ACCA P3 考試知識點(diǎn)：Common outsourcing applications

　　ACCA P3 考試：Common outsourcing applications

　　外包是指企業(yè)動態(tài)地配置自身和其他企業(yè)的功能和服務(wù)，并利用企業(yè)外部的資源為企業(yè)內(nèi)部的生產(chǎn)和經(jīng)營服務(wù)。 外包是一個(gè)戰(zhàn)略管理模型，所謂外包（Outsourcing），在講究專業(yè)分工的二十世紀(jì)末，企業(yè)為維持組織競爭核心能力，且因組織人力不足的困境，可將組織的非核心業(yè)務(wù)委托給外部的專業(yè)公司，以降低營運(yùn)成本，提高品質(zhì)，集中人力資源，提高顧客滿意度。外包業(yè)是新近興起的一個(gè)行業(yè)，它給企業(yè)帶來了新的活力。

　　Common outsourcing applications

　　1. It allows the organisation to focus on its core, value-adding activities without the distraction of having to run support services. Support services can soak up both management time and financial resources and these would usually be better spent concentrating on where the business can use its resources and competences to gain competitive advantages.

　　2. Cost savings. Usually the organisations to which activities are outsourced specialise in those activities and, therefore, are likely to enjoy economies of scale, whether from the use of machinery or the employment of expertise. There can be additional cost savings if a process is outsourced to a foreign company operating in a cheaper labour area （off-shoring）。

　　3. Cost certainty. An outsourcing contract at a fixed, or closely defined price, shifts much of the financial risk on to the provider. Costs become more predictable.

　　4. Cost restructuring. For some types of outsourcing such as component manufacturing, there will be lower fixed costs and higher variable costs. If all components are bought in, then these costs are all variable. Had the components been made in-house, there would inevitably have been associated substantial fixed overheads.

　　5. Access to cutting edge expertise and talent. In technically advanced, fast moving industries, it can be difficult for small companies to develop or make use of new processes. Outsourcing to a specialist company can give access to the latest technologies.

　　6. Better quality. There can be an immediate improvement in quality if a process is outsourced to a world-class company where the quality is carefully defined in a service level agreement.

　　7. Risk transference. If a company perceives that one of its processes has high risks, then this can be transferred by outsourcing to another company.

　　8. Capacity management. For example, it can be difficult for businesses to deal with variable demand： either they run out of capacity （unhappy customers）, or have （expensive） unused capacity. Outsourcing to a large company can mitigate this problem.