ISSN 1822-8011 (print)
ISSN 1822-8038 (online)
INTELEKTINĖ EKONOMIKA
INTELLECTUAL ECONOMICS
2011, Vol. 5, No. 4(12), p. 590–601
MEASUREMENT OF TRANSACTION COSTS IN INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY OUTSOURCING
Ligita Vasiliauskienė
Mykolas Romeris University, Ateities g. 20, LT-08303 Vilnius
E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract. Improvement of outsourcing transaction costs formation in companies enables not
only increasing decision quality and business efficiency but also expands competitiveness of the
country in international markets that have impact on the volumes of outsourcing in the country.
Outsourcings have become one of the strategies, used by business companies in order to
manage their information technologies. Over the recent years use of outsourcing has instigated
the appearance of the scientific literature on this topic. Therefore, the author of this article anal-
yses the scientific literature aimed at determining the main themes and methods, usually used
by different authors and countries in the field of IT outsourcing. Thereby, this article includes
the review of the IT outsourcing articles, published in business and management journals.
JEL classification: D21, M21.
Keywords: outsourcing, transaction costs, contracts, information technologies, IT services.
Reikšminiai žodžiai: išornauda, sandorio kaštai, kontraktai, informacinės technologijos,
IT paslaugos.
1. Introduction
The authors who analysed development and international links of transaction costs’
phenomenon (Williamson, 1998; Feenstra, 1998; Gatautis et al, 2002) name Coase as
the originator of the theory of transaction costs economics. This theory includes four
research fields in which transaction costs are dominant. According to Williamson, O.
E. (Williamson, 1998), the theory of transaction costs economics provides more op-
portunities to estimate the role of transaction costs for economical performance. This
shows that perception of transaction costs is extremely important for better under-
standing of any empirical phenomenon related to business.
According to the theory of transaction costs, they are positively related to:
• necessity to invest in long-term assets;
• irregular transactions;
Measurement of Transaction Costs in Information Technology Outsourcing 591
• complexity and uncertainty of the task;
• difficult to measure task results;
• independence from other transactions.
The research revealed that by entering into an outsourcing agreement, a customer
and a service provider conclude a contract in which they design compulsory legal, in-
stitutional systems, rights, duties, aims and responsibilities of each party, politics and
strategies based on mutual agreement.
While evaluating the importance of transaction costs, Gatautis and other scientists
(Gatautis et al, 2002) state that transaction costs are the costs which appear when goods
or services are exchanges, but they are not the costs related to the creation of a good or
service.
Transaction costs are researched in many economic studies. Acquisitions and as-
sociations provide more opportunities to act independently in any economic cycle.
One of the most important reasons showing why it is worth making acquisitions and
associations is economic slowdown. The studies revealed that institutions related to the
provision of outsourcing services play the main role in transaction costs economics.
Different institutions can generate different transaction costs. Transactions are usually
made on the basis of formal or informal contracts. It is extremely important to keep
transaction costs low because otherwise any modern company will not be able to com-
pete in international markets.
Outsourcings have become one of the strategies used by business companies to
manage their information technologies. It has encouraged the appearance of the re-
lated scientific literature during the last few years. The author of this article has ana-
lysed the literature in order identify the most important topics and methods, applied
by different authors and countries in the field of IT outsourcing. The author also
makes suggestions on the ways to improve research in this field. The article contains
the review of the articles on IT outsourcings published in the leading journals of
economics.
According to Heakal (Heakal, 2002), markets in the real world cannot be fully
efficient or fully inefficient. A real market is a mixture of these two extremities, where
daily decisions or events not always are immediately reflected in the market. In the
age of IT, markets all over the world are becoming more efficient because of the in-
creased pace of information flows and transaction making. However, at the same
time IT can become the reason of market inefficiency, if unreliable information is
used because decisions must be made immediately and there is no time for verifica-
tion of the data.
After the analysis of the scientific literature, it can be stated that investments in
information technologies and production outsourcings are related to low costs and
higher quality of goods.
In order to feel strong in the market, companies have to make products of the
highest quality with the lowest costs using advanced technologies and being trustful
and innovative. Having limited human and capital resources, managers have to clearly
define the spheres where to direct the time and investment. It is especially important to
592 Ligita Vasiliauskienė
determine whether investment in non-core activities or additional functions are actu-
ally worth it and whether it is better to make use of outsourcing and transfer them to
the service providers specialising in this field.
It is important to note that one of the main factors for choosing IT outsourcing
is that the company deciding to buy outsourcing services does not have to care about
attraction of professionals, their maintenance and training. It does not have to buy
and renew necessary equipment because these processes are performed by an out-
sourcing supplier. Thereby, the company can concentrate on internal opportunities
and the spheres in which it specializes. Buying outsourcing services often provides
opportunities to choose fixed or variable costs and obtain outsourcing services for
the fixed monthly fee, therefore, companies can draw up more precise budgets. What
is more, when the need to use outsourcing services disappears or the contract term
expires, it is possible to stop buying the service, which is not possible, when the com-
pany invests in the equipment and hires people. Another positive factor is the quality
of the service.
