A METHODOLOGY FOR DEVELOPING AND MAKING A DECISION TO OUTSOURCE

Abstract

Nowadays organisations are realizing, more and more, the strategic character of the decision “to outsource or not” and its impact on their whole strategy for their future capacity to compete successfully. The decision “to outsource or not” is not an ordinary business decision by which decision-makers only compare the costs of an individual carrying out a particular process to the costs of contracting the process to an external company. Crafting such a decision is a long and complicated process. It must be done in a structured and rational way and include not only price, but also other factors, and it must not be influenced by outsourcing trends. This article examines the complete process of developing and making a decision to outsource, which includes the following successive steps: forming a team which is going to make the decision to outsource, and which, if the decision is positive, will manage the whole outsourcing process; defining the objectives which are going to be pursued by using outsourcing; describing and classifying the business processes of the organisation; identifying the major competences of the organisation; defining the business processes which can be forwarded for outsourcing, as well as those which must remain within and under the control of the organisation; analysing the assessment of the factors influencing the decision “to outsource or not,”; and making the final decision.