Development of a Decision Support Model for Managing Supply Chain Design Problems in Global Service Supply Chains

Most large service manufacturing companies outsource support as well as core activities to remain competitive in a globalized economy. Managers are faced with a complex decision problem as they must find a balance between maximizing the benefit from business process outsourcing while keeping risk as low possible. Many outsourcing initiatives failed in the past. Research suggests that one of the main reasons is poor decision making with an insufficient regard of all relevant factors, especially qualitative ones. We look at the problem from a supply chain design perspective and further develop the application of decision support methods originally developed with a focus on product manufacturing, to the manufacturing of services. We review existing approaches and develop our own conceptual decision framework.