Business Streamlining : Toward a Substantive Theory of the Streamlining of Outsourced Business Processes

Abstract: Research comparing public-private services outsourcing applying a longitudinal approach including the production/delivery processes (life after purchase) in services sourcing contexts is scarce. In addition, prior studies on service sourcing tend be under conceptualized.To address the above this licentiate thesis presents the results of a comparative and grounded theory inspired case study of two major Swedish FM services outsourcing projects, a public and a private case of operational partnering. Client-provider interaction processes on management level have been followed regularly over time utilizing participant observation as a core element combined with interviews and documentary studies. Observed variations in relational orientation over time, are problematized and discussed. A substantive theory – Business streamlining - of Facility Management outsourcing processes, including the seldom-researched life after purchase processes, is outlined and contextualized. It is argued that existing relational classifications, such as operational partnering, do not capture the life after purchase dynamics of the studied relationships. Business streamlining rests on four main categories, which have major influence on how Facility Management relationships evolve over time.