Strategic and Tactical Perspectives on Outsourcing Practices in Operations Management – Laura Guitart Tarrés, Ana Núñez Carballosa and Jaume Valls Pasola

This paper outlines four theories for understanding an organisation's decision to outsource: two adopt an economic perspective (transaction cost theory and agency cost theory), while two provide a strategic perspective (resource-based view and resource-dependence theory). This framework is the basis to define the tactical or strategic way of outsourcing activities. Thus, the research question is: why do firms opt to outsource their logistic and production activities?
In order to answer this question, we designed a study of multiple explanatory cases, using a qualitative methodology in an effort at revealing the reasons (tactical or strategic) underlying the decision to outsource the logistical and production activities.