This study aims to identify, establish and discuss the potential problems associated with outsourcing military functions to private enterprises within the context of “grey-area” threats. This is of high relevance as essential parts of the Swedish armed forces (SAF) sea logistic chain are dependent on private shipping companies (PSC) as they do not possess these functions inhouse, and the “grey-area” in particular is a subject of great juridical uncertainty. By focusing on chartering and freighting outsourcing between PSCs and the SAF, the ambition is to identify certain risks, complications and difficulties for the operational capacity of the SAF, that may arise as a result of threatful situations within the grey-area.By conducting in-depth interviews with prominent personnel within both the SAF and PSCs, it has been possible to identify certain areas of complex issues and challenges necessary to address when entering into freighting agreements adequate for grey-area threats. In conclusion the study identified the following main problematic areas: ·      No guarantee from the state to ensure PSC assets when damaged by grey-area activity, puts increasing demand for good will between parties. This is problematic in the sense of becoming a normative relationship, and not substantial. ·      The SAF may find themselves in a disadvantageous position in terms of competences and resources when negotiating agreements.  ·      Lack of PSC involvement in defence planning leads to deficient understanding for SAF needs and demands. ·      PSCs as civilian corporations are more vulnerable to societal disturbances, which may lead to slow response in crisis-situations. ·      PSCs as a global industry risk (i) exploitation of free-market dynamics by antagonistic activity through foreign co-ownership and buyout, (ii) juridical limitations through PSCs using ships of foreign nations (flag), and (iii) shortage in manpower, as well as security threats to SAF interests may arise by PSCs using multinational crews. ·      Freighting between parties is a time-consuming process which may be problematic for quick response to grey-area threats.

In my thesis, I will focus on outsourcing the way it may be applied from global perspective. I will precisely define specific types of outsourcing, it`s versatility and summarize current trends in outsourcing business. Besides outsourcing, focus has also been put on managed service known as managed ICT services. Looking into these, particular interest is given to outsourcing of printing services and managed desktop services. As a result, deep dive into current situation of a concrete company was done, listing analysis of actual printing devices and desktop devices, ending with closing summary recommending the best way to implement new solution and smart ways of financing.

The goal of this diploma thesis is to design processes for existing ICT company mainly providing services. This work contains models of the designed processes and proposes convenient information system. All the designed processes are evaluated against ISO/IEC 27000 and ISO/IEC 20000 standards.

Modebranschen präglas av ett ständigt sökande efter billigast möjliga arbetskraft. Som en konsekvens väljer företag som opererar inom denna sektor vanligen att outsourca sin produktionsfunktion till en tredje part bortom hemmamarknaden. Ett sådant beslut kan vidare ge upphov till en komplex försörjningskedja. I förlängningen har detta medfört att granskningen från samhällets alla aktörer blivit allt mer omfattande. Detta då missöden och skandaler gällande den outsourcade produktionen uppdagats. Kritik kring bristande kontroll och insyn i leverantörsledet har därför inneburit att företagen funnit sätt att argumentera för sin verksamhet och de sourcing beslut som tagits. Studiens syfte är att synliggöra de argumentationstekniker som används kring rättfärdigandet av en outsourcad produktion. Detta besvarades genom att i en diskursiv analysmetod undersöka och kategorisera svenskamodeföretags språkanvändning samt de argumentativa kategorier som återfanns i deras hållbarhetsredovisningar. Detta gjordes med hjälp av ett ramverk som modifierades och utvecklades under studiens gång. Resultatet visar att samtliga studieobjekt använder sig av argumentationstekniker som vidare kan härledas till analysmodellens olika huvudkategorier. Dessa verkar i legitimerande syfte och gör att företagen framstår som ansvarstagande kring den outsourcade produktionen. Studien bidrar till att ge läsare av företagens hållbarhetsredovisningar möjligheten att ta till sig informationen utifrån ett mer kritiskt förhållningssätt. / The fashion industry is characterized by a constant search for the cheapest possible labor. As a consequence, companies operating in this sector usually choose to outsource their production function to a third party outside the home market. Furthermore, such decision can give rise to a complex supply chain. As a result, the scrutiny from all actors in society has become more extensive as mishaps and scandals regarding the outsourced production have been discovered. Criticism about lack of control and transparency in the supply chain has therefore meant that companies have found ways to argue for their operations and the sourcing decisions that have been made. The purpose of the study is to highlight the argumentative techniques used to justify outsourced production. This was answered by investigating and categorizing the use of argumentative categories in Swedish fashion companies sustainability reports. The methodology used was a discourse analysis. The analysis was based on a previously designed framework that was modified during the study. The result shows that all study objects use argumentation techniques that can further be linked to different main categories of the analysis model. These arguments are used in order to legitimize the companies CSR-activities connected to the outsourced production. The study helps to give readers of the companies sustainability reports the opportunity to access the information based on a more critical approach. The thesis is written in Swedish.

