Read this case study and answer the questions given at the end. Answer in detail

Darden Restaurants, owner of popular brands such as Olive Garden, Bahama Breeze, and Longhorn Grill, serves more than $320$ million meals annually in more than $1,500$ restaurants across the U$.$S$.$ and Canada. To achieve competitive advantage via its supply chain, Darden must achieve excellence at each step. With purchases from $35$ countries, and seafood

products with a shelf life as short as $4$ days, this is a complex and challenging task. Those $320$ million meals annually mean $40$ million pounds of shrimp and huge quantities of tilapia, swordfish, and other fresh purchases.

Fresh seafood is typically flown to the U$.$S$.$ and

monitored each step of the way to ensure that

$34$F is maintained.

Darden's purchasing agents travel the world to

find competitive advantage in the supply chain. Darden personnel from supply chain and

development, quality assurance, and environmental relations contribute to developing, evaluating, and checking suppliers. Darden also has seven native$-$speaking

representatives living on other continents to

provide continuing support and evaluation of

suppliers. All suppliers must abide by Darden's

food standards, which typically exceed FDA and

other industry standards. Darden expects continuous improvement in durable relationships that increase quality and reduce cost.

Darden's aggressiveness and development of a

sophisticated supply chain provide an opportunity for outsourcing. Much food

preparation is labor intensive and is often more efficient when handled in bulk. This is

particularly true where large volumes may justify

capital investment. For instance, Tyson and

lowa Beef prepare meats to Darden's specifications much more economically than can individual restaurants. Similarly, Darden has found that it can outsource both the cutting of salmon to the proper portion size and the cracking$/$peeling of shrimp more cost$-$effectively

offshore than in U$.$S$.$ distribution centers or

individual restaurants.

$1.$ What are the pros and cons of outsourcing? Do not limit your

response to seafood at Darden.

$2.$ Assuming that outsourcing has advantages, what are five critical

skills, processes or activities do you believe that your organization

must have to make it successful?

$3.$ If your organization does not have the scale of Darden, can

outsourcing still be successful and what other issues do they need to consider?