Outsourcing, competitive capabilities and performance: an empirical study in service firms

In analyzing the relationship between outsourcing and firm performance, different authors have studied the effects that outsourcing can have on the firm. Even if we establish an initial link between outsourcing and representative measurements of the results achieved through cost savings or the creation of greater market value, no author seems to have established a precise relationship between outsourcing and the most representative measures of company performance (organizational and business performance). After reviewing the literature on this issue, we believe that research has undervalued the impact that outsourcing decisions have on our competitive capabilities. After making an empirical study of service firms, this article finds that there is a relationship between outsourcing decisions and company performance which is articulated via the impact of outsourcing decisions on the firm's competitive capabilities. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.