Integrated Service Outsourcing: A Conceptual Model

The growing pressure to reduce costs and improve efficiency induces many organizations to undertake service outsourcing initiatives. This paper presents a conceptual model that help shed light on the complexities of outsourcing service and knowledge work. The models offer a simple yet powerful way to conceptualize outsourcing of knowledge and service work and to identify the inherent challenges that such strategies entail. The implications of the conceptual models have been discussed in a range of propositions that can be viewed as foundations for new inquiry in this research stream. A case study of the steel producer Baosteel of China highlights that the adoption of integrated service outsourcing is an appropriate strategy to pursue.