First, thank you Peter11435 for your thought provoking posts.
A very good case can be made for companies to outsource "non-core" functions. As a human resources professional, I fully understand why companies outsource, for example, payroll and employee benefits adminstration. Unless the company is ADP or Hewitt Associates, the company is not in the business of payroll and employee benefits adminstration, therefore these are non-core functions that are candidates for outsourcing. Also note that these are transactional functions that benefit from the economies of scale and large pool of talent that companies like ADP and Hewitt can bring to the task.
Other functions, however, are considered "core" functions because they are an integral part of the production of the product or service they sell. Outsourcing these functions is not good business. First, the company has far less control over these functions when outsourced. Second, intellectual capital is lost. (While not a tangable asset, don't underestimate its value.) Third, it becomes harder to have differentiation and uniqueness in the market place. Also creative functions are not transactional functions that benefit from economies of scale.
I argue that, for Disney, Imagineering is a core function. While I understand the need to be flexible as the number of projects ebb and flow, firing your best creative talent and leaving Imagineering populated by MBAs is not the best way to go. This creative talent is the life blood of the company. It's what makes Disney Disney. In addition, it now allows this talent to be available to competitors when before Disney had exclusive use of this talent.
Over the long term I believe that outsourcing this talent will make it much harder for Disney Parks and Resorts to differentiate itself in the marketplace resulting in loss of market share and revenue. No, its not going to happen overnight, but I believe its effects will emerge 5 to 10 years down the road. It's just another example of improving the bottom line over the short-term at the expense of the long-term success of the company.
I could point out other things Disney has done to improve short-term results at the expense of the long-term success of the company, some of which I've commented on in other threads, and are better topics of other or new threads.
YoHo: good quote from Ray Bradbury.