The focus of study is to determine the relationships between clients and FM service providers by developing a yardstick for measuring and appraising the relationships in main FM outsourcing contracts in the higher education sector of Hong Kong. In this study, “outsourcing relationships” are defined as “the extent to which an FM outsourcing contract facilitates effective ownership or control of FM assets, and enhances the competitive positioning and long-term strategies of the outsourced FM portfolio whilst the client’s requirements are met”. The most practical and successful approach for improving FM outsourcing relationships reported in the literature is a model based on quantitative assessment. A review of the literature suggests that the Four Outsourcing Relationship Types (FORT) model, used in the information technology industry, can be adapted for use in FM outsourcing. The data from two Delphi surveys and two questionnaire surveys, administered to 38 clients and 34 FM service providers, were used to build the proposed Contingency Outsourcing Relationships (CORE) model. The data analyses included the Kruskal-Wallis test, the Mann-Whitney U test and a Multi-nominal logistic regression. The Analytical Hierarchy Process and two focus group meetings were also used to develop the model. The CORE model can be used to assess the four categories of outsourcing relationships by focusing on the four main FM outsourcing service contracts in Hong Kong’s higher education sector: (i) building maintenance; (ii) security; (iii) cleaning; and (iv) catering. Other FM outsourcing service contracts are not covered by the CORE model. In the model, the combination of two different outsourcing relationship components or dimensions contributes to an outsourcing relationship type. In conclusion, the empirical investigation reveals a significant relationship between FM outsourcing relationship types and services in the context of Hong Kong’s higher education sector. Clients and service providers have indicated that applying the FM outsourcing relationship types improves the quality of the services. The findings indicate a match in the preference for the extent of outsourcing relationship dimensions on the ownership and control of service provider involvement on current outsourcing contracts for building maintenance, cleaning and catering in Hong Kong’s higher education FM industry. This study also discusses that the importance of matching demand and supply of FM services plays a major role in the FM outsourcing success.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:588714 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Lok, K. L. |
| Publisher | University of Salford |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://usir.salford.ac.uk/29565/ |
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