OUTSOURCING STRATEGY: A RECENT LITERATURE REVIEW AND MODEL UPDATE
By
LINA FERIA
BUAD 591
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, FULLERTON
Abstract
The importance of including an outsourcing strategy in the overall firm's operations has become increasingly important over the last decade. Companies in the U.S. pay about $68 billion every year to other companies for outsourced services and although a major part of these contracts succeed, there is an increasing concern due to recent broken deals. A recent study shows that 80% of companies that outsource their customer based functions are failing to meet their cost savings targets. Usually companies fail to budget hidden outsourcing costs such as customer dissatisfaction that can eventually
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The first one is the industry and the second one is the new technologies that become an important part of the core business of the firm. Following the external forces are the internal reasons that push a firm to outsource. Although many have been identified in the literature, the most relevant refer to reduction of costs, focus on the core business, avoid the investment in specific assets and increase in efficiency and performance. A ranking of these reasons is presented in Figure 2 (Pai, 2007).
The proposed model highlights the four most important forces of strategic outsourcing: Suppliers, Customers, Employees, and the firm's comparative advantage.
Comparative and Competitive Advantage
It is important to understand the implications of comparative and competitive advantage in outsourcing. Comparative advantage theory explains that it may be beneficial for two parties (countries, regions, individuals and so on) to trade if one has a lower relative cost of producing some good. It takes into account the opportunity cost instead of the absolute cost of production of one good to evaluate the sourcing strategies that are beneficial for both parties.
The gains from outsourcing are well explained by this trade theory. In a simplified world with only two firms that produce two goods, trade will allow each firm to specialize in their production in a way that allocates resources to their
List and describe at least three factors that a firm should consider when making an outsourcing decision.
The fourth advantage to outsourcing is that it can help develop internal staff. As I stated in the advantage above, outsourcing projects help meet performance peaks, but it can also assist in completing projects that are nearing the end of its requirements. What this does is allow the company staff to focus on new initiatives that
Outsourcing has become an integral part of many organizations today. Outsourcing has its advantages and disadvantages that organizations will have to weigh to decide whether or not outsourcing is the best possible solution to their current problems and business operations. Outsourcing refers to the process of hiring external provider to operate on a business or organization function (Venture Outsource, 2012). In this case, two organizations or businesses enter a contract where there will be an exchange of services and payments. This paper will discuss the possible risks an organization may encounter in outsourcing in relation to the use of an external service
Because many businesses in the US have more often began outsourcing different business products instead of doing them in-house, it is important to understand why outsourcing may be the best option. Although many tie outsourcing to foreign markets, outsourcing can include both foreign and domestic markets. By entering into a contractual agreement, outsourcing allows organizations to pay for services they need. This gives the option for a business to get professionals to perform services for them that the business may not have the staff for. Outsourcing provides a cost saving-strategy that is usually more affordable. Ultimately,
In general, the outsourcing is hiring the foreign workers/company to do a particular task, as opposed to hiring domestic workers/company. Besides the outsourcing, the international purchase is an essential activity of companies. In the trend of a booming global economy, a company only focuses on its core value and hire suppliers to supply the necessary product and service. The relationship between companies are complicated and interdependent.
Steinbeck shows friendship is willing up to support others to build pleasure, confidence ,and lastly sacrifices. For example,as George is working to protect Lennie, he says “Course you did. Well , look. Lennie-if you jus’ happen to get in trouble like you always did before, I want you to come right here an’ hide in the brush. ”(Steinbeck 15).
It is a concept that has evolved from a manufacturing perspective to a strategic perspective, which views the concept as a way for organizations to focus and be more competitive. The basic premise of outsourcing is that a specialist organization can perform a particular service more efficiently than can internal operations because a specialist organization has an inherent advantage in producing and delivering a service. Superior technology, management skills, or economies of scale may contribute to this perception. The type of sourcing relationship depends on whether a long-term or short-term need exists. To save funds used for benefits for regular employees, temporary workers are hired. In this case, the organization (outsourcer) provides all necessary resources except the workers, who are provided by the vendor. For long-term services, the vendor has full responsibility for delivering the service; the outsourcer provides only a liaison.
