Asset-light and outsourced manufacturing
Own the brand and the design, rent the factory. Strong on cases and on consequences; thin on general theory beyond Christensen's modularity argument.
8 books
Start here
- Shoe DogPhil Knight, 2016
- The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global EconomyPietra Rivoli, 2005
- Apple in ChinaPatrick McGee, 2025
- The Innovator's SolutionClayton M. Christensen, Michael E. Raynor, 2003
Books 8
Clayton M. Christensen, Michael E. Raynor · 2003 · Interdependence versus modularity: when integration pays and when it stops paying.
T1 Shoe Dog
Phil Knight · 2016 · Founder's memoir of a brand built on contract factories it never owned.
Andrew WilkinsonBill GatesMohnish PabraiWarren BuffettAlexis OhanianAlfred LinAnthony PomplianoAusten AllredBill GurleyBrad FeldBrian ArmstrongDavid CancelEric JorgensonJason CalacanisMichael BatkoMorgan HouselNick HuberNick MolnarPatrick O'ShaughnessyRan SegallSamantha WongSatya NadellaSteph SmithTerrance McArthurTrevor NcubeVlad Tenev
T2 Clockspeed
Charles H. Fine · 1998 · When to integrate and when to outsource, framed as an oscillating cycle.
T2 Design Rules
Carliss Y. Baldwin, Kim B. Clark · 1999 · The modularity theory that makes contract manufacturing possible at all.
Pietra Rivoli · 2005 · One garment traced through every outsourced link in its chain.
Thomas L. Friedman · 2005 · The popular account of offshoring and supply-chaining as business models.
Patrick McGee · 2025 · What Apple actually built by renting other people's factories for two decades.
Michael F. Corbett · 2004 · Practitioner survey of outsourcing decisions and their economics.