BEYOND EXPECTATIONS: AN EXAMINATION OF LOGISTICS OUTSOURCING GOAL ACHIEVEMENT AND GOAL EXCEEDANCE

As a growing number of managers consider the decision to outsource logistics activities, it is becoming increasingly critical to understand drivers of success in this area. Using survey data from 549 managers, this research examines the influence of three relationship engagement factors (communication, cooperation, and proactive improvement) on the perceived logistics outsourcing performance achieved by service providers. In particular, logistics outsourcing performance is characterized as consisting of two distinct dimensions: 1) goal achievement, and 2) goal exceedance, which management should consider, respectively, when evaluating their logistics service providers (LSPs).     

The impact of management capability on the resource-performance linkage: Examining Indian outsourcing providers

The increase in offshore outsourcing of information technology-enabled business processes has renewed scholarly attention to better understand the dynamics of service provider firms. In this study, we examine how offshore outsourcing service providers’ internal and relational resources and capabilities jointly predict their economic performance. Analysis of data collected from a sample of 105 Indian service providers suggest that rent generation from firm-specific, idiosyncratic resources is positively moderated by the level of management capability possessed by such firms. Theoretical and managerial implications of the findings are discussed and avenues of future research are offered.     

How to Steer the IT Outsourcing Provider

IT executives entering into information technology (IT) outsourcing arrangements seek various strategic, economic, and technological benefits. However, although several cases of IT outsourcing are considered successful, cases of failure can also be observed. Problems and challenges associated with IT outsourcing often not only relate to the strategic decision whether or not to outsource, but to the operational level as well. Especially organizations with little experience of implementing larger IT outsourcing programs face problems with the steering of external outsourcing providers. In this paper, we propose a reference framework that structures the required processes for an effective steering of IT outsourcing relationships. The research is based on the design science paradigm in information systems research. In a first step, we derive a framework from related literature and knowledge in this particular area. We then undertake extensive fieldwork, including expert interviews and field studies to evaluate our framework and to develop it further. The suggested framework proves to be a viable instrument to support the systematic analysis of current processes and the definition of suitable target processes for the steering of IT outsourcing programs. This paper??s primary contribution therefore lies in providing an applicable instrument for practitioners as well as in extending the existing body of knowledge on IT outsourcing governance.     

A cross-country study of service productivity

This study empirically examines service productivity and complements prior studies by framing service productivity as consisting of a number of key constituents. Adopting a bottom-up approach we present an integrative model proposing that resource commitment is the core from which employee readiness and customer readiness flow. These inform service productivity, which, in turn, informs job security. Our empirical examination reveals that service productivity has an impact on perceptions of job security, while resource commitment has the greatest impact on both employee readiness and customer readiness. In developing our integrative model we provide a framework that other researchers can apply, particularly where the service is highly intangible or in the public sector where service providers are being increasingly challenged to demonstrate value for money.     

The performance implications of outsourcing customer support to service providers in emerging versus established economies

Recent discussions in the business press query the contribution of customer-support outsourcing to firm performance. Despite the controversy surrounding its performance implications, customer-support outsourcing is still on the rise, especially to emerging markets. Against this backdrop, we study under which conditions customer-support outsourcing to providers from emerging versus established economies is more versus less successful. Our performance measure is the stock-market reaction around the outsourcing announcement date. While the stock market reacts, on average, more favorably when customer-support is outsourced to providers located in emerging markets as opposed to established economies, approximately 50% of the outsourcing firms in our sample experience negative abnormal returns. We find that the shareholder-value implications of customer-support outsourcing to emerging versus established economies are contingent on the nature of the customer support that is being outsourced and on the nature of the outsourcing firm. Customer-support outsourcing to emerging markets is less beneficial for services that are characterized by personal customer contact and high knowledge embeddedness than for customer-support services that involve impersonal customer contact and are low on knowledge embeddedness. Firms higher in marketing resource intensity and larger firms benefit more from outsourcing customer-support services to emerging markets than firms lower in marketing resource intensity and smaller firms.     

An outsourcing framework: action research in the heavy industry sector

Recent literature suggests that outsourcing, properly understood and managed as an integral part of strategy, can aid competitiveness. This paper examines the process of outsourcing manufacturing to understand its role in the new strategic agenda. A system model which indicates the critical workflow interfaces between the production system and internal support functions is proposed. The model helps determine the cross-functional interdependencies of the outsourcing process. A four-phase model of strategic outsourcing is then developed. The model serves both as an internal management tool and as an external marketing tool. This leads to synthesis of a practical framework that links six generic phases of outsourcing to strategic planning. The framework includes key activities with built-in performance measures and expected output for each of the phases. The research methodology combines theory study with case study and action research in Aalborg Industries, which operates in the heavy industry. Hence, the research pursues both academic and industrial application.     