To take on these competitive challenges, corporations are outsourcing to specialized companies that can use their capability to increase the efficiency of an outsourced function (Burt, 2010). Outsourcing has become so common that it is listed as one of the five basic forms of collaboration among supply chain participants (Bowersox, 2010). However, over the past several years there has been a surge of outsourcing taking place in the United States and abroad and this trend has added a new dimension to procurement (Burt, 2010). Today, procurement is used as a competitive weapon that differentiates successful, highly profitable companies from others within the same commerce. (Simchi, Kaminski, Simchi,
Because of the important relationship between insourcing/outsourcing and competitiveness, organizations must consider many variables when considering an insourcing/outsourcing decision. This may include a detailed examination of a firm’s competency and costs, along with quality, delivery, technology, responsiveness, and continuous improvement requirements. Because of
Therefore, outsourcing is challenging for companies because they are several tasks involve in this process. For example: selecting the correct provider of outsourcing, what is the company’s goal, identifying the core and non-core business activities, defining the process that should be keep it in-house or the activities that are better to outsource, to a country that works based on the comparative advantage. Consequently the main propose of outsourcing is to lower costs, and this can cause a direct impact in labor rights.
This issue facing my organization is outsourcing. Outsourcing, the corporate buzzword of the nineteen-nineties through today, is a popular business approach utilized by companies focused on lowering their cost structure, gain entrance to new markets, and expand and build capabilities. Defined as, the strategic use of outside resources to perform activities traditionally handled by internal staff and resources [Handfleld, R, 2006]. Initially, outsourcing targeted non-critical and non-core activities such as facility maintenance and cleaning and security. Later the industry focus began to include the core processes of manufacturing, logistics, and back office support functions. In my experience, the term outsourcing strikes fear into the minds of employees and managers and represents dollar signs to executives and investors. Open communication during change is critical and to eliminate disconnects and misunderstandings. The objective of this paper is to describe both sides, delve into the communication middle ground, and expose the avoidable hidden costs that exist and provide possible solutions to reduce or avoid these hidden costs in value, human capital, and knowledge.
Outsourcing is when a company purchases products or services from an outside supplier rather than performing the same work within its own facilities, in order to cut costs. In other words, outsourcing is an organization's contractual relationship with a specialized outside service provider for work traditionally done internally by that organization. The decision to outsource is a major strategic one for most companies because it involves weighing the potential cost saving against the consequences of a loss in control over the product or service. Some common examples of outsourcing include manufacturing of components, computer programming services, tax compliance and other accounting functions, as well as payroll and other
Outsourcing: A company can save the cost and create a value if any of the value chain activity can be performed outside the company otherwise performed in-house. Companies withdraw from a few noncore activities and rely upon the outside company to supply a part of the product or services that is not a company 's core competency. Outsourcing can increase competitiveness any time when the same activity performed better at a lower cost, these activities are not a core capabilities of the company, it reduces time and speeds up the process, allow organizational flexibility, and allows concentration on the core business competencies that the company does best. Normally, before making any strategic move, a cost-benefit analysis is performed to decide, if off-shore, on-shore or service contract to another firm is necessary and the best move from a strategy perspective. Off-shore outsourcing adds a complex foreign supplier, global trade into the equation and requires consideration of a global strategy as part of the generic strategy.
Stroh (2003) stated that the empirical studies concerning outsourcing tend to present it as a time- and money saving strategy. Nevertheless, according to Stroh (2003), a particular organization might outsource for different reasons, including financial and non-financial ones. For instance, a particular organization might outsource in order to enhance its focus, or to free up certain resources for another purpose. In essence, one might argue that the key drivers/ intended goals are essential in making a particular organization’s outsourcing decision such as outsourcing certain HR activities (Stroh, 2003).
It is an evident fact that outsourcing is quite prevalent practice among both public and private organizations. It has been considered as one of the prime elements of any business strategy. It is with the aid of outsourcing that organizations attempt to reduce the overall cost of sustenance and augment organizational productivity in comprehensive terms. The activity of outsourcing enables the organization to render higher level of emphasis on core activities of business. In the past thirty years, various researchers have undertaken researches to support outsourcing as a mechanism for bringing down organizational costs in a substantial manner. But the comprehensive impact of outsourcing remains to be seen. This research work will assess the relevance and significance of outsourcing in reference to the process of new product development.