Decision making linked to the outsourcing risks

Abstract

The examination of outsourcing – the purchase of goods or services that were previously provided internally (Lacity and Hirschheim, 1993a) – has been an investigation domain for several years. When we consider the potential gains that can be achieved through outsourcing, most of academic discussions have addressed the questions of ‘why’, ‘what’ and ‘how’ to outsource. This research focuses on ‘what are the risks of outsourcing?’. In fact, certain decisions of outsourcing involve unforeseen risks. So, our goal in this research consists in proposing modes and steps of adaptation to the risks related to the strategies of outsourcing and adapting those within a sample of Tunisian outsourced companies. The suggested assistance to these firms consists in developing an interactive system of decision-making aid which allows them to diminish the effect of risk on success of the strategy.