Re: [OT] Outsourcing squared

On Tue, 16 May 2006 21:13:16 GMT, the renowned Joerg
<notthisjoergsch@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Hello Spehro,


Sounds to me that this is the way to ensure that one is keeping
*behind* the competition!!!

Hardly. You want to make sure you adopt all the good ideas of your
competition, PLUS the ones you come up with yourself.


I tend to agree with Frithiof Andreas on this one. I can only speak for
the medical device industry but companies that did this kind of reverse
engineering typically produced "me, too" products. Possibly cheaper but
nothing to write home about. I worked for a company that didn't do it
yet we were leading the pack in quite a few markets. Many times the
competition had an "oh s..t!" experience when we waited to reveal
something until the next big trade show. It drove them nuts.

So you're arguing in favour/favor of *ignorance*?

I don't understand why supposedly professional engineers are so
emotional on this matter. Maybe I spent too much formative time
working with the Japanese...

As just one example, if TI had figured out what Commodore was really
paying to have the 64 built they'd wouldn't have had their clock
cleaned by them. Apparently they just *assumed* the costs were
similar. They were not, and neither was the Mexican assembly quality
near as good as the Asian Commodore quality.


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
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