Ten Ailments of Traditional Outsource Relationships

Nearly all outsourcing arrangements have room for improvement. Outsourcing as a large-scale business practice has not been around long enough to work out all the kinks. Many companies operating with good intentions jumped in without a full understanding of how to outsource correctly. The result: outsourcing deals structured with fundamental flaws in the business model and the relationship. As discussed in chapter 2, the flaws can lead to perverse incentives: direct negative or unconscious behaviors that drive unintended consequences. These perverse incentives lead to 10 common outsourcing ailments we discuss in this chapter.