Companies are increasingly focusing on the development of core competencies as an integral part of
their overall strategy development and implementation. The corollary of this is that functions regarded as
being non-core are being outsourced. This paper investigates the case for and against outsourcing and in
addition what is happening in Ireland regards outsourcing. Furthermore to analysis of current literature in
the field, an Irish-wide postal and e-mail survey, as well as three case studies revealed many interesting
facts. The key findings of the work are manufacturing outsourcing is now the most popular function to be
outsourced for both small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and large enterprises. Large enterprises
(LEs) do not prepare or examine hidden costs more than SMEs, nor do they differ much in relation to the
use of consultants. Furthermore, the importance of time spent on preparing or producing contract, and the
impact the contract can have on the supplier-buyer relation do not differ significantly. It was found that
most companies outsourced within Ireland, which led to further investigation in that area. In relation to
logistics outsourcing specifically, this has become very important in the supply chain over the last 20
years as an activity that was traditionally handled by firms as a support function. At that time logistics
activities such as warehousing, distribution, transportation and inventory management were given low
priority compared with other business functions within the organisation. However, since the customer has
become more demanding, the logistics function has now become a source of competitive advantage and
there has been a growing emphasis on providing good customer service.
