Outsourcing Research Articles

Impact of COVID-19 and Recovery of Airports in the Field of Human Resources Management

The aviation industry is one of the sectors most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this article is to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the area of airport human resource management and on the international airport network. COVID-19 had an unprecedented impact not only on the capacity of international seats for passengers and the gross operating income of airlines from passengers but also on airport companies, which, due to the measures taken and in order to maintain their existence, had to lay off employees. In the beginning of this paper, we discuss the impact of the pandemic on the aviation industry, caused by travel restrictions and overall economic development. In the second part, we will assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the management of human resources of the Austrian airport company and the resulting complications for airport companies in recovering from the consequences of the pandemic. Based on the obtained information and data evaluation, we came to the conclusion that the use of outsourcing services is an advantageous solution in the field of recruiting missing human resources. The added value on the part of the airport company is high-quality, trained personnel ready to perform the work, without the need for additional financial and time investments, limiting the airport operation itself and personnel who are still struggling with a lack of time and manpower. The goal of the companies is to fulfill the contracts, maintain the flow of money, and have a good name both for passengers and for the general public and all interested parties. When determining a suitable strategy using legislative conditions, it is possible to achieve cost savings in the area of human resources and the main business activities of the company.

Why Is Outsourcing Good for Some Employees and Bad for Others? How Demands and Resources Moderate the Outcome

Research on public sector outsourcing primarily focuses on costs and quality, whereas studies investigating the consequences for personnel exposed to outsourcing are scarce. Based on increased competition and private ownership, this study hypothesizes that outsourcing negatively affects employee job engagement and burnout, with more adverse consequences when job demands are high and resources are limited. With unique survey and administrative data, the study compares outcomes for outsourced employees and public employees in similar jobs. The analysis shows that outsourced employees have significantly lower engagement and higher burnout, while further analysis shows that outsourced employees are worse off when job demands are high but equally or less affected when job demands are low. Finally, the analysis shows that outsourcing has significant, adverse consequences for less resourceful employees. The results advance our understanding of how outsourcing influences public personnel and highlights the uneven distribution of consequences across employees.

Optimization of low-head shaft tubular pumping systems based on entropy production theory

In order to improve the operation efficiency of low-head tubular pump, this paper studies the influence of shaft type in the shaft tubular pump on the flow characteristics and energy characteristics of the pump. To optimize the shaft structure of shaft tubular pumping systems and realize the efficient use of energy, numerical simulation and model test was employed to study the optimization of the entire pumping system. In this paper, the CFD method was used to numerically simulate the whole pumping system, and the effect of changing the shaft length, shaft head profile, and shaft tail profile on the internal flow and entropy production characteristics of the inlet passage and impeller position were analyzed. It is found that the tapered tail profile can make the inlet passage overflow area change more smoothly and thus make the flow pattern more favorable. The wall entropy production dissipation at the inlet passage position dominates the total entropy production, and the high-value area of mainstream entropy production at this position is distributed periodically. The mainstream entropy production dissipation at the impeller section accounts for a relatively large proportion. After the entropy production dissipation analysis, it is believed that the tapered can reduce the entropy production dissipation of the pumping systems. The change of the shaft tail profile will make the entropy production dissipation change more noticeable compared with other optimization factors. Therefore, the tapered tail profile with better transition in the actual project is recommended.

Governing through partnership: Strategic migration partnerships and the politics of enrolment and ambivalence

This paper examines the role of partnerships in the governance of UK migration policy, considering how partnerships have been mobilised to navigate tensions between multiple state and non-state actors. The paper focuses on the work of regional strategic migration partnerships (SMPs) across the UK, bodies that bring together national and local government, statutory agencies, third sector organisations, and private contractors, all concerned with the management of migration and asylum. Considering SMPs as sites of collaboration and contention within local ‘battlegrounds’ of policy, the paper examines how enrolment and socialisation shape relations between actors, serving to sustain governmental authority but also offer openings for the formation of advocacy coalitions. Through examining how SMPs addressed the outsourcing of asylum support services, I argue that for many non-state actors enrolment into an SMP produces an ambivalent politics centred on forms of tactical closeness and critical discomfort. In concluding, I suggest the forms of intimacy created through enrolment serve to extend ambivalence as actors become torn between relationships and commitments, highlighting the fraught and often unstable nature of SMPs as bodies of policy coordination and advocacy potential.

