However, the freshly coined intersource, while a perfectly logical extension of the outsource concept, could lend itself to sexual innuendo on late-night television and was hurriedly abandoned.

This month, a group calling itself the Coalition for Economic Growth and American Jobs (who could be against that?) decided to oust out from outsourcing, proposing instead worldwide sourcing.

While the traditional model of outsourcing defines the customer and the service provider as two separate systems, the intersourcing model integrates two systems and directs joint resources to form a single, seamless distribution network.

Tyres fit the pattern. "The people who manufacture in the UK are nearly all multinationals, so they tend to intersource," said Peter Taylor, director of the Imported Tyre Manufacturers' Association.