Outsourcing of Services

International outsourcing of services:   solutions to perceived risk.

    Wouter FAES

    Limburg University Centre, Diepenbeek, Belgium

    And

    Paul MATTHYSSENS

    University of Antwerp, Belgium and Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Abstract

Outsourcing services on international markets has long been neglected in the marketing and purchasing literature. It is considered to be a risky business. In this article we report on exploratory research to analyse the factors contributing to this risk element and to map the different risk reduction strategies customers of outsourced services see as potential solutions. We also depict their opinion on their expected effectiveness in an international context. In general, increased team efforts and project planning and management will probably become important tools in the quest for service outsourcing productivity.

Wouter Faes is research assistant at the Limburg University Center at Diepenbeek, Belgium. He specializes in research in purchasing management and service processes.

Paul Matthyssens is professor of international marketing strategy and business-to-business marketing at two universities: University of Antwerp, Belgium and Erasmus University, the Netherlands. He is also visiting professor at the Limburg University Center at Diepenbeek, Belgium.

Corresponding author: Wouter Faes

                                      Limburg University Center
                                      Universitaire Campus
                                      3590 Diepenbeek
                                      wouter.faes@luc.ac.be

Literature Review

Although many authors (Lankford and Parsa, 1999; Conlow, 2004) acknowledge the growing importance of outsourcing for services on international markets (often referred to as “off-shore outsourcing”) and pinpoint to the fact that many different kinds of services (Graham, 2003; Hamilton, 2003; Seymann and Bennett, 2002; Usher, 2004) ranging... [continues]

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