This dissertation aims at analysis of marketing mix of advertising agency. Besides main 4P (Product, Price, Place, Promotions) contains other 3P (Personnel, Process, Physical evidence), because the product of the agency are services. The dissertations includes also SWOT and BCG analysis, in which provides information about positive and negative aspects of work of the agency. The separate chapter is dedicated to outsourcing, on which the advertising agency FILIP Media concentrates.

Thesis (MBA.) -- University of Limpopo, 2017 / The research is focused on outsourcing versus in-house staff in the case of the University of Limpopo. Since the outsourcing path was adopted in 2002, no formal study was instituted by UL to ascertain whether the decision had positive effects on the university’s financial status and former employees’ welfare. One of the impediments that posed a real threat to the UL’s outsourcing agenda was the lack of a guiding document to adequately direct the negotiation process. Lack of feedback and lack of a vibrant communication plan as the main variables that triggered a climate of mistrust between the PCS and stakeholders were identified. This study seeks to determine which option, namely outsourcing versus in-house staff complement will be the most advantageous to UL. The idea taken by the UL in 2002 to outsource what was perceived as non-core operations was an idea that was never easy to implement and ultimately failed to achieve its originally intended purpose. This study opted for the qualitative method because it relied on the views of UL’s former employees who were directly affected by the university’s 2002 outsourcing arrangement. The population of this study consisted of one hundred and fifty (150) people comprising of UL’s in-house employees in the UL. The process of selecting the participants was based on the purposive sampling method. The sample size for this study was 38 of the outsourced operational support staff From the results obtained from the study, a conclusion was drawn that the outsourcing arrangement did not provide any significant benefit to any of the affected parties. The recommendations on measures to improve the effectiveness of UL’s outsourcing arrangement were made and described in detail in chapter five of this study. Recommendations for further studies were also made in chapter five as being inevitable because there is no research that is complete in itself

Human resources (HR) outsourcing has become a norm that organizational leaders leverage as a strategic tool to achieve various business objectives. However, the outsourcing of specific HR functions generates unintended consequences and impacts the performance of internal staff. The purpose of this qualitative, descriptive multiple case study was to explore the strategies used by HR managers to mitigate the negative effects outsourcing has on HR staff performance. The conceptual framework underpinning this research was transaction cost theory. Data were collected from 6 HR executives with experience leading HR outsourcing initiatives in the financial services industry in the United States. Primary data were gathered by conducting semistructured interviews with a set of 8 consistent, open-ended interview questions. Data analysis involved coding of the interview transcripts and analysis of company documents provided by the participants to identify themes. Member checking and methodological triangulation enhanced the credibility of the study. Three themes emerged from the interviews with HR executives as key strategies for managing HR performance: training, communication, and performance management. The findings of this study may contribute to positive social change by providing best practices and strategies to increase the effectiveness of HR outsourcing by mitigating its impact on the performance of HR staff. Furthermore, the effective management of HR outsourcing decisions may increase employment stability, positively affecting the lives of HR staff, increasing the profitability of U.S. businesses, and contributing to a stable U.S. economy.

The question of whether outsourcing is a good or bad organizational practice has traditionally come down to whether the positive financial impact of outsourcing overcomes the potential organizational liabilities. The theoretical model proposed in this thesis argues that such thinking underestimates the positive organizational benefits that arise from outsourcing by giving inadequate consideration to impacts that outsourcing has on the innovation cycle of outsourcing providers. This research adds to our understanding of outsourcing decision-making in three important ways. First, the thesis presents how innovation benefits can arise from outsourcing and proposes four potential innovation benefits from outsourcing – the motivation for creativity, innovation scale, innovation scope and complementarity of capability. The central hypotheses argue that these beneficial factors should increase the likelihood of a decision to outsource an activity. Second, this research extends our understanding of outsourcing by examining the moderating effect of value appropriation on the decision to outsource. Third, the thesis provides a rigorous empirical utility theoretical approach – best-worst scaling and discrete choice modeling – to understanding managerial preferences and the components of outsourcing decision making. The findings reveal that a significant segment of managers do indeed look beyond cost in choosing to outsource, focusing instead to concentrate broadly on a supplier’s commitment to innovation, complementarity of capabilities and the ability of an outsourcing contract to appropriate value created in a relationship. This implies that the managerial application of outsourcing is not restricted to a short-term solution for cost savings, but can potentially be thought of, and used as, a strategic mechanism to drive innovation in organizations. Some benefits may not be immediately obvious (e.g., a supplier’s motivation for innovation) and require more awareness from managers. Together, the theory and empirics provide insight into outsourcing decision-making and the opportunities for extending outsourcing as a strategic mechanism to drive innovation more broadly.

