| Abstract: |
Outsourcing has emerged as a strategic approach that allows organizations to
improve efficiency, access specialized expertise, and focus on their core
business functions. However, these benefits come with significant risks,
particularly the potential erosion of internal organizational knowledge and
core competencies that are central to a firm's competitive advantage. This
article synthesizes literature on outsourcing processes, core competence
theory, dynamic capabilities, and knowledge management to propose a
comprehensive integrated framework spanning the entire lifecycle of
outsourcing arrangements. The framework encompasses four critical phases that
are strategic preparation, vendor selection and contracting, transition and
integration, and post-transition governance, with particular emphasis on
protecting and reinforcing internal knowledge resources. Drawing on empirical
evidence and theoretical contributions from leading scholars in the field, we
demonstrate how firms can effectively balance outsourcing efficiencies with
the imperative to retain essential know-how. The article concludes with
theoretical contributions, managerial implications, and directions for future
research, providing both scholars and practitioners with a robust model for
preserving critical organizational knowledge while capitalizing on external
efficiencies. |