Factors Affecting Work Productivity among Employees in the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Industry

Employee productivity is influenced by a variety of factors. Productivity is essential for increasing employees’ performance, which contributes to organizations’ success. This study examines how work environment, work load, and supervisor support influence workforce productivity. Although several previous studies have investigated the factors influencing productivity, this study concentrates on three particular areas: workload, supervisor support and work environment. The primary data was gathered from business process outsourcing (BPO) employees, and an adapted questionnaire was distributed. A total of 100 business process outsourcing employees in Davao City completed the survey. The findings showed that a safe working place, workload, and the support of supervisor influenced the productivity of BPO employees. A p-value of < 01 indicates an association between a safe work environment, workload, and supervisor support and employee productivity. These results conclude that work environment, workload and supervisor support are positively influential on employee productivity among the BPO employees who participated in this study.

Impact of Farmer Participation in Production Chain Outsourcing Services on Agricultural Output Level and Output Risk: Evidence from the Guanzhong Plain, China

Shifting from a land-scale operation to a service-scale operation of agricultural production chain outsourcing services (APOS) is crucial to achieving innovation in agricultural-scale operation techniques. Using propensity score matching (PSM) and data from 1027 farm households in Guanzhong Plain, Shaanxi Province, we empirically assessed the impact of APOS on agricultural output level and output risk. First, age, gender, health, education, training, number of outworkers, land tenure, land contiguity, and subsidy satisfaction had a substantial beneficial influence on the involvement of farm families in APOS. Second, involvement in APOS may greatly increase the amount of agricultural production and lower the risk associated with farm families’ agricultural output. Moreover, the participation in outsourcing services for agricultural machinery use and field management significantly increased agricultural output and decreased output risk, but the participation in agricultural machinery use outsourcing services increased yield and reduced risks more significantly.

Sistem Pendukung Keputusan Kebersihan Area Toilet Menggunakan Metode Fuzzy Tsukamoto

The cleanliness of the restroom is critical in keeping customers interested in returning. Therefore, maintaining the cleanliness of the toilet is important to provide comfort to customers. The toilet area is cleaned regularly by outsourced employees and then checked periodically by the relevant leader in the area to determine the level of cleanliness of the toilet. The design of the system in this study was carried out by making a sitemap, flowchart, database schema, table structure, and designing the user interface of the system to be built. Based on the results of the analysis and design of the best toilet determination system using the Tsukamoto fuzzy method, it can be concluded that the Tsukamoto fuzzy method can be used in determining the best toilet based on toilet data using 3 criteria, namely: toilet area, closet, and sink. The calculation results are determined from the rules used in fuzzy.
 

Outsourcing for emergency relief: Unravelling key strategies

Modern relief organisations are overwhelmed with complex emergency response operations. Man-made and natural disasters are affecting millions of people, infrastructure and land. In developing countries, many emergency relief programs fail due to ineffective outsourcing management of emergency response services. This has been worsened by failure to understand the concept of outsourcing and measures to improve it. Little is known about the key strategies of outsourcing and their impact on emergency relief performance. Thus, the study sought to establish key strategies of outsourcing and their impact on performance of emergency relief programme. The study employed a descriptive research design tapping into quantitative research approach. To collect data from respondents, the closed-ended questionnaires were used. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used in analysing the quantitative data. The study found that adopting strategies to enhance outsourcing improved the organisation’s efficiency and effectiveness in performing emergency relief services. The study revealed that investing in information technology and software systems; and adopting supply chain modelling, algorithms and programming are impetus strategies that can be implemented by a leading non-governmental organisation to enhance outsourcing. Thus, there is significant relationship between exercise of sustainable strategies that enhances outsourcing and performance improvement of emergency relief services. The management of the organisation should adopt information technology, artificial intelligence and data analytics when outsourcing services within the organisation. The study focused on a leading non-governmental organisation in Zimbabwe neglecting other emergency relief organizations and thus making it difficult to make inferences to other players. Therefore, th? researcher recommends that further studies should consider taking all humanitarian organisations to have a comprehensive understanding on the issue under study.

