Make or buy is a business decision that weighs the costs and benefits of self-procuring of a product or service.
If a company decides to own the product or service itself, it must possess or acquire the necessary knowledge and skills.
The purchase / making decision plays an important role in the design process.
For a business, a single purchase / decision decision is not so obvious. However, all buy / make decisions together determine for a large part the future of the company. Therefore, the purchase / making decision is largely an implementation of the business strategy
If a company finds its competence to keep the knowledge and expertise in-house, then it will cost (cost-effectively) the product or service itself. On the other hand, if there are multiple producers who can make the product or service, then shopping is more obvious. If we only look at the costs in the consideration, purchasing may eliminate the knowledge (the intellectual capital) in the company. Recovering specific knowledge in the design and evaluation of design specifications, design skills and production processes is time consuming and therefore very expensive. Returns of 5 to 10 years are no exception. Also see
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