Yesterday's blog focused on three reasons--the most important of which for this blog is counterfeiting and related fraud--why outsourcing to disengaged, unaffiliated third parties may be disastrous to your brand long-term. Today's brief addendum is to outline how to counter this, and how outsourcing as part of your strategy best makes sense. Future blogs will dive into these topics in more depth.

1. Counterfeiting can be countered only by a well-defined eco-system in which deterrents, processes, information and people all play a part. A previous entry on this blog (www.communities.hp.com/online/blogs/securityprinting/archive/2008/05/12/HPPost6337.aspx) addressed how to PRACTICE good anti-counterfeiting techniques.

2. The earth is not flat...yet. If you want to have engaged partners around the world, you have to work to even the playing field. Eventually, healthcare, environmental, auditing, compliance and other factors involved in selecting a spot to design, manufacture and assemble products will be more uniform. The world will be, truly, more flat. However, until that date, respectful citizens of the planet will work to improve the working conditions and environmental impact of doing business everywhere. Even if only out of self-interest, this strategy makes sense.

3. The price of transportation of goods. Years ago, Toyota and other Japanese car makers were targets of media criticism because they are "foreign owned". However, Toyota and others are now manufacturing in the USA, offsetting much of the transportation costs and providing jobs for locals. Toyota still has work to do, if one believes the blogosphere, but at least on the surface they are following the maxim of "engage your potential customers in the development of your brand."

The latter point deserves some comment. If you outsource to a manufacturing locale where people would prefer buying generics or knockoffs to purchasing your own product, you need to rethink your outsourcing strategy. Engaging all your employees is, in general, a better long-term strategy. And long-term thinking is just what many businesses need to re-learn.

More on this in the next blog,

Thanks

--Steve