The Nobel Prize seldom has practical applications for workforce management.
As Logipi reported in an October newsletter, Oliver E. Williamson, Ph.D., a co-recipient of the 2009 Nobel Prize in economics, is no stranger to supply chain. Williamson, who is the Edgar F. Kaiser Professor Emeritus of Business, Economics, and Law at the University of California, Berkeley, is also an advisory board member of the Journal of Supply Chain Management. You may also remember him as a contributor to a Journal article entitled, "Outsourcing: Transaction Cost Economics and Supply Chain Management," which ties in nicely to an article by Workforce Management staff writer, Jeremy Smerd.
As Jeremy observed, "The Nobel Prize seldom has practical applications for workforce management." This year was a little different. In fact, much of Williamson's research and theories focus on the pros and cons of outsourcing the production of goods. Specifically, when it is more efficient to produce a product in-house as opposed to outsourcing it to another firm. In the supply chain community, determining when outsourcing makes sound financial sense can be practically applied on many different levels -- from demand planning and sourcing to manufacturing, storing, transporting and even managing returns -- virtually every task can be outsourced.
