Outstanding Outsourcing

This book focuses on business process outsourcing aspects in the medium sized enterprise segment within Western Europe. The topic is of increasing interest, especially within the services sector. The book contains theoretical, analytical and practical data on medium sized enterprise contribution to the European Economy, performance analysis and the future outlook. In addition, main aspects related to business process and knowledge process outsourcing focusing on the western European region are also analyzed. Through systematic research, the author has concluded on main trends and strategies of successful business process outsourcing, the cost savings potential and the use of Outsourcing as a tool for value creation and sustainable business development.

One of the most significant techniques to which companies and organizations have turned to improve service delivery and reduce costs has been outsourcing. Over the last 10 years, almost any process has been successfully outsourced. But during that period there have been failures too; projects that never realised their objectives or that had unforeseen impact on business. Global Outsourcing Strategies is a state-of-the-art guide to the best lessons to be learned for successfully implementing and outsourcing projects, or for revisiting existing operations. The 22 chapters explore some of the new areas for outsourcing, after traditional targets such as IT and finance. Information is provided on the different facets of the outsourcing process, such as contract negotiation, the risks involved in outsourcing, the need for service level agreements, the critical requirements needed to build and sustain outsourcing relationships, and ethical supply chain issues. There are also sections exploring the impact of outsourcing on organizational structures; the long term effects; legal issues; management control and inter-firm relationships; as well as case studies from both the public and private sector on the practical side of outsourcing. The book will appeal to practitioners and researchers alike. This is a must-have guide for any organization approaching outsourcing as a global (or local) strategy and for those organizations now reviewing or developing their outsourcing partnerships.

The challenges in the business world never stop escalating as today’s customer are more difficult to satisfy, company’s products are easily copied, and technology is changing rapidly. Outsourcing is becoming more popular in today’s business as companies have limited resource to become the best in every business process. However, not all outsourcing are successful. The initial intention to save costs may result in increasing of costs if outsourcing activities are not extensively planned. The intention of this monograph is simple as the writers intend to introduce a good practice of relational-oriented exchange that will lead to better outsourcing performance. It is hope to address issues surrounding customer demand and market competition which is found to affect the relational-oriented exchange and outsourcing success.

This is unlike any outsourcing book you have seen because it is specifically designed for logistics and manufacturing executives. To successfully outsource today, you need to gain a core competency in outsourcing, avoid setbacks, and understand how to keep the outsourcing relationship robust. Most organizations do not have outsourcing as a core competency, and this is why so many outsourcing relationships fail. Altogether, the four authors of this book have nearly 100 years of solid experience in logistics and manufacturing outsourcing. They have seen outsourcing from all angles'either as providers, consultants, clients, attorneys or expert witnesses'and it is not always a pretty picture. This expertise makes the authors uniquely qualified to teach companies how to harness the real power behind outsourcing.

Ever since 1989, the Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Belgrade, has been the host of SymOrg, an event that promotes scientific disciplines of organizing and managing a business. Traditionally, the Symposium has been an opportunity for its participants to share and exchange both academic and practical knowledge and experience in a pleasant and creative atmosphere. This time, however, due the challenging situation regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, we have decided that all the essential activities planned for the International Symposium SymOrg 2020 should be carried out online between the 7th and the 9th of September 2020. We are very pleased that the topic of SymOrg 2020, “Business and Artificial Intelligence”, attracted researchers from different institutions, both in Serbia and abroad. Why is artificial intelligence a disruptive technology? Simply because “it significantly alters the way consumers, industries, or businesses operate.” According to the European Commission document titled Artificial Intelligence for Europe 2018, AI is a key disruptive technology that has just begun to reshape the world. The Government of the Republic of Serbia has also recognized the importance of AI for the further development of its economy and society and has prepared an AI Development Strategy for the period between 2020 and 2025. The first step has already been made: the Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia, after a public call, has selected and financed twelve AI projects. This year, more than 200 scholars and practitioners authored and co-authored the 94 scientific and research papers that had been accepted for publication in the Proceedings. All the contributions to the Proceedings are classified into the following 11 sections: Information Systems and Technologies in the Era of Digital Transformation Smart Business Models and Processes Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Sustainable Development Smart Environment for Marketing and Communications Digital Human Resource Management Smart E-Business Quality 4.0 and International Standards Application of Artificial Intelligence in Project Management Digital and Lean Operations Management Transformation of Financial Services Methods and Applications of Data Science in Business and Society We are very grateful to our distinguished keynote speakers: Prof. Moshe Vardi, Rice University, USA, Prof. Blaž Zupan, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, Prof. Vladan Devedžić, University of Belgrade, Serbia, Milica Đurić-Jovičić, PhD, Director, Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia, and Harri Ketamo, PhD, Founder & Chairman of HeadAI ltd., Finland. Also, special thanks to Prof. Dragan Vukmirović, University of Belgrade, Serbia and Prof. Zoran Ševarac, University of Belgrade, Serbia for organizing workshops in fields of Data Science and Machine Learning and to Prof. Rade Matić, Belgrade Business and Arts Academy of Applied Studies and Milan Dobrota, PhD, CEO at Agremo, Serbia, for their valuable contribution in presenting Serbian experiences in the field of AI. The Faculty of Organizational Sciences would to express its gratitude to the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development and all the individuals who have supported and contributed to the organization of the Symposium. We are particularly grateful to the contributors and reviewers who made this issue possible. But above all, we are especially thankful to the authors and presenters for making the SymOrg 2020 a success!