In 1996 the Howard Government came to power in Australia. At that point in time the commonwealth budget was in significant deficit, the economy was weak and there was significant commonwealth debt. To address these issues the Howard Government moved to implement several cost savings and income generating projects began under the outgoing ALP government. In addition, part of the Howard reforms was the move toward the private side in the public / private mix in the delivery of government services. One of the high profile and significant projects was the outsourcing of the commonwealth public sector Information and Communications Technology (ICT) delivery. It was called the IT Initiative and was managed by the Minister for Finance, the Honourable Mr Fahey. Mr Fahey had earlier attempted significant outsourcing projects whilst in NSW government; at one time Mr Fahey was NSW Premier. The intent of the IT Initiative as policy was to achieve better and more cost effective ICT services for the commonwealth. This research reviews the efficacy of the IT Initiative. Under the Westminster system, governments can implement government policy as approved by the parliament. However not all policy is reviewed by the parliament. In this case the IT Initiative was part of the Howard pre-election policy and therefore was considered 'mandated' by the electorate. Irrespective of this approval, was the IT Initiative supported by the research at the time and did the IT Initiative and its implementation make sound business sense when compared to the research and models and in particular effectiveness, efficiency and economy. This thesis will review the IT Initiative using both static and dynamic models using Transaction Based Economics (TCE). Both models will support the view that the IT Initiative as practiced was a relatively high risk strategy. The thesis will utilise TCE and risk management to develop a risk profiling model for ICT with effectiveness, efficiency, economy as the three dimensions. Finally, the risk-profiling model, while based on earlier modelling, provides a new insight into the issue of centralising versus decentralising of government operations especially as these approaches relate to novel technological applications across various departments.

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<p>Good business relations can contribute to the success of IT-outsourcing, and create new business opportunities. Despite a sharply increasing trend to outsource IT-operations there is a high degree of failures related. The cause may be that some important factors have not been taken into account. The purpose is to investigate elationships within IT-outsourcing and test if specific factors identified by previous research are being concerned in IT-outsourcing relationships and also to investigate the view IT-outsourcing customers and suppliers have on business.<p> </p></p><p>Research shows that business relationships are widespread throughout companies. It demonstrated that a small number of business relationships can have a major impact on a company's financial performance and may create stability. Business relationships can be divided into an arm's length relationships and strategic alliances depending on the degree of involvement. IT is now the most common activity companies choose to outsource and the objectives are mainly related to costs but IT-outsourcing projects can also create strategic opportunities. IToutsourcing consists mainly of three components, supplier, customer and project. For an IT-outsourcing relationship to be successful there is some factors that should be carefully treated. These may include communication, commitment, choice of supplier and cultural similarities.</p><p><p>Implementation of the study consists of previous research which is compared with a total of five interviewed companies. All the respondents have been informed about the study's purpose and which role their organization will have. Earlier theoretical sources have been carefully considered and critically examined by contemporary standards, tend criticism, depending criticism and authenticity.</p></p><p>The study shows that the perception that respondents have been of business relationships is that they think it has a major role in IT-outsourcing projects. They also have a good knowledge of the factors that previous research claims has a strong influence on IT-outsourcing projects. These factors are: equal cultures / values, the choice of supplier, trust, commitment, contract / SLA management, communication, reciprocity / joint targets and responsible individual’s role. An additional factor was identified: proactivity, innovation and development.</p>