Titel: Utveckling och förbättring av inköpsprocessen för transporter. - En fallstudie på Wexiödisk ABBakgrund: Allt fler företag väljer att inte utföra transporterna på egen hand och istället samarbetar med tredjepartslogistikföretag. Inköpsprocessen för transporter är den processen som ser till att transporttjänsterna åt kunderna köps från 3PL företagen. Wexiödisk upplever några problem gällande inköpsprocessen för transporter i form av brist på kunskap kring processens aktiviteter, problem med standardisering och känner att den utförs på ett gammaldags sätt. Detta leder till slöserier, problem med delegering och ineffektivitet. En ökad grad av outsourcing leder ofta till ökade kostnadsbesparingar, men det är svårt att fånga hur kostnader förändras från att hantera processen internt till att den hanteras av en tredje part. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att identifiera icke-värdeskapande aktiviteter som i nuläget förekommer i inköpsprocessen för transporter genom att kartlägga processen, detta med avsikt att utveckla och ge förslag på förbättringsarbete. Syftet är också att identifiera och undersöka hur kostnader förändras och vilka faktorer som påverkar dessa vid en potentiell outsourcing av inköpsprocessen för transporter i SME, samt utveckla en kostnadsmodell för identifiering av dessa kostnader. Metod: Studien är en en-fallstudie där kvalitativa metoder användes. Relevant data för studien samlades in med hjälp av ostrukturerade- och semi-strukturerade intervjuer samt egna observationer på plats. Först upprättades processkartorna för processen för respektive marknad med syfte att skapa kunskap kring processens aktiviteter och identifiera ickevärdeskapande aktiviteter. Därefter identifierades förbättrigsförslag för att reducera slöserierna. På slutet analyseras möjlig outsourcing av processen i fokus och kostnadsförändringar som kan ske. Slutsats: Inköpsprocessen för transporter på Wexiödisk präglas av en del manuella arbetsmoment och brister i informationsflödet som skapar slöserier, framför allt i form av överarbetning. Det finns fler icke-värdeskapande aktiviteter när det gäller processen för den utländska marknaden än den svenska. Förbättringsförslag som identifierades och kan reducera slöserierna är i form av digitalisering och utveckling av befintligt affärssystem samt ökad integration. Även en ökad standardisering av processen kan ge positiva effekter på processen och ett verktyg att uppnå det är 5S. Det identifierades flera kostnader av att hantera processen internt, framför allt indirekta kostnader. Den högsta kostnadsposten är personalkostnader för transporthanteraren. Kostnader som kan tillkomma vid outsourcing av processen kategoriserades in i fem kategorier: Avtalsrelaterade kostnader, Transaktionskostnader, Underhållnings- och tjänstekostnader, Riskkostnader och Gömda kostnader. Dessa kostnader beror på olika faktorer och storleken kan vara större eller lägre beroende på förutsättningar. i Växjö.  Bakgrund: Allt fler företag väljer att inte utföra transporterna på egen hand och istället samarbetar med tredjepartslogistikföretag. Inköpsprocessen för transporter är den processen som ser till att transporttjänsterna åt kunderna köps från 3PL företagen.Wexiödisk upplever några problem gällande inköpsprocessen för transporter i form avbrist på kunskap kring processens aktiviteter, problem med standardisering och känner attden utförs på ett gammaldags sätt. Detta leder till slöserier, problem med delegering ochineffektivitet. En ökad grad av outsourcing leder ofta till ökade kostnadsbesparingar, men det är svårt att fånga hur kostnader förändras från att hantera processen internt till att den hanteras av en tredje part. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att identifiera icke-värdeskapande aktiviteter som i nuläget förekommer i inköpsprocessen för transporter genom att kartlägga processen, detta med avsikt att utveckla och ge förslag på förbättringsarbete. Syftet är också att identifiera och undersökahur kostnader förändras och vilka faktorer som påverkar dessa vid en potentiell outsourcing av inköpsprocessen för transporter i SME, samt utveckla en kostnads modell för identifiering av dessa kostnader. Metod: Studien är en en-fallstudie där kvalitativa metoder användes. Relevant data förstudien samlades in med hjälp av ostrukturerade- och semi-strukturerade intervjuer samt egna observationer på plats. Först