Abstract
Purpose: This study aims to analyze how the integration between functions can be characterized in a context which one of the functions is outsourced. Four organizations were surveyed as the subject of the study; a multinational industry of agricultural inputs, an agricultural cooperative and two logistics companies outsourced by the multinational and the cooperative.
 Methodology/Approach: A multicase study was conducted. Data collection was done through interviews and personal observation, setting up a qualitative approach.
 Findings: Six categories and their properties were identified for each organization: contact points, requirements, culture, conflict, control and flexibility, and integration factors. 
 Research Limitation/implication: The main limitation of the research lies in the analysis of a single sector, the logistics area. In addition, the contractual relationships are both an agribusiness company with a carrier.
 Originality/Value of paper: The research findings are innovative for the study of the integration between internal and external functions between a main company with outsourced companies.
Highlights
The integration between organizational functions is a broad discussion in the literature, but hardly transformed into an organizational reality
We obtained the categories that help in the interpretation of how the integration of outsourced logistics activities with the internal functions of organizations occurs, based on the cross-functional integration theory: contact points, conflicts, requirements, culture, control and flexibility, and integration factors
The general objective of this paper was to contribute to the theoretical gap that exists in the field of outsourcing studies in companies with regard to cross-functional integration
Summary
The integration between organizational functions is a broad discussion in the literature, but hardly transformed into an organizational reality. The actuation of various functions together approaches the departments, this same action can generate conflicts that make integration difficult (Buss & Cunha, 2001; Hammer, 2002). This approximation is made through interaction and collaboration, so that the former is a formal process and the latter informal, according to Kahn (1996). The strategy of integrating people conflicts with the choice to outsource some activities This conflict is described in some studies as a process of disintegration (Rezende et al 1997; Mahnke 2001)
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