Introduction LO: This Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article (see below) was written before the recent decision of the liberal-left Canadian Prime Minister to resign. His resignation is further evidence of the validity of this WSJ article. In my view, the pendulum in Politics used to be between conservatives (“Right”) and Labour (“Left”) until about 1980. Growing wealth...
Outsourcing
Vertical integration is back
I've never been a fan of outsourcing as it means losing control, despite what suppliers promise in their Service Level Agreements (SLAs). Outsourcing is part of (horizontal or vertical) disintegration. I need, want and believe in (self-) control, even while knowing that it's an illusion in certain circumstances. In 1983, a Harvard Business Review article wondered:...
Greed is (not) good
Tuesday, the Dutch PM visited the US president to discuss (a.o.) the American export ban for ASML, a Dutch company that specializes in the development and manufacturing of high-tech machines, which are used to produce high-tech computer chips. This American export ban hurts ASML's profits. Several decades ago, Western companies moved production facilities...
More information = more focus = less knowledge = less common sense
Each day, I receive some 150 newsletters from various backgrounds. I scan all topics and read several articles. There’s a considerable overlap in their topics, which allows me to create some efficiencies. Some articles look promising initially, but are not. The opposite also happens. I’ve plenty of time, being without a paid job. I use that time to read, think and...
Political nationalism vs economic internationalism
Recently, Politico's Digital Bridge newsletter featured a plea by the Economic Round Table of Industrialists (ERT) against the political reshoring agenda, including its plea for political strategic autonomy. Apparently, this plea is news today. Before, such a plea was considered as common sense. An excerpt: “I think the principle should be: Avoid it. Avoid...

Exit strategy
In my view, an exit clause and/or strategy is the most important element in an agreement, a contract or in a certain situation (eg, Covid-19 exit strategy). However, it's also an underestimated step despite that (marriage) contracts do end prematurely (eg, divorce). Outsourcing contracts may have the worst exit strategies as if people forgot to even think about it....
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