Outsourcing Dilemma: The Search for Competitiveness, The

Introduction

In a famous eighteenth century children’s story, a man called Rip Van Winkle went to bed one night and fell into a deep sleep that lasted for many years. The timeless appeal of the story is largely based on Rip’s reaction to the changes he found when he awoke and the perceived overall effect of mankind’s ingenuity on changing and ’improving’ the way people live over time. When the story first appeared in print it was credited with forcing many people to think for the first time about changing lifestyles.

Although there have been few periods in human history when inventions and improved ways of working were not being created, it was clear well over a hundred years ago, that each new century produced disproportionately more developments ...