THE INFLUENCE OF DISCIPLINE, KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND COMPETENCE ON THE PERFORMANCE OF OUTSOURCING EMPLOYEES PLASA TELKOM BOGOR REGIONAL 2

Performance management is management about creating relationships and ensuring effective communication between employees and their superiors. This study aims to analyze the influence of discipline, knowledge management and competence on the performance of outsourced employees at Plasa Telkom Bogor Bogor Regional 2. This research uses quantitative research with a descriptive approach. The sampling method used in this study was simple random sampling. The number of samples to be used in this study were 30 outsourced employees. The results showed that all variables had a significant effect on variable Y. The work discipline variable (X1) had a significant effect on employee performance because the results of the t significance test showed that the sig value of X1 was 0.036, this shows a significance value of less than 0.05. The Knowledge Management variable (X2) has a significant effect on Employee Performance (Y), this can be seen from the t significance test which shows the sig value of X2 is 0.035 (smaller than 0.05). Competency variable (X3) has a significant effect on employee performance (Y), this can be seen from the t significance test which shows the sig value of X3 is 0.015 (smaller than 0.05).

Predictive factors for the outcome of outsourced home care service bids in Rio Grande do Sul

The study investigated the predictive factors of the award and failure of bids for outsourced home care services in the Central de Licitações do Rio Grande do Sul. For this purpose, 117 cases carried out in the year 2022 were analyzed. The data collected were organized into a specific database and analyzed through descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression. The findings suggest that the estimated value of the bid and the number of participants have effects on the final outcome of the bidding process. On the other hand, it was observed that the location of the service provision has no effect on the chances of awarding the contract.

Global outsourcing and voluntary disclosure

AbstractReliance on global outsourcing has become an economic imperative for many major corporations worldwide, but at the same time, it has brought substantial risks and complexities to these firms. This study employs novel international supply chain data to examine whether global outsourcing of goods or services shapes US corporate disclosure policies. Our main results suggest a negative impact of global outsourcing exposure on voluntary disclosure, and several identification tests further support this baseline evidence. We find that the adverse effect on disclosure is more pronounced when institutional differences are more significant between the United States and foreign suppliers' countries and when US firms face higher litigation risks. However, the effect weakens when investors and stakeholders demand more information. Collectively, our study provides new insights into the economic implications of outsourcing globally from an information disclosure perspective.

Real-time optimization for relocation and dispatching of Emergency Medical Services with balanced workload and outsourced ride-hailing services

Real-time optimization of Emergency medical services (EMS) leads to excessive and unbalanced workload unless balance is directly modeled. Online redeployment policies aim to reduce response times, compensating for the coverage gap left by busy ambulances, however, it is important to account for the additional effort required to relocate to a new position. Additionally, irregular demand patterns result in unequal distributions of workload among the personnel. In this regard, we propose a new survival-based real-time optimization framework that maximizes the survival probability of patients suffering from life-threatening emergencies while maintaining a balanced workload among the crew. Our approach implements an optimization model inside a discrete event simulation model that feeds the former with real-time vehicle utilization metrics to maintain an optimal overall relocation policy. Moreover, we evaluate the impact on the system’s congestion of a mixed dispatched policy that includes external ride-hailing services for minor emergencies. Our case study in New York City indicates that the proposed model increases the average percentage of life-threatening emergencies responded in less than four minutes in more than 10% through the use of survival functions compared to a coverage model from the literature. Furthermore, even though the fleet’s aggregated driving distances increased compared to the coverage approach, our online model effectively balanced the additional workload among the crew. Additionally, ride-hailing services’ introduction presents an important opportunity for reducing personnel workload by 13.5%, on average, and operational costs in $141,220 per day of operation for the entire system. Finally, when ambulance availability is severely reduced, outsourced services significantly help maintaining the response level for low severity emergencies.