The issues, opportunities and challenges of aligning information technology more closely with an organization and effectively governing an organization s Information Technology (IT) investments, resources, major initiatives and superior uninterrupted service is becoming a major concern of the Board and executive management in enterprises on a global basis. An integrated and comprehensive approach to the alignment, planning, execution and governance of IT and its resources has become critical to more effectively align, integrate, invest, measure, deploy, service and sustain the strategic and tactical direction and value proposition of IT in support of organizations.Much has been written and documented about the individual components of IT Governance such as strategic planning, demand (portfolio investment) management, program and project management, IT service management and delivery, strategic sourcing and outsourcing, performance management and metrics, like the balanced scorecard, compliance and others. Much less has been written about a comprehensive and integrated IT/Business Alignment, Planning, Execution and Governance approach. This new title fills that need in the marketplace and gives readers a structured and practical solutions using the best of the best principles available today. The book is divided into nine chapters, which cover the three critical pillars necessary to develop, execute and sustain a robust and effective IT governance environment - leadership and proactive people and change agents, flexible and scalable processes and enabling technology. Each of the chapters also covers one or more of the following action oriented topics: demand management and alignment (the why and what of IT strategic planning, portfolio investment management, decision authority, etc.); execution management (includes the how - Program/Project Management, IT Service Management with IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) and Strategic Sourcing and outsourcing); performance, risk and contingency management (e.g. includes COBIT, the balanced scorecard and other metrics and controls); and leadership, teams and people skills.

This book offers a sociological account of the process by which companies instituted and continue to institute outsourcing in their organization. Drawing on qualitative data, it examines the ways in which internal outsourcing in the information technologies and human resources professions negatively affects workers, their work conditions, and working relationships. With attention to the deleterious influence of outsourcing on relationships and the strong tendency of market organisations to produce social conflict in interactions – itself a considerable ‘transaction cost’ – the author challenges both the ideology that markets, rather than hierarchies, produce more efficient and less costly economic outcomes for companies, and the idea that outsourcing generates benefits for professional workers in the form of greater opportunity. A demonstration of the social conflict created between employees working for two separate, proprietary companies, Working Lives and in-House Outsourcing will be of interest to scholars with interests in the sociology of work and organizations and the sociology of professions, as well as those working in the fields of business management and human resources.

Pharmaceutical Outsourcing: Discovery and Preclinical Services is the first in a series on pharmaceutical outsourcing. This first book is written for all practitioners in the pharmaceutical and biotech world and is about managing projects in drug discovery and preclinical development. The purpose envisioned by the authors and editors is to provide an understanding of how outsourcing works from the perspective of sponsor, internal customer, service provider, outsourcing service marketplace, principal investigator, project leader, and consultant. The authors of this book and the companies they represent hail from the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Australia, underscoring the fact that drug discovery is an international effort. The scope of the businesses covered include the one-person consulting company through to a sponsor among the largest in the industry. Written in the styles unique to each author, the reader will enjoy getting into the minds of the writer. Our intention is to provide a story for each aspect of the process as you move from target validation, genomic profiling, screening, medicinal chemistry, modeling and informatics, safety evaluation, therapeutic target confirmation, through to protecting the results of the research, the intellectual property. Emerging trends in drug discovery support a rapidly growing business model in outsourcing, the virtual pharma company. In recognition of this important element are several success stories and learnings on arbitraging risks in discovery. Outsourcing provides the ultimate flexibility in managing projects that may quickly grow, progress in directions unanticipated, or fail early. Last but not least, this book provides insights in working with companies outside your region, with business cultures unfamiliar or unknown. Relationship building is about understanding your sponsor or customer in their cultural space and being able to establish the rapport for clear and open communications. Priceless!