Analysing the impact of the product life cycle on the importance of outsourcing decision-making criteria: A manufacturing case study

Abstract

This study has been carried out to discover the impact of the product life cycle (PLC) on the importance of outsourcing decision-making criteria in a manufacturing firm. The four dimensions of outsourcing decision-making were identified, based on a literature review and on the conditions of the firm: (1) core competencies, (2) information leakage risk, (3) technological capability, and (4) cost. A case study and survey research were used, along with two non-parametric tests (Friedman's test and Kendall's W). The results show in particular that the importance of 'technological capability' and 'strategic information leakage risk' does not differ across the various PLC stages. The importance of 'leakage risk of product volume information' and 'total cost' change over different stages of the product life cycle are also addressed. For the latter two criteria, the probabilities of each rating related to each criterion importance have been estimated by ordinal logistic regression, and the weights of these criteria have been calculated at each stage of the product life cycle.