How APIs Create Growth by Inverting the Firm

Traditional asset management strategy has emphasized building barriers to entry or closely guarding unique assets to maintain a firm’s comparative advantage. A new “inverted firm” paradigm, however, has emerged. Under this strategy, firms share data seeking to become platforms by opening digital services to third parties and capturing part of their external surplus. This contrasts with a “pipeline” strategy where the firm itself creates value. This paper quantitatively estimates the effect of adopting an inverted firm strategy through the lens of application programming interfaces (APIs), a key enabling technology. Using both public data and those of a private API development firm, we document rapid growth of the API network and connecting apps since 2005. We then perform difference-in-difference and synthetic control analyses and find that public firms adopting public APIs grew an additional 38.7% over 16 years relative to similar nonadopters. We find no significant effect from the use of APIs purely for internal productivity: the pipeline strategy. Within the subset of firms that adopt public APIs, those that attract more third-party complementors and those that become more central to the network see faster growth. Using variation in network centrality caused by API degradation, an instrumental variables analysis confirms a causal role for APIs in firm market value. Finally, we document an important downside of public APIs: increased risk of data breach. Overall, these facts lead us to conclude that APIs have a large and positive impact on economic growth and do so primarily by enabling an inverted firm strategy. This paper was accepted by D. J. Wu, information systems. Funding: This work was partially supported by Mulesoft and Apigee Corporation. Supplemental Material: The data files and online appendix are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.4968 .

The Influence of Discipline, Knowledge Management and Competence on The Performance of Outsourcing Employees

Performance management is management about creating relationships and ensuring effective communication between employees and their superiors. This study aims to analyze the influence of discipline, knowledge management and competence on the performance of outsourced employees at Plasa Telkom Bogor Bogor Regional 2. This research uses quantitative research with a descriptive approach. The sampling method used in this study was simple random sampling. The number of samples to be used in this study were 30 outsourced employees. The results showed that all variables had a significant effect on variable Y. The work discipline variable (X1) had a significant effect on employee performance because the results of the t significance test showed that the sig value of X1 was 0.036, this shows a significance value of less than 0.05. The Knowledge Management variable (X2) has a significant effect on Employee Performance (Y), this can be seen from the t significance test which shows the sig value of X2 is 0.035 (smaller than 0.05). Competency variable (X3) has a significant effect on employee performance (Y), this can be seen from the t significance test which shows the sig value of X3 is 0.015 (smaller than 0.05).

