Tomás F. Espino-Rodríguez

A Review of Outsourcing from the Resource-Based View of the Firm

The phenomenon of outsourcing is becoming increasingly widespread among organizations and is now one of the strategic decisions that attract the greatest interest from professionals and organizational scholars. The primary purpose of the paper is to contribute with a review of the principal works that address outsourcing from the resource-based view of the firm (RBV). The paper begins by setting out the main premises of outsourcing and then presents the different concepts of outsourcing and proposes a concept that is more in line with the theoretical framework used. This is followed by an analysis of the principal differences and similarities of the treatments of outsourcing from the traditional perspective of the transaction costs economics theory (TCE) and from the more strategic and up-to-date RBV. The next section contains a review of the most significant theoretical and empirical works on outsourcing that address outsourcing from the RBV. The contributions are classified into two categories, depending on the objectives: works that study the propensity to outsource and works that study the relationship between the outsourcing decision and organizational performance. Finally, a framework is proposed that is based on the resource and capability view with the aim of contributing to a better understanding of outsourcing and facilitating future empirical works from the RBV that are complementary and examine issues of greater interest that have been less developed in the literature to date.

A Model of Strategic Evaluation of a Tourism Destination Based on Internal and Relational Capabilities

The complex reality of a tourist destination requires it to be managed as an integrated system. This work presents a strategic evaluation model of tourist destinations that permits their reality at a given moment to be visualized from an overall perspective. To that end, the model, which focuses on tourism supply chain management, specifies the principal attributes determining destination competitiveness. On that basis, this work analyzes the internal and relational capabilities of each attribute represented in a matrix according to their strategic value. This theoretical framework is empirically tested by means of a study to evaluate the tourist destination of Gran Canaria, which reflects the competitive reality of a mature destination. The results indicate that integrating measures based on sustainability must be taken to be able to re-launch the destination.

Developing relational capabilities in hotels

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to show that relational capabilities is a topic of interest for the competitiveness of hotel companies. This paper aims to present a methodology based on the analysis of processes in order to create and strengthen relational capabilities and proposes a model with three dimensions that jointly analyzes this phenomenon in relation to the outsourcing of activities and the collateral relationships maintained between different hotels.Design/methodology/approach – Creates a methodology to rethink the relationships between the hotel company, its suppliers and other hotels in the same tourist destination. The creation of relational capabilities necessarily requires the hotel to study and analyze the following stages: internal analysis of resources and capabilities; relational analysis of activities; and process integration. A model is also proposed to analyze this question.Findings – The development of relational capabilities in outsourcing is based on the level of compet...

Redesigning the supply chain: reengineering, outsourcing, and relational capabilities

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the competitive advantages of the networks of firms forming the supply chain and distribution channels through process integration, outsourcing, and creation of relational capabilities.Design/methodology/approach – A four‐stage methodology is created to redesign the supply chain depending on the creation of relational capabilities: internal analysis to determine the focal companys competence; relational analysis in the outsourcing of activities; process integration; and development of relational capabilities.Findings – The development of relational capabilities is based on two dimensions: company level of competence in performing activities, and strategic contribution of the activities to competitive advantage. Four cases are analyzed from those two dimensions: high competence/low strategic contribution; low competence/high strategic contribution; low competence/low strategic value; and relational and internal capabilities, where relational capabilities s...

Asset specificity in make or buy decisions for service operations: An empirical application in the Scottish hotel sector

Purpose – This work analyses make or buy decisions from the transaction cost economics perspective and the resource‐based view of the firm. The aim is to analyse the extent to which the presumptions of the two theories are valid in the service sector in terms of specific assets.Design/methodology/approach – The study was conducted on a representative sample of hotels in Scotland, UK. Each of the surveyed hotels was asked for information about 13 operations or hotel processes. A comprehensive model is developed that establishes the relationship between asset specificity and operation performance and hotel or business performance, moderated by the form of governance (make or buy). Moreover, the relationship between asset specificity and outsourcing in the hotel sector is also examined. The different hotel processes are classified according to the asset specificity. The factors that could lead to an increase in the outsourcing strategy are also analysed.Findings – The results indicate that, the relationship ...

