of creating a best of everything organization. But too many alliances and outsourcing strategies are initiated for the wrong reasons, improperly thought out, and--as quick solutions to difficult problems--they just don’t work. Dr. Milgate tells us why and gives us strategic guidance on the critical issues that corporate decision makers must address as they strive to make their organizations as competitive as they must be in order to compete in the new global economy. The result is a succinct, lucid advisory for upper echelon executives and a necessary classroom aid for their academic colleagues.

MICHAEL MILGATE has worked with a number of national and international organizations as a consultant, in a variety of service and engineering-based industries, and focuses his research and lecturing on strategy, research methods, and marketing./e