Risks and Rewards of Outsourcing (original) (raw)

Outsourcing: Some Strategic Aspects

2013

A firm faces a choice between outsourcing a crucial input and producing it inhouse within the vertical structure. This paper discusses strategic motives behind the outsourcing decision.

Outsourcing: assessing the risks and benefits for organisations, sectors and nations

International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 2005

Purpose -This research aims to assess the risks and benefits of outsourcing for organisations, sectors and nations. The literature on outsourcing contains little evidence of research on holistic issues of its impact at systems levels beyond the firm, notably sectors and nations. Design/methodology/approach -A Delphi study with senior strategists from private and public sectors captured perspectives and specific observations on benefits and risks of outsourcing. Emergent issues on outsourcing policy, strategy and decision-making processes were synthesised into a framework for analysing factors associated with outsourcing. Findings -The findings suggest that a more holistic view of outsourcing is needed, linking local, organisational issues with sector and national level actions and outcomes. In this way, aggregate risks and benefits can be assessed at different systems levels.

Outsourcing and its Relatives

2015

Outsourcing became a relatively well-known term in the last three decades both in the academic and the business world. Contrarily or because of it there are so many different terms around the outsourcing model that many times it could confuse even the experts of the area. The aim of this research to collect all important outsourcing terms, organize them, create a framework or grouping them with different viewpoints. The framework could help to understand the similarities and differences about the different classes.

Theoretical perspectives and motivational factors behind outsourcing

Outsourcing, in the face of globalisation, becomes one of the most important tools to deal with the competitive nature of the market. This is the reason that the outsourcing phenomenon has been increasingly receiving attention both from academic and business organisations. The term outsourcing is referred to the use of outside resources to perform in-house activities of the firm which were previously done by the firm itself. Behind this practice, there are some basic necessary propositions which are based on so some theoretical ground. Therefore, in this piece of paper it has been tried to focus on the theories which is related to the concept of outsourcing. Moreover, an attempt has been made to throw some light on the motives behind the outsourcing practices of the business organisations.

Outsourcing – A Review for Research and Practical Applications

There is an increasing need for firms to have a sustainable competitive advantage and outsourcing is one of the most important strategic tools for firms to gain a competitive edge. On studying the literature, it is identified that there are varied theoretical perspectives of outsourcing, with cost savings not being the sole reason for firms to outsource production. Based on the rich body of available literature, the types of outsourcing, factors influencing outsourcing decisions, the pros and cons of outsourcing and the strategic choices to outsourcing problems have been presented in this paper.

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).

Outsourcing Decisions & Models - Some Practical Considerations for Large Organizations

2010

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.