New book advises: Give both parties a stake in outsourcing

In traditional third-party logistics arrangements, the customer focuses on cost reduction and the third-party provider attempts to increase the size and profitability of the contract. But the authors of the book Vested Outsourcing: Five Rules That Will Transform Outsourcing say there's a better way: "vested outsourcing," a term coined by the authors, which refers to an outsourcing arrangement in which both a company and its suppliers have a stake or vested interest in each other's success.

The authors, Supply Chain Visions consultants Kate Vitasek and Mike Ledyard and Georgia Southern University's Dr. Karl Manrodt, based their ideas on how to improve third-party relationships on research they conducted with support from the University of Tennessee and the United States Air Force.

The book describes how vested outsourcing works, how it benefits both parties, and how to develop a vested outsourcing relationship. The authors also explain the 10 most common problems with traditional outsourcing arrangements and explore the economic principles that are driving the evolution of outsourcing.

Published by Palgrave Macmillan, the hardcover edition of Vested Outsourcing: Five Rules That Will Transform Outsourcing (ISBN: 978-0-230-62317-0) retails for $45.00.