<p>Att använda sig av IT-outsourcing är en fråga som allt fler börjar fundera kring. Givetvis finns det inte ett sätt som är lämpligt för alla företag. Beroende på vilka behov och förutsättningar som finns inom en organisation kan därför olika former eller grader av IT?outsourcing användas. Vid ett eventuellt beslut så är det dock viktigt att beslutsfattarna inte enbart ser till de fördelar som kan vinnas utan också se till de nackdelar som kan följa med ett sådant beslut. Undersökningen som gjorts i rapporten tar upp dessa för- och nackdelar samt visar hur de två Motalaföretagen Autoliv electronics AB och AB Electrolux använder sig av IT-outsourcing. Formen och graden av deras IT-outsourcing skiljer sig mycket åt medan de för- och nackdelar som nämns av de fyra intervjuade till mångt och mycket liknar varandra. Fördelarna överväger dock enligt de båda företagen då bland annat flexibiliteten ökar vad gäller bemanning och kompetens.</p>

<p>Third party logistics (TPL), the procurement of an integrated set of logistics services in a long-term relationship between a shipper (goods owner) and a service provider, is today a viable option for how companies carry out their logistics activities. Very little has been written on implementation or change issues in a TPL setting; these issues are identified as important, but not elaborated. There is however reason to believe that implementation of TPL arrangements, or rather establishment thereof, involves a complex change process involving substantial change for a wide range of actors in both the shipper’s and the provider’s organisation.</p><p>When comparing literature that deals with the TPL establishment process with a stream of research that is concerned with logistics change, it comes to light that there is a discrepancy between the theoretical and methodological foundations of the former works, and what is written in these pieces regarding the process. It is concluded that recommendations for how to manage the establishment process are given without being founded in a theory of process, or research designs capable of studying process. The theoretical underpinnings of TPL literature are founded in a view of change as a matter of conducting rational analysis and conceiving the strategically wisest decisions for the logistics system as a whole. Implementation is viewed as an unproblematic exercise of issuing directives to affected actors, asserting that all actors are rational, therefore rationally conceived decisions will be accepted and implemented accordingly.</p><p>Therefore the overarching purpose of this research is:</p><p><strong>To explore the change process of third party logistics establishment</strong></p><p>To fulfil this purpose the two streams of research mentioned above are combined. A meta-model of process consisting of the three interrelated dimensions content, context, and process forms the starting point for the study of process, but this is not sufficient for a study of change; a theory of change which is capable of capturing the mechanisms of the change process as it unfolds is also needed. Therefore the theory of change of the second stream of research mentioned above is adopted.</p><p>The theory of change encompasses three models of change, which are archetypical representations of the mechanisms underlying change processes according to different assumptions of what change is and how change comes about. These models are denoted the linear, the processual, and the circular. One important aspect of this theory of change is that the approach to change should be aligned with the extent oflearning requirements on the actors who are affected by or involved in the change. An actors perspective is therefore called for, and adopted in this thesis.</p><p>This thesis is the first step of a wider research effort concerned with studying the process of establishing TPL. Therefore, of the three dimensions of change, the contentdimension is excluded from study in this thesis. Governed by the meta-model of process, two research objectives are formulated:</p><p><strong>To explore the context within which the TPL establishment process unfolds and describe the contextual dependence of this proces</strong>s</p><p><strong>&</strong></p><p><strong>To describe the change process of TPL establishment in terms of the linear, processual, and circular models of change</strong></p><p>The empirical investigation applied is a single-case retrospective study, in which the case is the establishment process between a Swedish company and an international TPL service provider. A total of fifteen actors have been interviewed; ten on the shipper side of the dyad, five on the provider side. Although the TPL establishment process is an interorganisational process, this thesis focuses on the intraorganisational process of the shipper, why the empirical material from the other side of the dyad is not used in this thesis, The interorganisational aspect, as well as the intraorganisational side within the provider’s organisation are nevertheless important, and will be included in future research.</p><p>The interviews were carried out in an unstructured manner, in which the interviewees were asked to retell the story from their own perspectives. Actors from varying positions, who were involved in the process, are included in the study; in the total sample all groups who were most affected or involved are represented. The interviews rendered ten stories of the studied process.</p><p>These stories were then analysed by means of a pattern-matching logic, in order to seek out the important contextual dependencies of the process, and to explore the mechanisms of the change process, as it evolved in context.</p><p>After having conducted this first step of the ongoing research effort, four main conclusions can be drawn:</p><p>- The TPL establishment process is context dependent.</p><p>- Not only rational mechanisms are at play in the process.</p><p>- It is important to acknowledge actors, not only systems.</p><p>- It is important to acknowledge the process, not only the decision.</p> / ISRN/Report code: LiU-TEK-LIC-2003:27