Companies such as Flextronics and Selectron now offer outsourced manufacturing platforms for whole categories of consumer electronics.

ECONOMIST: Men and machines

Most big computer makers no longer build what they sell, but outsource production to huge, albeit lesser-known providers of manufacturing services such as Flextronics or Solectron.

ECONOMIST: Re-engineering in real time

If anything, the gridlock that took hold in the days after Sept. 11 has improved the sales pitch of such outsourcers as Flextronics, as more companies eye letting experts handle the logistics.

FORBES: The Detour Economy