Logistics outsourcing has been widely adopted by firms as a means to reduce costs and increase flexibility. To ensure these expected outcomes, logistics outsourcing processes must be managed with ...appropriate governance mechanisms, but their effects on firm performance have hitherto been inconclusive in the literature due to overlooking of operational mechanisms. This study aims to shed light on the effects of the outsourcing management process (OMP), which is an operational mechanism, on the following two types of logistics service outsourcing: basic outsourcing and advanced outsourcing. By drawing upon resource-based views, we validated a proposed model based on survey data collected from 250 subsidies of publicly listed manufacturers in China. The results revealed that OMP affects the effectiveness of the two types of logistics outsourcing differently. While basic logistics outsourcing affects cost and delivery directly, advanced logistics outsourcing influences the performances via interaction with OMP. This study is the first to report this relationship. This study further makes a contribution by showing the conditional utility of OMP and its service-dependent nature, which has usually been ignored in the literature.
The objective of this study is to analyze the impacts of the implementation of the Shared Services Center (CSC) on strategy, structure and business management in the private sector, considering its ...operating configuration as a unit of the company itself or as an outsourced unit. The research was qualitative, through case studies in two major companies based in Minas Gerais, using mainly semi-structured interviews conducted with thirteen managers. The results show that the CSC allows the company to focus on its core competencies, with increased competitive advantage in its value chain; however, optimization of the results and the ease of management improvement were most noticeable in the CSC operated by the organization itself, to the detriment of the outsourced CSC.
ABSTRACT
In this article, we introduce a game‐theoretic model to examine the impact of outsourcing knowledge, as well as firm‐ and market‐level factors, on a buyer's decision of whether to employ a ...supply chain intermediary or an agent to identify a manufacturer for her new product. The buyer faces two options: identify the manufacturer directly or explore outsourcing indirectly through an agent. In the case of direct outsourcing, the buyer evaluates, negotiates with, and identifies the manufacturers in‐house, whereas, under indirect outsourcing, the agent takes over these activities in exchange for a commission based on the transaction value between the buyer and the manufacturer. The model introduced in this article captures the buyer–agent incentive misalignment. Unexpectedly, we find that although attractiveness of indirect outsourcing increases as the buyer's outsourcing knowledge increases, it follows an inverse‐U shape as the agent gains more outsourcing knowledge. We further demonstrate that the observability of the buyer's outsourcing knowledge is another key driver of the outsourcing‐mode strategy. In addition, we show that the buyer's tendency to explore indirect outsourcing is greater if the sensitivity to the retail price or the commission rate is higher, or the base demand or cost of delayed time‐to‐market associated with the new product is lower. We extend our analysis to consider a contract form, whereby the agent's commission payment is driven by the expected savings generated for the buyer, and to consider the setting in which the buyer's outsourcing knowledge is private information.
El objetivo del trabajo es identificar factores que explican la vinculación entre las políticas de provisión de servicios de SI/TI y la generación de valor en MiPyME. Dichos servicios pueden ...proveerse internamente o por contratación externa (outsourcing). El método de investigación combina un análisis de clúster de k-medias con un modelo de regresión logística, sobre una muestra de 113 empresas. Se detectan patrones de creación de valor asociados a los servicios SI/TI para luego explicar la probabilidad de pertenecer al clúster de empresas que asocia mayor valor a SI/TI y que a la vez mayormente tercerizan estos servicios. Los resultados indican que las variables predictoras se asocian a competencias organizacionales, capacitación del personal y la vinculación de la empresa; el hallazgo corresponde en particular a empresas medianas y de servicios. Su originalidad radica en aportar datos que no han sido publicados sobre las MiPyMEs de Córdoba, desde un enfoque que permite asociar los beneficios del outsourcing con factores internos y de contexto. Entre las limitaciones se encuentra el tamaño de la muestra y que no se construyó estratificada por sector de actividad. PALAERAS clave: servicios informáticos, outsourcing, PyMEs, creación de valor, TIC, innovación. The objective of this paper is to identify the explanatory factors of the relationship between information technology and systems (IS/IT) diffusion policies and value creation in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). IS/IT are considered services provided internally or by external contracting (outsourcing). Besides, the analysis approach allows associating the benefits of outsourcing with certain internal factors and context. Based on a sample of 113 firms, we conduct a cluster analysis k-means to detect patterns of value creation associated with IS/IT services. Then, a logistic regression model is estimated to explain the likelihood of being part of the outsourcing cluster as a function of independent variables such as employees' education, percentage of employees using IS/IT, membership in a network and economic sector. Results indicate that outsourcing is associated with organizational competences, education and training of employees and membership in a network, especially in medium firms and services firms. The originality of the paper consists in showing the growing tendency to apply a strategy of IS/IT outsourcing in the city of Córdoba, Argentine where there is still no published papers on the subject. Among the limitations is the size of the sample and that it was not constructed stratified by activity sector. Keywords: informatics services, outsourcing, SMEs, value creation, ITC, innovation.
•The managers’ perceived benefits of outsourcing affect current outsourcing levels.•The outsourcing benefits have a direct impact on current outsourcing while an indirect impact on future ...outsourcing.•The current level of outsourcing mediates the link between perceived benefits and desired outsourcing.•The perceived risks of outsourcing have a non-significant moderating effect on future outsourcing.
The purpose of this paper was to investigate the interactions between perceived benefits and risks of outsourcing and outsourcing adoption from the hoteliers’ perspective. Data were collected from 123 hotels in Egypt using a list of 32 hotel activities. Results revealed that managers’ perceived benefits of outsourcing had a direct positive effect on the current level of outsourcing, while indirect effects on the desired level of outsourcing. Interestingly, results confirmed the mediating role of current outsourcing between managers’ perceived benefits and the desired outsourcing. However, the perceived risks of outsourcing had a nonsignificant moderating effect. The findings provide implications for both theory and practice.
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