For some years the reasons for outsourcing have been analyzed in the business economy and management studies literature. Sociological research focusing on the impact of outsourcing on the social aspects of the production process is almost non-existent, however. This paper examines the four main cases of outsourcing at Fiat Auto in the last few years. The consequences on the production flow, organization of work, job-content, and problems in the day-by-day interactions between people once employed by Fiat and now working for different companies under the same roof are examined. A particular matter for discussion is how the relationships between the market and organizational interactions (formal and informal) vary depending on the type of outsourcing. Finally, a typology of characteristics of the outsourced activity (sequential or interdependent versus low or high complexity) is outlined.
