How to manage Multiple Calendars - using Invitations and Syncing

I need some advice and suggestions please! I have a MacBook Pro and an iPhone, and I use a PC (with Outlook) at work. My goal is to use the MacBook Pro for my "master" calendar, so it will sync with my iDevices. But in addition, I want to send/receive calendar invitations between my MacBook and my PC.

I've been using a POP Account in Outlook for Mac 2011 in order to accomplish the above, but Sync Services causes continual problems so I'd like to switch to Apple products if possible. I was hoping to create a POP Account in Mail and use iCal instead of Outlook for Mac, but I'm unclear if iCal has "invitation" functionality with Outlook. If so, what should I take into consideration and how should I proceed? If iCal and Outlook won't translate each others' event invitations, does iCal work better with Google and/or Yahoo calendars?

Your recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Or please direct me to resources that might answer my questions. Thank you!