Is outsourcing to blame for Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner woes?

It's been a miserable week for Boeing. Federal investigators have grounded all of the U.S. company's new and much-hyped 787 Dreamliner jets after reports that the aircraft's lithium-ion batteries were overheating and catching fire.

And already, a favorite culprit has emerged: outsourcing. Critics have long charged that Boeing was far too reliant on offshore suppliers for the 787's production. More than 30 percent of the jetliner's components came from overseas, including the Japanese-made lithium-ion battery that is now garnering all the headlines. (By contrast, just 5 percent of the parts of its predecessor, the 747, were foreign-made.)