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Il fenomeno dell’esternalizzazione delle attività di impresa (outsourcing) ha conosciuto diverse ondate di popolarità come pratica strategica e organizzativa nelle ultime decadi e appare come multiforme e complesso. Sul piano teorico, nonostante molteplici contributi abbiano esplorato il fenomeno da diverse prospettive e abbiano alimentato un crescente bagaglio di conoscenza, il dibattito sull’outsourcing appare ancora non esaurito e permangono alcune interessanti domande di ricerca poco e affatto esplorate. Anche alla luce del recente downturn economico, l’outsourcing potrebbe essere una risposta strategica o piuttosto un errore da non commettere. Il presente articolo si pone l’obiettivo di fornire una sistematizzazione della letteratura in merito all’impatto dell’outsourcing sul piano strategico e organizzativo. In questo modo, emergono possibili nuovi filoni di ricerca, in grado di assicurare una maggiore comprensione dell’outsourcing e supportare le strategie aziendali e dei policy makers. In secondo luogo, il paper presenta i risultati relativi ad un’indagine empirica che ha per oggetto i principali indicatori riconducibili alle operazioni di outsourcing effettuate. In tal modo è possibile ottenere un quadro delle recenti pratiche di outsourcing e degli impatti strategici e organizzativi, che possono essere analizzati attraverso le lenti teoriche definite in precedenza. Over the last decades the phenomenon of outsourcing has known several waves of popularity. Despite many theoretical contributions have explored the topic from different perspectives while fuelling a growing body of knowledge, the debate is still open. This article aims to provide a review of the literature on outsourcing decision-making. We enlighten emerging areas of research, which can possibly provide a greater understanding of the issue. Also, the paper presents the results of an empirical analysis on a sample of outsourcing agreements signed during the last 15 years. The analysis focuses the main indicators related to outsourcing in order to get an overview of recent practices and their strategic and organizational impacts

Despite outsourcing has been at the core of managerial practice and literature for a long time, still authors do not agree on a clear understanding of the overall outsourcing process. This article answers two main questions, relevant to researchers and practitioners: 1.What are the main findings so far in outsourcing literature? 2.What do we still need to learn? Through a comprehensive review of the literature, we offer systematization of the existent body of knowledge on outsourcing, its implications on firms’ boundaries, and the theoretical challenges. In conclusion, implications for managers are drawn.

Many decisions on IS investments have made during the past 20 years but yet, the extant literature does not provide a clear understanding of the phenomenon of IS outsourcing. This chapter answers two main questions relevant to researchers and practitioners: 1) What are the main findings so far in IS outsourcing literature? 2) What do we still need to learn? Through a comprehensive review of the literature, the authors offer systematization of the body of knowledge on outsourcing, its implications on firms’ boundaries, and the theoretical challenges. The MIS perspective appears to be very present, both by considering technology as part of the external environment and by exploring IS and IT as areas for important sourcing decision. In conclusion, implications for managers are drawn.

This study seeks to understand the potential impact of outsourcing on healthcare processes. By referri ng to a wider scope of industries and sectors, as they have been the experimental fields of most of the studie s on outsourcing, we highlight the pros and cons of the externalization of activities related to patient ca re. Our purpose is to show and contextualize the (yet) ambi guous effects of relying on external partners in delivering services related to the health of patien ts. We argue that the seek for efficiency might som etimes hinder the global outcome of care; further we state that given the peculiar nature of the healthcare, outsourcing needs to be used within a wider strateg ic analysis of the activities. This study starts wi th a review of the literature on outsourcing strategies applied to healthcare sector and it also proposes a n analytical model for decision-making. The main conclusion is that healthcare organizations should set up proper mechanisms for the governance of the overall transactions related to outsourcing in order to ex tend the span of control over the external providers as long as the effectiveness and the efficacy of the g eneral outcome is not compromised. Both private and public health providers could benefit from a more reliabl e model for deciding on the span of their activities that can be outsourced.