RE: The hard lessons of Boeing's 787 outsourcing
Actually, the primary issue is not about small versus large parts, or less developed countries versus more developed countries. The real discussion is about transferring risk.
If Boeing transfers risk to a subcontractor, along with that transfer goes a transfer of profits. Otherwise it would not worth the subcontractor taking on the committment. So why should Boeing give away its potential profits? When the required subassembly is not within its core competence so it cannot make a profit by manufacturing it itself. Taking this idea to its logical conclusion, if Boeing subcontracted the whole manufacturing job it would just become a design and marketing company.
Ah! just like the incredibly successful Apple, perhaps!