upprättades processkartorna för processen för respektive marknad med syfte att skapa kunskap kring processens aktiviteter och identifiera icke-värdeskapande aktiviteter. Därefter identifierades förbättrigsförslag för att reducera slöserierna. På slutet analyseras möjlig outsourcing av processen i fokus och kostnadsförändringar som kan ske. Slutsats: Inköpsprocessen för transporter på Wexiödisk präglas av en del manuella arbetsmoment och brister i informationsflödet som skapar slöserier, framför allt i form av överarbetning. Det finns fler icke-värdeskapande aktiviteter när det gäller processen för den utländska marknaden än den svenska. Förbättringsförslag som identifierades och kan reducera slöserierna är i form av digitalisering och utveckling av befintligt affärssystem samt ökad integration. Även en ökad standardisering av processen kan ge positiva effekter på processen och ett verktyg att uppnå det är 5S. Det identifierades flera kostnader av att hantera processen internt, framför allt indirekta kostnader. Den högsta kostnadsposten är personalkostnader för transporthanteraren. Kostnader som kan tillkomma vid outsourcing av processen kategoriserades in i fem kategorier, nämligen avtalsrelaterade kostnader, transaktionskostnader, underhållnings- och tjänstekostnader, riskkostnader och gömda kostnader. Dessa kostnader beror på olika faktorer och storleken kan variera beroende på förutsättningar. / Title: Development and improvement of the purchasing process for transports. A case study at Wexiödisk Ab in Växjö.  Background: An increasing number of companies choose not to perform transportation on their own and instead collaborate with third-party logistics companies. The purchasing process for transports is the process that ensures that the transport services for thecustomers are purchased. Wexiödisk experiences some problems regarding the purchasing process for transports in the form of lack of knowledge about the process’s activities, problems with standardization and feels that it is done in an old-fashioned way. This leads to waste, problems with delegation and inefficiency. An increased degree of outsourcing often leads to increased cost savings, but it is difficult to capture how costs change from managing the process internally to being managed by a third party. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify non-value creating activities that currently occurs in the purchasing process for transports by mapping the process, with the intention of developing and proposing improvement work. The purpose is also to identify and investigate how costs change and what factors may affect them in a potential outsourcing of the purchasing process for transports in SME, and to develop a cost model for identifying these costs. Method: This study is a one-case study using qualitative methods. Relevant data for the study were collected using un- and semi-structured interviews and as well as on-site observations. First, the process maps were created for the process for each market with theaim to create knowledge about the process’s activities and identifying non-value-creating activities. Subsequently, improvement proposals were identified to reduce waste. At the end, possible outsourcing of the process is analyzed and cost changes that can occur. Conclusions: The purchasing process for transport at Wexiödisk is characterized by anumber of manual work steps and short comings in the information flow that leads to waste, especially in the form of overworking. There are more non-value-creating activities regarding the process for the foreign market than the Swedish one. Improvement proposals that have been identified and can reduce waste are in form of digitalization and development of existing business systems and increased integration. Even increased standardization. Even increased standardization of the process can have positive effects on the process and a tool to achieve it is 5S. Several costs were identified by managing the process internally, especially indirect costs. The highest cost is personnel costs for the transport manager. Costs that may be incurred in outsourcing of the process were categorized into five categories, namely contract-related costs, transaction costs, entertainment and service costs, risk costs and hidden costs. These costs depend on various factors and the size may be greater or lower depending on different conditions.