СУТНІСТЬ ІННОВАЦІЙНИХ ПРОЦЕСІВ У ДІЯЛЬНОСТІ СІЛЬСЬКОГОСПОДАРСЬКИХ ПІДПРИЄМСТВ

The article outlines the essence, importance, and consequences of innovative processes. It is emphasized that innovative processes in the activities of agricultural enterprises are closely related to the processes of biological transformation in crop and animal husbandry and are oriented towards a long-term perspective. The spread of innovative processes in the environment of agricultural enterprises depends on the level of their innovative activity. The differences between the concepts of "innovative activity" and "innovative process" are considered. It is noted that innovative activity is a set of innovative processes aimed at creating, patenting, and spreading innovations. Agricultural enterprises are not characterized by innovative activity due to tax restrictions. They implement innovations within the framework of innovation processes, which are characterized by a qualitative change (modernization) of agricultural products and services, or the creation of a qualitatively new product. Innovative processes are revealed in the improvement or generation of new methods, approaches, and principles of operational activity of agricultural enterprises based on the use of new knowledge. Innovative processes in the activity of agricultural enterprises are manifested in the achieved competitive advantages, that is, the presence of some exclusive value in the supply to consumers, which provides prerogatives to a specific enterprise over competitors. Innovative activities of agricultural enterprises result in economic, ecological, and social effects. A special tool to activate innovative processes in the activities of agricultural enterprises is the value chain, which serves as the basis for creating added value for the product. The value chain of an agricultural enterprise consists of specific processes (innovation processes), which often go beyond internal production, and include a set of tangible and intangible costs that form the main and added value. Innovative processes in the activities of agricultural enterprises pave the way to rational, economical, and effective use of the resource component of production potential, as well as a tool for achieving a strategic goal.

Modern HR Management Technologies in Hotel and Restaurant Business: Outsourcing vs Outstaffing

Topicality. In the context of the development of modern HR management technologies, increased competition and global challenges of nowadays realities, hoteliers and restaurateurs are facing the issue of attracting professionals to optimize and improve the business establishments activity. The most relevant HR technologies in the hotel and restaurant business that contribute to improving the efficiency of activity are the technologies of attracting personnel – outsourcing and outstaffing. The aim of the article. The aim of the study is to highlight the essence, to identify advantages and disadvantages, to compare outsourcing and outstaffing models and their application in the hotel and restaurant business. Research methods. A set of general scientific research methods was used: the method of analysis and synthesis, the comparative analysis, the method of logical generalization. Results. The article emphasized the importance of HR management in the hotel and restaurant business in order to ensure the usefulness of staff as the basis for a successful business, and to promote the effective operation of a hotel or restaurant. The article proved that the use of HR technologies is effective, widespread and quite popular, according to well-known experts’ and market practitioners’ studies. As an example, the essence of the concepts of outsourcing and outstaffing was revealed; their advantages and disadvantages were analyzed. For the purpose of comparison, the following models of modern HR technologies in attracting personnel were presented. The expediency of using outsourcing and outstaffing in the hotel and restaurant business was substantiated. Conclusions and discussion. The attraction of a highly qualified personnel in the hotel and restaurant business can be significantly improved by expanding the scope of modern HR technologies, in particular, outsourcing and outstaffing. By implementing these models, hotels and restaurants can significantly increase the efficiency of business processes and competitiveness, financial stability and prospects for strategic development by adopting the world’s experience in HR management progress.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP AS AN EFFECTIVE FORM OF DEVELOPMENT INNOVATIVE ACTIVITIES: APPLICATION FEATURES AND IMPLEMENTATION MECHANISMS

In modern business conditions, business entities, in order to remain successful, are forced to respond quickly to challenges and changes in the external environment. As practice shows, internal entrepreneurship is capable of revitalizing business and adapting it to new environmental requirements and threats. It is what makes growth possible by making change acceptable. At the same time, it helps businesses innovate, improve internal productivity, manage cash flow and stay ahead of the competition. Nurturing internal entrepreneurs leads to continuous organizational development. In particular, the involvement, empowerment of employees, job autonomy and the appropriate reward system allow employees to create innovative ideas and use innovative opportunities that strengthen the long-term strategic effectiveness of business entities. Intrapreneurship is extremely human-oriented. In the process of generating and implementing their own ideas, intrapreneurs develop new skills, progress and change. At the same time, they achieve the main goal – they get recognition and a sense of satisfaction. In many ways, intrapreneurship is easier for an individual than entrepreneurship because it has the support of an existing organization. Intrapreneurs use the experience and various resources of the enterprise. At the same time, they fully experience freedom and flexibility in work, do not worry about risks or rewards. It is important for a business entity to stimulate and support the development of intrapreneurship. Otherwise, innovations will not take place regularly and efficiently, and therefore the company risks losing its position in the market. For the successful formation and development of intrapreneurship, the management of the enterprise needs to provide support and stimulation of its introduction. Such support should be carried out regularly, and not be of a one-time nature. At the same time, it should be comprehensive, i.e. provide for the implementation of various measures.

