Overview of the Global Sourcing Marketplace

With the advent of globalisation and heightened levels of competition, many organisations are having considerable difficulties in developing and maintaining the range of expertise and skills they need to compete effectively. The emergence of American, European, Japanese and other Asian multinationals has created a competitive environment requiring the globalisation, or at least semiglobalisation, of corporate strategy. Moreover, with developments in information and communication technologies (ICT), firms do not have to be large multinationals to compete globally. These developments have led many companies to turn to various sourcing strategies such as outsourcing, offshoring, offshore outsourcing, nearshoring and onshoring. Therefore, this chapter focuses on: The key terminologies used in the sourcing literatureThe background of global sourcingThe key drivers, bene?ts and risks of global sourcingMarket trends and future developments in global sourcing.