In the last few decades, new vertically integrated players have appeared in the fashion industry providing their customers with lower prices and an increased number of seasons per year. In this context, the need for high efficiency levels among the fast fashion retailers appears as a necessity to survive. Since the area of Store Operations (SO) is directly dealing with processes at the end of the supply chain, boosting revenues through the increased efficiency and incorporation of new technologies in this area becomes critical. In order to accomplish that in a long-term perspective, this must be done while improving staff working conditions, customer experience in the stores and with more cost effective practices. Therefore, this study investigated how established fast fashion retailers can improve their Store Operations in pursuance of coping with growing efficiency requirements and rapidly changing technology in their stores. This has been done by conducting a case study at one of the biggest fast fashion retailers in the world. The research involved 42 different interviews with the case company’s employees and industry experts in the store solutions field, which allowed collecting both qualitative and quantitative data. Moreover, in order to analyze empirical findings obtained during the research process, outsourcing theories, including transactional cost theory (TCT) and resource-based view theory (RBV) as well as innovation theories, including diffusion of innovation and radio frequency identification (RFID) adoption theories, were used. The results indicate that in order to improve their Store Operations, the case company should first work on five areas, which include: (1) stockroom processes, (2) technology and innovation, (3) alarm systems, (4) employee morale, and (5) customer service. At the same time, it was discovered that the solutions that can improve all of these areas are: RFID that act as a security device and the outsourcing of stockroom process, known as Golden Delivery. In order to make the implementation of these two solutions successful, separate implementation guidelines must be created, both of which are presented in this document. The findings of this study have implications on both sustainability and research. This investigation contributes to the literature by giving a better understanding of the operational activities performed in the store environment of fast fashion retailers as well as the link between them and the rest of the supply chain. Moreover, the efficiency solutions presented in this document give fashion retailers a sustainable economic advantage achieved through cost savings and increased business performance, as well as, the motivation to focus on social and environmental aspects related to these practices.

Since the financial- and real estate crisis in 1990-1993, the Swedish real estate market has changed a lot. Companies that earlier considered themselves as technical-oriented has shifted towards being service-oriented with increased customer focus, which in turn has amplified the competitiveness within the industry. The organizational development in the Swedish real estate business has historically been neglected compared to other industries, but has changed as an effect of the increased competitiveness. There are organizational variations between companies operating on the Swedish real estate market where each company’s perception of optimal organizational structure affects the organizational operations and ultimately the profitability of the firm. This master thesis investigates how organizational differences, in terms of real estate management, between Swedish real estate companies impact the competitiveness of the firm. / Den svenska fastighetsmarknaden har förändrats mycket sedan finans- och fastighetskrisen som ägde rum mellan 1990-1993. Företag som tidigare ansett sig vara teknik-inriktade tvingades ändra sitt fokus till att vara mer service – inriktade, vilket ökade den interna konkurrensen på fastighetsmarknaden. Den organisatoriska utvecklingen har historiskt sett varit eftersatt jämfört med andra branscher men har också förändrats till följd av den ökade konkurrensen. Det finns organisatoriska skillnader mellan fastighetsbolag på den svenska marknaden som speglar varje bolags uppfattning av vad som är ”den ultimata organisationen” som i förlängningen påverkar organisationens struktur och lönsamhet. Denna masteruppsats utreder hur organisatoriska skillnader, vad gäller organisering av fastighetsförvaltning hos svenska fastighetsbolag i sin tur påverkar deras konkurrenskraft.