Enhancing Privacy in Graph Algorithms: Data-Oblivious Approaches to DFS and Dijkstra's Algorithm

Data obliviousness is characterized by a consistent sequence of operations irrespective of input data and data-independent memory accesses, making it a suitable solution for users utilizing outsourced storage data services who aim to conceal their data access patterns. In ACM SIGSAC 2013, data-oblivious algorithms were introduced for breadth-first search, single-source single-destination (SSSD) algorithms, maximum flow, and minimum spanning tree. In this study, we present novel data-oblivious algorithms designed for depth-first search and single-source shortest path (Dijkstra’s algorithm). Our proposed data-oblivious algorithms demonstrate efficiency comparable to non-data-oblivious counterparts, particularly for graphs containing fewer than 1000 nodes. This research contributes to advancing data privacy in outsourced storage services by providing effective data-oblivious solutions for common graph algorithms.

Giving coins for free: Does digital outsourcing of technical and advisory support influence the success of initial coin offerings (ICOs)?

AbstractInitial coin offerings (ICOs) have emerged as a novel mechanism for financing entrepreneurial ventures. This relatively new application of blockchain technology allows a venture to raise money directly from the crowd by creating and selling its own coin or utility token in exchange for future use of this coin to purchase the services and products the venture is aiming to create. During the ICO ventures often use digital technologies to outsource services and build social capital. Despite the explosive growth of ICOs, little is known about the impact of these outsourcing strategies on the ICOs fundraising outcome. This paper presents explanatory research to better understand the role and potential impact of ICO strategies in outsourcing technical and advisory services by offering coins for free. More particularly, using data from 2081 ventures that sought to raise an ICO over the period 2016–2018, we examined the extent to which ventures can influence the likelihood of ICO success by adopting strategies aimed at outsourcing services and building social capital, namely by providing free coins to outsource expertise and by adapting social media campaigns. Findings suggest that although the use of professional social media platforms is associated with both ICO success and a higher level of fundraising, over‐generous outsourcing strategies had a negative impact on the ICO's likelihood to succeed.

Orchestrating a global business services portfolio in a plural sourcing context: the mediating role of modularised business processes

PurposeTo co-create value through dynamic collaborations, enterprises and their suppliers need to orchestrate the integration of complementary resources when providing business services. As such enterprises' strategic decision to apply a plural sourcing strategy to establish dynamic collaborations with their suppliers implies that both in-house and outsourced business services should be bundled into a business services portfolio. However, the antecedents that affect a business services portfolio have rarely conceptually been identified. Design/methodology/approachDrawing on resource orchestration theory, the authors theoretically developed and empirically validated a business services portfolio conceptual model. The model aims at explaining the critical antecedents to a business services portfolio based on a unique data set, comprising 121 international enterprises with variation in the degree of outsourcing, size, geographies and maturity. Partial least squares structural equation modelling was used to examine the relationships among the antecedents and a business services portfolio.FindingsThe findings show that the antecedent, i.e. plural sourcing strategy, modularised business processes and customer orientation have a direct and significant effect on the enterprises' business services portfolio orchestration. The results of the mediation test indicate that modularised business processes fully mediate the relationships between three independent variables with the orchestration of business services portfolio.Originality/valueThis study is the first to analyse the impact of plural sourcing strategy, modularised business processes and customer orientation on the business services portfolio orchestration from a plural sourcing context. Additionally, it examines the mediating role of modularised business processes in the relationship between the antecedents and business services portfolio orchestration.