Self‐directed learning readiness as an antecedent of organizational commitment: a Korean study

This study was to test whether employees possessing a higher level of self‐directed learning (SDL) readiness have significantly stronger organizational commitment in Korean business settings. Job position and length of service in the workplace, which were previously found as related variables to influence organizational commitment, were included to see how strongly they are associated with organizational commitment. This study found that SDL readiness was a meaningful variable in terms of predicting both affective and continuance commitment. While SDL readiness is negatively related to continuance commitment, it is positively associated with affective commitment. The findings of this study supported the theoretical assumption drawn in a review of the literature.     

上海服务外包承接地综合评价体系的构建

目前,服务业已成为上海增长最快的产业之一,而服务外包则是服务业的一个重要组成部分。国际服务外包发包商在发包业务时,要对服务外包承接地进行综合评价,因而建立上海服务外包承接地综合评价体系对上海服务外包产业的可持续发展具有十分重要的现实意义。本文从产业竞争力、基础环境竞争力、人力资源竞争力和成本竞争力4个方面编制了上海服务外包承接地综合评价体系,并基于层次分析法分析选择服务外包承接地的综合评价方法,以期做出全面、科学、客观的评价,进一步发展优势,积累经验,发现不足,适时改进,为上海服务外包产业的健康发展做一点基础性工作。     

Strategic and Marketing Implications of Consumer Behaviour in Financial Services

As competitive liberalisation and the application of technology in the creation and distribution of financial services have increased consumer choice in the UK personal financial service industry, so consumer choice in the UK personal financial services industry, so consumer behaviour has assumed a greater role in determining the strategic environment in which financial service providers operate. This paper explores the reltionship between consumer behaviour and the strategic choices facing financial consumer behaviour and the strategic choices facing financial service firms by developing a framework of consumer behaviour and linking the forms of behaviour and type of financial service instrument that determines the strategic environment within which financial service providers operate. Based on that interaction the paper develops a contingency view of financial services strategy and argues that to be successful, financial service providers will need to move away from broad service provision and adopt more focused strategies that reflect far more closely the strategic environment in which they operate.     

Role Theory and the Management of Service Encounters

In this article, the contribution of role theory to our understanding and management of service encounters is highlighted. In the first section of the article the focus on social exchange within role theory is identified and commonalities between relational approaches to marketing and a role theoretical perspective are outlined. Thereafter the article outlines the specific contribution of role theory to our understanding of service encounters. Role theory, it is argued, permits better management of the interactive features of service provider-client interface and a clearer focus on role performance and the interpersonal dimensions of service quality. Role analysis offers both focus on role consistency in service provision and a framework for dealing with the uncertainty and evolution in long term service relationships. In services marketing, role can be incorporated as a factor in successful service performance and form a central framework for good service encounter management.     

Outsourcing in Edinburgh and the Lothians

The findings of a survey into the outsourcing activities of large organisations in the Edinburgh and Lothian region of Scotland are reported in this paper. The aim was to carry out a study of outsourcing activity against a theoretical framework of practice and problems derived from the literature. It was found that 70% of the organisations outsourced at least one activity, with cleaning, maintenance, catering, security, and manufacturing/operations being the most common areas, the principal motivation being to improve the quality and cost of the activity outsourced. The criteria used for selecting outsourcing contractors were mainly reputation, cost, previous contacts and technical capability. The main benefits of outsourcing were reduced costs, improved quality of service, increased management focus on core activities, and access to new capabilities. The main problems with outsourcing were loss of control, poor supplier management and problems with confidentiality and opportunist exploitation by supplier. This research was supported by Lothian and Edinburgh Enterprise Ltd.     

The correlations between price cuts/changes and fee sensitivity on the choice of mobile phone service provider

This study adopts fee thresholds to measure users' fee sensitivity and employs a two-step logit model to predict a phone user's probability of choosing a certain service provider. The results indicate that the choice probability can be overestimated if the reference fee effect is not taken into consideration. Furthermore, the lower calling fee image and perceptions shaped by the telecommunications service provider can increase the probability of it being chosen. Users' benefit (saving money) perceptions also reveal a significant difference. In this regard, price promotion effects may not necessarily be successful for every service provider at the time. Service providers with a larger base of benefit perception users have a relative advantage in price-cutting activities. The characteristics of users in the low-loss perception (insensitive to an expensive fee) group are younger, female, and college-educated. Service providers could focus on this segmented market and implement a non-price strategy in order to attract more users. This study may be useful to mobile phone service providers in terms of price-setting policy and image management.     

