Customer Reviews

Strategic Outsourcing: A Structured Approach to Outsourcing Decisions and Initiatives

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"Strategic Outsourcing" is the finest outsourcing book that I have read. It covers a complex subject in a comprehensive manner. One of the book's unique aspects is that Maurice Greaver has made this complex subject easy to understand. The examples are many and interesting, and his writing style makes it actually a fun read. I encourage those wrestling with an outsourcing decision or project to read this book-it's well worth the investment.

Books on corporate outsourcing generally reflect one of two themes: Outsourcing is either the ultimate answer to all your strategic worries or it's the ultimate evil. Maurice F. Greaver II leaves little doubt about which camp he belongs to in his boosterish review of the outsourcing process. The fact that the author is an unabashed outsourcing proponent takes nothing away from this comprehensive overview of an important business trend. Greaver achieves a feat that most strategists-turned-writers do not even strive for: He quickly disposes of the why and gets right to the how. Outsourcing can be a complex, controversial and sometimes painful practice. This book will tell you how to approach it, how to implement it, and how to proceed once it's in place. The book does have a couple of shortcomings: It's heavy with jargon and it doesn't provide enough detail about how managers should address employees dissatisfaction, which is arguably the biggest hurdle an outsourcing company must clear. Despite these weaknesses, the book is an impressive work, which we at getAbstract.com recommend to executives, managers, employees and students.

This book is both very informative and interesting, one that brings outsourcing theory to life. Its pragmatic approach offers frequent insights into actions to take and, more importantly, what mistakes to avoid.

The chapter on Outside Advisors was of great value. So often, as was our case, we didn't know what we didn't know. Using an outside advisor, such as Maurice Greaver, allows the project team to quickly identify and cut through the jungle of issues, and to focus on the path to success! This book is the next best thing to having his expertise in the room, as part of the team.

Another area was most valuable - Mr. Greaver's discussion of the complex "make or buy" financial decision. There were a number of elements for consideration that I hadn't thought about. This could have been a costly mistake, and one I would have made if not for the thorough explanation provided in Strategic Outsourcing.

I was pleasantly surprised by STRATEGIC OUTCOURCING which deals not only with what to outsource but how to make the outsourcing decision using key two questions: Is this a core or strategic area? and What do I save and gain by outsourcing this activity? Peter Drucker believes that the reason to outsource is to free up critical management time to work on important things. If you happen to save some money in the process, that is an added benefit, but not the outsourcing driver. STRATEGIC OUTSOURCING also deals with the people and transitional issues, and how to manage the business and the employees once the activity is outsourced. If you have not outsourced anything except payroll and tax before, you must read this book. Another process that you must pursue primarily because of the time saved for management is described in THE 2,000 PERCENT SOLUTION, by Mitchell, Coles and Metz. They describe a unique approach to achieve your goals in 1/20th the time by identifying and eliminating the stalls to progress and focusing on the best possible ways to reach your objective. Outsourcing may be one of them! I highly recommend both books.

I found that "Strategic Outsourcing: A Structured Approach to Outsourcing Decisions and Initiatives" was extremely helpful to us in our outsourcing initiatives. Of particular note was the usefulness of the sections on: the reasons to outsource, case studies of actual transactions, and project forms. He shows how cost reduction is only one of many good reasons to outsource.

Maurice Greaver brings real value in the discussions of outsourcing as it relates to the organization's vision, strategies, core competencies, and other transformaton tools. As the president, I now better understand how the outsourcing tool fits into the bigger picture.

Finally, the step by step guidance is especially helpful to the project team as they move through the initiative. He offers many tips that only a wealth of experience could have generated. You can significantly cut your outsourcing learning curve with this book.

I approached this book with some skepticism.
From experience I have seen too many CPA and consultant
types write books purely for the benefit of their career
and pocketbook. These books have often been academic or superficial. This book is full of what, after many years
and many deals, I know to be sound thinking. The book is
also quite thorough. It is not a quick read. It is easy
enough to read but there is a great deal of information contained. For the busy executive it should be acquired
for reference as you need it. Although you should try
to read all of Part One if you can. The beginner or the
student should read often and take notes.

One previous reviewer noted that the book provides
little guidance regarding employee reactions. This
is true. You will need another book in that area.
But what is here is very good.

Mr Greaver has done the business community a genuine service.

Strategic Outsourcing is a tremendous source of outsourcing knowledge delivered in a direct, easy to read style. It's a book that has the value of an encyclopedia, but the reading enjoyment of a hard-hitting novel. We discovered many pearls of wisdom, and enjoyed the experience.

I found the section on "Exploring Strategic Implications" (Chapters 6-9) to be particularly interesting, as the author explains why it is so important to see how outsourcing fits into the organization's strategy, to make its implementation much more effective. I also particularly enjoyed the many examples of outsourcing transactions, showing how fast outsourcing is growing.

For those looking for the all-encompassing outsourcing book - not just about information technology, the narrow focus of so many outsourcing books - I heartily recommend Strategic Outsourcing.

This book provides such a straight forward roadmap for outsourcing projects/decisions that I wish I had more projects to evaluate/manage. The roadmap provided is usable on the strategic decision or on the implementation of an outsourcing decision. I found it easy to read but also I found it an easy reference as a project unfolds.

To Mr. Greaver: First at all my congratulations for your excellent book, Strategic Outsourcing,A Structured Approach to Outsourcing Decisions and Initiatives, which one has been recomended to my students of my course, Outsourcing in Finance, into the MBA program at IESA (Instituto de Estudios Superiores en Administración), the best institution to learn management in Venezuela, and specialist in fourth level education. Following your book, I have developed a summary that contains the essentials of the matter. As part of the course we have visited different firms that offer the outsourcing, and the students have verified that your methodolgy is an invaluable tool to learn and understand the outsourcing process. Thank you for your contribution and my best wishes for the next editorial ventures.

I strongly recomended this book.

A detailed 'when, why and how to do it' coverage of outsourcing, including a seven step methodology. The book is in eight parts. The first sets out an overview and the methodology. The remaining seven parts cover the seven identified steps:

Planning initiatives

Exploring strategic implications

Analyzing costs/performance

Selecting providers

Negotiating terms

Transitioning resources

Managing relationships

As you would expect of a book that is set up as a manual, there are plenty of tables, check lists and examples included to illustrate each process and sub-process.

'Outsourcing ... becomes strategic when it is aligned with the organisation's long-term strategies, and when the typical outsourcing benefits will emerge over several years, and when the results, either positive or negative, will be significant to the organization.'

While this definition and the subsequent detail distinguishes 'strategic' outsourcing from tactical moves driven simply by cost-cutting or problem solving, it is still a fairly long way from Doz and Hamel's definition of strategic alliances in terms of the 'race for the future' (technology) and 'race for the world' (globalisation). Outsourcing implies that the outsourcer is in control - this is not an equal partnership - even though the distinction from an alliance becomes somewhat blurred in the series of boxes throughout the text that go beyond traditional reasons for outsourcing to provide "Another Reason to Outsource". These wider reasons are mentioned, but there is little discussion of the relative advantages of outsourcing compared with other sorts of partnering arrangements.

Compare with Lendrum, Tony: The Strategic Partnering Handbook