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Abstract
Since the 1980s, there has been a trend for businesses and public administrations to focus on their core activities, outsourcing tasks such as IT, security, catering and cleaning services. However, in recent years, many organisations have been reversing the trend by insourcing, or “backsourcing”, some of these activities. The aim of this article is to study the extent to which activities have been outsourced in the Brussels regional administrations, its impact on workers and organisations involved, and the attitudes of stakeholders towards a possible re-internalisation of low-skilled jobs. Based on a multidisciplinary BSI project for Talent.Brussels, our findings show that decisions about outsourcing and insourcing are complex and multidimensional, and that they should not be based solely on monetary cost considerations.
Highlights
Brussels Studies, Collection générale growing number of organisations
Several challenges have emerged throughout our research, identifying general questions beyond our cases
When considering a decision about outsourcing or backsourcing, these general questions can be synthesised as follow: 30 1
Summary
Brussels Studies , Collection générale growing number of organisations. The aeroplane manufacturer Boeing and IT firms in Silicon Valley are well-known examples [Economist, 2016; Petitjean and Kishimoto, 2017]. While outsourcing often originates from a mere financial cost-benefit analysis, backsourcing often occurs due to dissatisfaction with the quality of services provided. Apart from these organisational arguments – and, certainly, for public organisations – insourcing can be an instrument of labour market policy to improve the working conditions of groups in a weak labour market position or to meet other aspects of (corporate) social responsibility. While outsourcing is a means to rationalise (i.e. reduce) the operational costs of an organisation (public or private), backsourcing stems from a consideration of a more complete view of management costs, which are more difficult to assess properly, as well as the societal impact of a (public) organisation.
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