服务外包企业人才管理水平指标权重研究

人才短缺已日益成为我国服务外包业发展的瓶颈,而解决这一问题的关键在于加强对服务外包企业人才管理能力的评估,改善人才管理中的薄弱环节,提高人才使用效益。本文改进了层次分析法,并借助评估模型对服务外包企业的人才管理水平进行了评估,对服务外包企业提高其人才管理水平具有较高的实用价值。     

Co-evolution of institutional and organizational factors in explaining offshore outsourcing

Offshore outsourcing of business functions is widely practiced by firms in advanced economies. Although scholars have argued for various theoretical perspectives in explaining its nature and implications, a coherent explanation of how crucial factors that aid this growing phenomenon coevolve has not been offered. Further, a potential gap in the extant literature concerns inadequate simultaneous attention to clients and providers – the key actors in offshore outsourcing. With an aim to fulfill these research gaps, we provide in this paper an integrated framework wherein we delineate various institutional and organizational factors that coevolve to enable engagement of clients and providers in offshore outsourcing. Our conceptualization draws from information obtained by interviewing 46 executives of 31 firms of the Indian business process outsourcing industry.     

Asset specificity's impact on outsourcing relationship performance: A disaggregated analysis by buyer-supplier asset specificity dimensions

Using hierarchical regression analysis on a sample of UK service firms, this study tests the impact of asset specificity on outsourcing relationship performance within a disaggregated methodological framework that allows to discern the specific effects of various buyers and suppliers' individual dimensions of asset specific investments. The results indicate that the impact of asset specific investments on outsourcing relationship performance varies according to the particular specificity dimension examined. While all statistically significant dimensions of buyers' asset specificity have a negative impact on relationship satisfaction, suppliers' human and dedicated asset specific investments exert a positive and significant influence. The results also show that, in three interaction instances, reciprocal specific investments are positively associated with outsourcing relationship performance. These findings have profound theoretical and methodological implications.     

Marketing avatars revisited: A commentary on facial recognition and embodied representations in consumer profiling

In this Executive Digest, we review and extend our original Business Horizons article (May 2013) addressing marketing avatars (i.e., mavatars ¹): digital embodied, biometric profiles. In the original article we offered our marketing avatar framework, which classified existing and predicted types of mavatar applications according to data collection and application domains. However, because of the quick pace of change in this domain, we must review newly introduced mavatar applications that complete the original framework. These new applications—as well as industry and regulatory actions—paint a picture of where and how mavatars will be used, and where opportunities exist for application development. For that reason, we discuss current applications and additional predictions for future use.     

跨国公司服务外包的解决机制研究

跨国公司专注于核心业务而将非核心业务外包,已成为一种普遍的战略选择。外包可以降低交易成本,增强企业核心竞争力,优化企业价值链。但跨国公司需要建立起有效的解决机制,才能保证外包目的的实现。作为服务外包的发包方和主要承包方,跨国公司通过管理手段、政策措施等建立起有效的服务外包发包、承包解决机制。     

英文摘要

Outsourcing in China
A recent survey conducted by Duke University and PricewaterhouseCoopers announced that the outsourcing of service is undergoing a global transformation. The industry is becoming more competitive as new service providers proliferate and existing providers strive to expand their market shares.     

How Institutional Change Reconfigures Successful Value Chains: The Case of Western Pharma Corporations in China

Management researchers have traditionally emphasized two main factors in the definition of corporate strategies: internal capabilities and industry competition. However, in less stable, transition economies it is particularly the changing institutional environment that influences strategy definition and performance of multinational corporations (MNCs) as shown by numerous international business (IB) scholars. Yet, how institutions matter remains a largely unresolved question. This article examines how institutions have affected the value chain configuration of Western pharmaceutical firms in China. Our research framework identifies four major strategic shifts along the value chain of Western firms in the pharmaceutical industry: upgrading along the value chain, outsourcing to contract service providers, expansion of geographical scope and diversification of product portfolio. The findings allow concrete managerial implications to be derived for decision makers of Western pharmaceutical firms operating in China. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.