Background: The rapid improvement of technological infrastructure over the past three decades have led to increased connectivity and communication possibilities. This has allowed firms to develop sophisticated firm-specific governance structures with the use of different sourcing strategies. The main objectives have been to cut costs and gain competitive advantages by outsourcing activities offshore to developing countries or third-party vendors. The decision to outsource has its roots in the classical transaction cost theory and resource-based view. Some outsourcing partnerships have resulted in failures while others in success stories. The stories are evident in the software industry as the industry is highly susceptible to sourcing strategies, hence outsourcing is often used in global software development (GSD) projects. Firms engage in GSD with the ultimate goal of producing products faster, at a low-cost, and of high quality. In spite of this, GSD projects face huge challenges in terms of geographical-, temporal-, and cultural distances while the added complexity and issues associated with different sourcing strategies amplifies these challenges. The use of different sourcing strategies in GSD projects has not received as much attention as the debate about whether co-located or distributed teams perform better. Objective: The objective of this thesis is to explore how outsourcing, insourcing, and the combination of both in a co-located and distributed development setting relates to the software development project performance measured in terms of quality and productivity. The aim is to enrich and add to the scarce literature of global software development project performance in relation to sourcing strategies and when these are combined in projects. Method: In this thesis, we employed a case study at a software firm which engages in large-scale global software development projects. A total of 64 projects were selected for the study and data was collected primarily from archival documents where we made use of management documents and code databases. The data analysis was conducted using statistical tests in SPSS to investigate relationships and differences in quality and productivity for the four strategies. Results: The results revealed a statistically significant difference in quality among the sourcing strategies. Insourcing projects are associated with the highest quality followed by outsourcing projects and co-located mixed sourcing projects. Distributed mixed sourcing projects are generating the lowest quality. Although not statistically significant, distributed mixed sourcing projects are the most productive strategy followed by outsourcing projects, insourcing projects and lastly co-located mixed sourcing projects Conclusions: The recent trends in GSD which indicate that many companies turn back to insourcing after outsourcing is justified in our results as insourcing projects displays the highest quality. While outsourcing projects have been associated with poor quality and productivity, our findings suggest they are very competitive in terms of both. The mix of internal employees and third-party consultants in a co-located and distributed setting is associated with lower quality while poor productivity is only attributed to the co-located case. / Bakgrund: Teknikens framfart över de tre senaste decenierna har lett till ökade anslutnings- och kommunikationsmöjligheter. Detta har möjliggjort för företag att utveckla sofistikerade företagsspecifika stryelsestrukturer med använding av olika sourcing strategier. Det huvudsakliga målet med att outsourca olika aktiviteter till utvecklingsländer eller tredjepartsleverantörer har varit att minska kostnader och att erhålla konkrurrensfördelar. Belsutet om att outsourca aktiviteter i ett företag är resursbaserat och grundar sig i den klassiska transaktionskostnadsteorin och resursbaserade teorin (resource-based view). Somliga partnerskap har resulterat i misslyckanden, andra i framgångssagor. Många av dessa har åstadkommits inom mjukvaruindustrin då industrin är mottaglig för olika sourcing strategier, bland annat används outsourcing mycket i globala mjukvaruutvecklingsprojekt. IT-företagen bedriver globala mjukvaruprojekt med de slutgiltliga målet att producera snabbare till ett lägre pris och en högre produktkvalitet. Trots detta uppstår ofta utmaningar när de gäller geografiska, tidsmässiga eller kulturella avstånd där nyttjandet av sourcing strategier adderar ytterligare ett lager av komplexitet. Majoriteten av uppmärksamhet har riktats mot hur samlokaliserade eller distrubuerade projekt presterar medan nyttjandet av sourcingstrategier i globala mjukvaruutvecklingsprojekt har fått mindre uppmärksamhet.      Syfte: Syftet är att undersöka hur outsourcing, insourcing och en kombination av de två i en samlokaliserad eller distrubuerad miljö relaterar till mjukvaruutvecklingsprojkets prestanda i termer om produktivitet och kvalitet. Målet är att berika och addera kunskap till en knapp litteratur om prestanda för globala mjukvaruutvecklingsprojekt med avseende på sourcing strategier när dessa tillämpas i en kombination. Metod. En fallstudie har bedrivits på ett mjukvaruutvecklingsföretag som arbetar med globala storskaliga mjukvaruutvecklingsprojekt. Totalt har 64 projekts blivit utvalda, analyserade och grupperade i fyra olika sourcing strategier. Sekundärdata samlades primärt in från interna företagsarkiv såsom företagets interna databaser och projektledarverktyg. Intervjuer har också genomförts med två projektledare för att få en mer djupgående förståelse av projekten och för att välja ut projekten baserat på våra krav. Dataanalysen genomfördes via statistiska tester i SPSS. Resultat: Resultatet visade en signifikant skilland i kvalitet mellan sourcing strategierna. Insourcingprojekt visade sig bidra med högst kvalitet följt av outsourcing och mixad samlokaliserad sourcing projekt. Signifikat lägst kvalitet hade mixad distrubuerad sourcing. Trots icke-signifikanta resultat, visade det sig att produktiviteten var som högst i mixad distribuerad sourcing projekt följt av outsourcing, mixad samlokaliserade sourcing och insourcing projekt. Slutsats: De senaste trenderna inom global mjukvaruutveckling indikerar på att många företag återvänder till insourcing efter outsourcing är motiverade i vårt resultat eftersom insourcing projekt resulterar i högre kvalitet. Trots att outsourcingprojekt har förknippats med låg kvalitet och produktivitet tyder våra resultat på att de är mycket konkurrenskraftiga. Slutligen är mixen av internanställda och tredje part konsulter i en samlokaliserad och distrubuerad miljö förknippad med en sämre kvalitet, och i de samlokaliserade fallet även sämre produktivitet.

