Orchestrating a global business services portfolio in a plural sourcing context: the mediating role of modularised business processes
Journal of Enterprise Information Management
ISSN: 1741-0398
Article publication date: 13 November 2023
Issue publication date: 21 February 2024
Abstract
Purpose
To co-create value through dynamic collaborations, enterprises and their suppliers need to orchestrate the integration of complementary resources when providing business services. As such enterprises' strategic decision to apply a plural sourcing strategy to establish dynamic collaborations with their suppliers implies that both in-house and outsourced business services should be bundled into a business services portfolio. However, the antecedents that affect a business services portfolio have rarely conceptually been identified.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on resource orchestration theory, the authors theoretically developed and empirically validated a business services portfolio conceptual model. The model aims at explaining the critical antecedents to a business services portfolio based on a unique data set, comprising 121 international enterprises with variation in the degree of outsourcing, size, geographies and maturity. Partial least squares structural equation modelling was used to examine the relationships among the antecedents and a business services portfolio.
Findings
The findings show that the antecedent, i.e. plural sourcing strategy, modularised business processes and customer orientation have a direct and significant effect on the enterprises' business services portfolio orchestration. The results of the mediation test indicate that modularised business processes fully mediate the relationships between three independent variables with the orchestration of business services portfolio.
Originality/value
This study is the first to analyse the impact of plural sourcing strategy, modularised business processes and customer orientation on the business services portfolio orchestration from a plural sourcing context. Additionally, it examines the mediating role of modularised business processes in the relationship between the antecedents and business services portfolio orchestration.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Since submission of this article, the following author(s) have updated their affiliations: Shahrokh Nikou is at the Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands
Erratum: It has come to the attention of the publisher that the article, Albert Plugge, Shahrokh Nikou, Henry Robben and Henk Kievit “Orchestrating a global business services portfolio in a plural sourcing context: the mediating role of modularised business processes”, published in Journal of Enterprise Information Management, was published with incorrect affiliation information for Shahrokh Nikou. The correct affiliation is Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland and Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden. The error was introduced in the editorial process and has now been corrected in the online version. The publisher sincerely apologises for this error and for any inconvenience caused.
Citation
Plugge, A., Nikou, S., Robben, H. and Kievit, H. (2024), "Orchestrating a global business services portfolio in a plural sourcing context: the mediating role of modularised business processes", Journal of Enterprise Information Management, Vol. 37 No. 1, pp. 100-124. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEIM-04-2023-0217
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited