Intellectual Capital/Stewart 91-92

92 ...3 out of 19 US industrial companies outsource more than half their manufacturing.

By outsourcing, a company is liberated from the need to invest in expertise that isn't proprietary.

...you want to put your money where you will make money. You want to invest to outpace the pack, not just keep up with it.

The alternative to outsourcing is differentiation--finding ways to turn generic knowledge into something your company is uniquely able to exploit, or can exploit in unique ways. Whenever a company advertises itself as selling solutions, it's trying to differentiate high-value commodity knowledge.