An article in Forbes (Dec 5, 2011) describes Creston Electronics, a N.J. based company that creates over 1,500 complex electronic products in small volumes with low errors. The company’s founder claims that his strategy was to bring outsourced work in house during the recession in order to keep his employees.  In addition, maintaining 80 % of manufacturing in the US is claimed to enable long term employees who can enable growth. Is Creston’s strategy feasible only because it is a privately held company ? Does the effectiveness of this strategy require a continued focus on small volume innovative high margin products ? Is a stable workforce a necessary ingredient for continued innovation and growth ?