Making the Outsourcing Decision

Mary C. Lacity, Leslie P. Willcocks and David Feeny

Chapter 7 in Information Systems and Outsourcing, 2009, pp 212-234 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract In this chapter, we present our ITO decision framework which guides practitioners to consider business, economic, and technical factors. Originally published as Lacity, Willcocks, and Feeny (1996), this framework is still remarkably relevant. When discussing business factors, we dismiss the traditional “core versus non-core” criterion because we found it was difficult for practitioners to differentiate IT activities on this basis. Instead, we guide practitioners to consider an IT activity’s contribution to competitive advantage as well as to its critical support of daily business operations. In the discussion of economic factors, we challenge practitioners to examine the practices that lead to economic efficiency rather than just economies of scale. Surely, suppliers operate on a larger scale than internal IT departments, but economic efficiency depends more on practices such as standardization, centralization, and tight controls than size. In the discussion of technical issues, we discuss a technology’s maturity (stability, measurability, and requirements certainty) and technology’s integration with other business functions as the most important technical criteria to consider. This framework continues to be used by practitioners and is still widely cited by academics.

Keywords: Switching Cost; Business Operation; Senior Executive; Strategic Partnership; External Supplier (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-0-230-59483-8_7

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.palgrave.com/9780230594838

DOI: 10.1057/9780230594838_7

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Palgrave Macmillan Books from Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().