this fetishization of contracting everything out to subcontractors has to do with the fact that most business schools teach one principle and one principle only. risk taking is a sin that will hurt your bottom line. subcontracting delegates that risk to someone else while leaving your company with little to no real staff that can do the innovation.

in the short term this does not matter, because the company stays profitable, but long term this is resulting in a system in which no one has complete ownership and responsibility of their systems, which makes doing changes and innovating nearly impossible.