Steering an outsourced handling agent at Lufthansa Cargo AG/ Miami, USA

If an enterprise does not get the best people at the bottom of its management pyramid then some years down the line it is not go-ing to find them at the top, no matter how much outsourcing it might be doing. (Chorafas, D. N. (2003), p. 97) This diploma thesis will analyze the outsourcing partnership between Lufthansa Cargo AG (LCAG) and GlobeGround Inc. (GG) at the station Miami/ USA. The paper will represent the current situation, detect sensible subjects and will give recommen-dations to the local- (MIAFH/A) and the regional- (MIAFH) Handling-Management at LCAG in Miami. The main business of an airline is to offer transport services from Airport A to Airport B. The transported object can either be passengers, cargo or mail. In the 1990's air-lines followed the strategy to integrate more pre- and after-flight related services into their part of the value chain. Enormous pressures lead to changes in strategies. These pressures are mainly caused by the events of 9-11, SARS, the global reces-sion, the Iraqi war, the latest oil-price trend and not to forget the current exchange rate of the US$1 2 . The yield per kg is also decreasing as there are more competitors on the market and even forwarders started to charter own equipment for flying goods around the globe.3 But, even if there are some break points in growth; several studies forecast an annual growth of air cargo of about 6% worldwide during the next years. 4Outsourcing non-core businesses is one attempt to reduce overhead costs and to versatile the business for being more competitive. It often seems as the easy avail-able medicine to cure suffering businesses. The possible loss of know-how, control and quality of services is often neglected. Steering an outsourcing relationship is therefore one of the main tasks in such a cooperation and require, besides costs and time, also the according knowledge.