This thesis has its point of departure in the identified knowledge gap, which includes the importance of the information systems (IS) outsourcing relationship for studying the success of IS outsourcing. This research study, therefore, is structured with the belief that the disregard of the client-IS supplier relationship when studying IS outsourcing is paradoxical. Paradoxical since the impact of the relationship on the overall IS outsourcing can make the difference between success, less success and even failure. In contrast to the majority of prior research, which has focused IS outsourcing in its entirety, this research study percieves IS outsourcing as a process. Because prior research shows that the success or failure of IS outsourcing is connected to its implementation, this thesis focuses the post-contract stage of the IS outsourcing. The purpose chosen and addressed is to develop a conceptual framework for describing and explaining the degree of successful outcome of the IS outsourcing process using a relationship perspective. To approach this purpose, a literature review study is conducted. The literature review study includes the integration of three theoretical fields: IS, interorganisational business relationships and IS outsourcing. The knowledge domains of particular interest are 'strategies, approaches and frameworks for the IS life cycle', 'the interaction approach' and 'IS outsourcing success'. The purpose is focused through the identification of key conditions, dimensions and interrelations among dimensions. These identified elements, constituting the core elements of the conceptual framework, are a result of the conducted literature review study. The key conditions are identified according to their influence on the degree of successful outcome of the IS outsourcing process from a relationship perspective. Due to the large amount of key conditions identified, they are categorised into nine dimensions: Atmosphere, Behaviour, Contract, Environment, Interatction, IS, Management, Organisation and Outcome. The identified interrelations among these dimensions are fruitful since they provide insights and a favourable point of departure for studying the degree of successful outcome of IS outsourcing processes. The main contribution of this thesis is the conceptual framework for the IS outsourcing process. The key conditions, dimensions and interrelations constitute the conceptual framework as a result of their potential for describing and explaining the degree of successful outcome of the IS outsourcing process from a relationship perspective. The application of the conceptual framework provides managers with core elements to be considered during IS outsourcing decision-making and subsequent design of IS outsourcing. Its usage, moreover, is believed to support managers during the operationalisation of the post-contract stage of IS outsourcing processes. Finally, the conceptual framework is a fruitful 'tool' for future empirical research. Fruitful in the sense that it can provide useful and important insights into how different key conditions infuence the degree of successful outcome of IS outsourcing processes and how these key conditions are interrelated.

In the 21st century, managing outsourced research and development (R&D) processes is critical to an organization's success. Guided by the logistic outsourcing theory developed by de Boer, Gaytan, and Arroyo, the purpose of this single case study was to explore strategies and processes organizational leaders used to manage outsourced R&D to maintain market competitiveness. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 5 purposefully selected business leaders who were responsible for outsourcing R&D in a single Fortune 500 corporation in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Company records were also gathered as data. Yin's 5-step process for a case study and key words in context analysis were used to analyze the data. Findings included 3 main themes: (a) the outsourcing decision-making process with internal and external constraints, (b) the effectiveness of managing outsourcing services and processes, and (c) the influence of outsourcing on business effectiveness and new products. Findings also indicated no practical system to measure effectiveness of outsourced R&D services on market competitiveness. The lack of measurement effectiveness was due to a lack of processes in place to measure R&D performance and no practical approach to measure impact of R&D on market competitiveness. Findings offered insight into strategies used by business leaders to manage outsourced R&D processes. Findings may also have implications for positive social change such as impacting communities through employment, generating government revenues through taxes, and creating a positive impact on job creation in the industries that promote R&D outsourcing.