Retailint

Do you think that countries should produce their products in their own country or outsource their manufacturing?

I think that the countries must subcontract their products insofar as, by subcontracting, a company relieves itself of certain tasks, the production of certain elements or part of a contract, it authorizes itself more than flexibility and can access equipment / skills / technologies / etc. that it does not have internally.

For example: a company recovers a large contract which will require, on time, more production capacity / additional skills / specific equipment. She then has two solutions:

Purchase equipment / hire additional staff / etc. : the cost is high with some uncertainties.

Subcontract all or part of the contract to a subcontractor: the company is only engaged for the performance of the contract and can benefit from the strengths of the subcontractor at a freely negotiated price, without risking penalizing its profitability.

In addition, it can focus on its core business or on medium and long-term projects, in particular in research and development for example. It is often in this logic that, in small businesses, accounting, prospecting or other commercial and administrative tasks are outsourced.

Positives points :

Better use of the division of labor and therefore of specialization. The company can also focus on its research and development and innovation activities by delegating the manufacturing of its products to its subcontractors.

Greater control over quality, costs and lead times.

Improved responsiveness of the company in the face of increasing market demand.

Increased production volume and flexibility in production processes.

Reduced risk of technical failures.

Despite these advantages, there are negative points. Indeed, subcontracting also involves a certain number of more or less serious drawbacks which must be known in order to be able to circumvent them.

For example, firstly, by subcontracting, the company becomes partially or even completely dependent on the subcontracting company. Also, there may be problems with the quality of the products / services delivered by the subcontracting company: quality control and effective communication must be implemented to counter this.

Négatives points :

Strong dependence on the subcontractor.

Risk of lack of coordination and potential lack of sharing of know-how between partners.

The subcontractor is not necessarily motivated to improve the quality of the product.

The company alone assumes the consequences vis-à-vis its customers in the event of default by the subcontractor.

...