Outsourcing decision support: a survey of benefits, risks, and decision factors (original) (raw)

Outsourcing Decisions & Models - Some Practical Considerations for Large Organizations

2006

Outsourcing has recently spurred broad discussions due to the relatively high failure rate of outsourced activities. To analyze how organizations can increase their success rate of outsourcing activities, the authors take a two-prong approach to the outsourcing decision and execution process, covering the “why ” and “how to ” outsource. To determine the optimal setup, the authors introduce six outsourcing dimensions, which trigger the decision process and the subsequent procurement and execution processes. Strategic and operational considerations as well as risk implications are further elaborated.

Business outcomes of outsourcing: lessons from management research

Outsourcing has been broadly recognized as an important strategic choice made by companies and other organizations to achieve a wide variety of goals. Many studies have focused on the economic and fi nancial impacts and on the relationship between outsourcers and outsourcees. This chapter offers a comprehensive overview of actual outsourcing outcomes found in management research, including impacts on human capital. Analysis of the evidence on outsourcing in the OECD STAN database (OECD 2011: 1970-2009) shows that both the number of transactions (deals) and their scope (activities involved) have increased constantly during the last 20 years. Over time, outsourcing popularity peaks have coincided with certain trends, such as business process reengineering, strategic focusing on core business, outsourcing/offshoring strategies, shared services and corporate downsizing (e.g. Brunetta and Peruffo 2014). Furthermore, as recent research shows, companies are expeditiously outsourcing non-core business processes and functions in order to maximize their profi ts. Business profi ts can be increased through reducing costs and/or via acquiring external sources of strategic differentiation (e.g. higher-quality raw materials or distinctive expertise/competences able to improve the overall quality of products and services, enabling companies to sell them at higher prices) (De Fontenay and Gans 2008; Gospel and Sako 2010; Angeli and Grimaldi 2010; Doellgast and Gospel 2012; Giustiniano et al. 2014).

Theory Informing Decision-Making on Outsourcing: A Review of Four ‘Five- Year’ Snapshots Spanning 47 Years

Econometrics: Econometric & Statistical Methods - Special Topics eJournal, 2017

This study investigates how researchers use theory for decision-making on outsourcing through a longitudinal systematic literature review covering four five-year intervals spanning 1965–2011. Each of the 249 retrieved papers has been categorized based on theory used, nature of literature review, research method, type of industry investigated, organisational functions, performance criteria and level of decision making. Notwithstanding a surge in academic writings on outsourcing, our analysis of the four periods shows that few papers contribute to theory or provide further insight into outsourcing. The focus of most papers tends to be on the practitioner’s perspective with decision making shifting from mainly financial–economic and operational considerations to strategic, long-term and multidimensional criteria that are not necessarily linked to a particular theoretical stance. The findings also imply that a full account of theories, their application as well as systematic testing in ...