Unlocking the business outsourcing process model

Outsourcing has emerged as a prevalent business practice that is having a transformational impact on how many organizations manage their global supply chains. Despite this prominence, anecdotal reports from multiple reputable organizations suggest that many businesses fail to realize the benefits anticipated from their outsourcing initiatives. Motivated by these observations, this study investigates those management practices during the outsourcing process that are key drivers of outsourcing performance. Specifically, detailed data from 198 sourcing executives and managers responsible for outsourcing initiatives are used to investigate the influence that strategic evaluation, contractual completeness, and relationship management practices have on achieving projected outsourcing results. The results offer strong empirical evidence that outsourcing performance is significantly influenced by extensive strategic evaluation and proactive relationship management practices. Moreover, the impact strategic evaluation has on outsourcing performance is not direct, but rather is partially mediated by the relationship between the parties. Finally, the results show that contractual completeness does not distinguish between successful and unsuccessful outsourcing efforts, and can be considered qualifying activity.