Outsourcing Supply Chain Support and its Effectiveness and Implication in R&D Environment in Singapore

This study aims to study the outsourcing challenges and issues, specifically related to information sharing between partners that are faced by precision tool R&D organizations in Singapore. The research uses i3lab (a Singapore home grown R&D firm) as the case for study and employs interviews of 5 employees at i3lab. The interviews of the employees of i3lab revealed that there were concerns about security and integrity of the information that is being shared with the outsourcing partners, and this leads to an inherent reluctance in sharing sensitive information. The research also includes interviews of employees from three 3 outsourcing partners of i3lab, and it was found that lack of communications and lack of protocols for facilitating the information sharing between the partners were causes of low standardization, loss of quality, and increased costs, due to delays and re-works. There appeared to be a lack of strategic approach and planning to information sharing at different stages of outsourcing supply chain, which led to ad hoc and inadequate communications.