Effects of internal and relational capabilities on outsourcing: an integrated model

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact of relational capability compared to that of internal capability on outsourcing, and the influence of relational capability as a moderating variable between outsourcing and internal capabilities. The paper aims to integrate the internal and relational perspectives in a single model of strategic evaluation.Design/methodology/approach – This work analyses the outsourcing process in a representative sample of firms operating in a region of Spain. To accomplish the research objectives, a personal survey was conducted using a questionnaire to evaluate 13 activities of the order distribution process in the supply chain.Findings – The results indicate that internal capabilities have a negative effect on outsourcing while relational capabilities have a positive effect. They also show that, the greater the relational capabilities of an operation are, the less significant the relationship between internal capabilities and outsourcing will be.Practical imp...

The Relationship between Leisure Outsourcing and Specificity: Performance and Management Perception in Hotels in the Canary Islands

The objective of this article is to determine the factors that influence the outsourcing of leisure services in the hotel business. First, this work studies the relationship between the specificity of the hotel leisure activity and the activity’s performance depending on whether it is outsourced or retained in house. Second, the article analyzes the extent to which the perceived advantages can extend the strategy of outsourcing hotel leisure services. Third, the work analyzes the influence of outsourcing hotel leisure services on organizational performance. The results obtained indicate that there is a positive relationship between specificity and performance of the activity when it is carried out in house. They also show that the advantages that give this strategy greater potential for further use are related to greater concentration on core competences. On the other hand, it was shown that hotels that have outsourced leisure services have better organizational performance, especially nonfinancial.

Risks and Benefits of Outsourcing Hotel Operations: A Comparison between Scotland and Taiwan

This paper examines the use of outsourcing in the activities comprising hotel operations in Scotland and Taiwan. Outsourcing is a key process integrated into the design of the supply chain management. The research also focuses on empirically identifying the role of the outsourcing strategy in hotels. To this end, the authors propose two hypotheses to study the relationship between the benefits and risks of outsourcing and the tendency to use third-party organizations. These hypotheses are analysed and tested in the two regions. The study was conducted on a representative sample of 118 hotels in Scotland and Taiwan. A questionnaire was used to obtain the findings. The results indicate that the principal candidates for outsourcing are the activities requiring technical skills and those services not involving direct contact with guests. No significant differences were found between the current levels of outsourcing in Scottish and Taiwanese hotels. The findings indicate that a stronger perception of the risks and benefits of outsourcing has a greater influence on outsourcing strategy. Furthermore, in the case of Scottish hotels, it is the benefits that determine the level of outsourcing, while it is the risks that do so in Taiwanese hotels. This work contributes to the literature on outsourcing from a services perspective.

The Impact of Outsourcing Strategies on Information Systems Capabilities in the Hotel Industry

This work analyses the strategy of outsourcing information systems and information technology (IS/IT), considering the different activities comprising the IS/IT area. The literature on IS contains numerous works that analyse outsourcing, very few of which examine the relationship with the different types of capabilities in the IS/IT area and their strategic value. Most works centre on the motives for, and advantages of, the strategy of outsourcing the IS/IT area, while scant attention has been paid to the study of the long-term consequences of outsourcing. This work develops a theoretical model which is applied to the hotel sector and which shows that hotels following a more intensive outsourcing strategy develop fewer managerial capabilities related to knowledge in the management of IS/IT resources. This negative relationship extends to other types of capabilities typical of the area and to certain organisational capabilities. A negative relationship is also observed between the level of outsourcing and the strategic value given to the IS/IT area, which may lead to a lower potential for the development of competitive advantage.

The structural and infrastructural decisions of operations management in the hotel sector and their impact on organizational performance

The operations management literature has reached a stage of maturity in addressing operations area decisions. However, few studies have analysed these decisions in service companies, especially in the hotel sector. The aim of this study is to analyse the operations strategy, taking into consideration the main structural and infrastructural decisions in the operations area and their relationships with organizational performance. To this end, it examines a set of policies and practices in a representative sample of hotels in the Canary Islands, one of Europe’s leading tourist destinations. Furthermore, the study analyses which operations area decisions influence the competitive advantage the most and how they do so. Results reveal a greater influence on non-financial performance than on financial performance, and that decisions related to technology, facilities, organization, operations planning and the development of new services can lead to better overall performance. This study will enable managers to identify which operations should be emphasized in order to increase organizational performance.