Outsourcing definition
Outsourcing is part of new strategies in companies. The purpose of outsourcing is to allow the company to focus on its core work without having to deal with other activities (for example IT oursorcing could be helpful for company like saint gobain which is a can and bottle manufacturer).
Outsorcing non strategic components is usually the best way to increase the level of these component and reducing their cost at the same time.
However it's important to notice that a company should not outsource critical components of its work because it could be risky because your process could be use for your competitors (by the outsourcing company) and also your comapny is loosing values in terms of knowledge. A company should not outsource the part of its work that make their money.
Outsourcing is also a way to increase flexibility of a company, the outsourcing company usually take care to adapt the outsourced service to the new needs of company, this way it increase their flexibility.
An important point in outsourcing is the relationship between the company and the outsourcing company and also the control and dependance they have one to an other.
In opposition to all these principles we can show the example of Sprint that started its complete business with consultant...which is basically outsourcing the complete company.
Is it fair compared to other comapnies that built their network with their own team, i don't know, but does business care about fairness, and so far this company is doing pretty good. Let's see if we can apply it in class ;)