Case Study

1. Many outsourcing decisions involve the concept of a core competency. Define what is meant by this term. Discuss if film technology is truly a core competency of Santek.

Core competency is “the main strengths or strategic advantages of a business. Core competencies are the combination of pooled knowledge and technical capacities that allow a business to be competitive in the marketplace. Theoretically, a core competency should allow a company to expand into new end markets as well as provide a significant benefit to customers. It should also be hard for competitors to replicate” (Investopedia.com).

Technology as a whole, in this day and age, is a very sought after and competitive core competency to possess. If an organization, is able to deliver an advance and astronomical core competency as this the sky is the limit. Everything we do has some technological advancement involved within it some way or another. For example, the health and fitness industry is currently being dominated by Apple, Google, and Windows mobile applications. Each one of these companies has a wearable device that can track heart rate, calories burned, steps taken, and other advance technology that can provide an accurate summary of your day-to-day health projections.

From the case study, Santek’s film technology was a core competency, moreover, advancements in technology (digital media) has forced Santek to rethink it’s position within the film market. Even though, Santek and another company are the only one’s still in the film technology market, competition and better technology has pushed Santek into incorporating this technology as their “new” core competency.

2. Develop a process that would guide firms through the insourcing/outsourcing process. Create a process that is robust enough to use across a variety of product/service applications.

“Any organization which decides to insource or outsource are bound to follow few basic steps which are as follows. First the staff...