Corante’s Outsourcing blog has reprinted T.A. Heppenheimer’s fascinating “How America Chose Not to Beat Sputnik Into Space” [NO LONGER AVAILABLE] from the Winter 2004 issue of Invention and Techology. [Update Now at American Heritage.] Also see the copyright information for the article. [Defunct link] I’m not sure what this really has to do with outsourcing, but you can see how US leaders manipulated perceptions of American capability in order to achieve greater long term goals. Putting the first satelite into space was not as important as getting international law to make space-based flyovers legal, so America could get information on the Soviets.
Corante has an interesting set of leaders blogging about Outsourcing. Highly recommended. And let’s face it: most of us want to work for something like Corante. {Corante no longer has such a blog.]