Companies providing IT outsourcing services have more experience in dealing
with rented processes than internal departments or individual employees, as service
providers can use their extensive internal resources. Furthermore, employees of out-
sourcing companies often deal with different customer problems and new technologies,
so solutions to customers’ problems are usually prepared before they are needed. Other
often stressed advantage of outsourcing services is clear responsibility. Transferring ad-
ministration of software and technical equipment made by different producers to one
service provider enables saving time necessary to find and solve the problem. Analysing
the technological aspect of outsourcing service provision, it is necessary to clearly de-
fine whether outsourcing service buying is going to be a onetime project or long-term
co-operation between a service provider and a customer.
Scientific problem – classification of transaction costs in IT outsourcing.
The aim of this article – determination of the main aspects of transaction costs’
measurement in IT outsourcings.
The methods of the analysis are as follows: logical, systematic analysis of scientific
literature based on comparative and summary methods.
Practical application – this article reveals imbalances between outsourcing envi-
ronmental factors and the real outsourcing practice.
2. IT outsourcing services
Outsourcing is considered as one of the easiest solutions, so many companies use
it quite often (Butter, Mosch, 2003). In order to show which process of outsourcing is
comprehensively useful to the company but at the same time has quite many threats,
the author presents the main advantages and possible threats of outsourcing process in
Table 1.
Measurement of Transaction Costs in Information Technology Outsourcing 593
Table 1. Advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing with regard to the company
(prepared by the author)
Advantages with regard to the company Disadvantages with regard to the company
Cost reduction Loss of control of the transferred process
Time cost reduction The process is hardly restored
Revelation of hidden costs Moment costs
Stock price increase Moral
Simpler control of expenses Loss of quality control
Quality Reduction of the number of staff
Cultural exchange Flexibility loss
Reform of processes Lost opportunities
Technical aid Transaction costs
Concentration on more effective management Plenty of clients
When a company decides to reduce costs or shorten the time, it chooses to buy
outsourcing services (Javalgi et al, 2009). Table 1 shows only some primary advantages
of outsourcing services. If the company has been practising outsourcing for longer time,
its hidden costs can be revealed. These costs are revealed after transferring the proc-
ess out of the company when it becomes possible to estimate how much such process
would have cost inside the company. The outcome of cost reduction is rise of company’s
stock price because the company shows better results (Bhagwati et al, 2004).
The research has revealed that there is a link between aims and size of the compa-
ny. That is why outsourcing is sometimes considered to be a part of company’s strategy,
and such advantages as simpler control of expenses or reform of processes are impor-
tant in company’s business (Abraham, Taylor, 1996). Making reforms, companies have
more possibilities to monitor processes, perform more efficiently and easier control
and plan their costs because costs of the transferred processes become fixed on the
basis of the contract (Javalgi et al, 2009). Practising IT outsourcing, companies can also
get better quality of products or services because outsourcing service provider usually
seeks for the best quality of the transferred process using all knowledge, labour and
technological resources available to him. Service provider also guarantees all the neces-
sary technical aid (Bartkus, Jurevičius, 2007).
It is important to note that the company practising outsourcing faces particular
threats arising from this process. Firstly, it can lose control of the process because trans-
ferred process is performed under the conditions of the contract from its beginning
till the end (Tomiura, 2005). That is why the company finds it difficult to control the
quality of the product or service and be responsible for it. Companies – service pro-
viders often demand for long-term contracts which would ensure profits. Short-term
contracts increase contract costs (Gatautis et al, 2002). The research revealed that com-
panies have to consider all possible threats before starting the process of outsourcing.
Outsourcing can bring more costs and time expenditure than the company has initially
expected, so losses can exceed the benefits (Swenson, 2004). This way, outsourcing can
even make damage to company’s competitive advantage. Benefit or damage of out-
594 Ligita Vasiliauskienė
sourcing depends on country development level, economics, volumes of outsourcing in
the country and many other factors (Siegel, Griliches, 2002). In order to analyse posi-
tive and negative effects of outsourcing on the country, countries should be classified
according to their development level (Reca, Zieg, 1995).
At present outsourcing takes different forms. Organisations are still hiring serv-
ice providers to manage different business processes, for example, payoff manage-
ment. However, some organisations order the services for the management of all
operations. The most popular forms of outsourcing are information technology out-
sourcing (ITO) and business processes outsourcing (BPO). Outsourcing process usu-
ally includes four stages:
• strategic decision to develop organisational philosophy on the role of outsourcing;
• evaluation and selection when the customer decides on suitable projects and po-
tential locations and service providers consider opportunities to implement that;
• contract making, service level agreement (SLA);
• management of external services or improvement of present relationship between
the customer and the outsourcing service provider (Snieška, Drakšaitė, 2007).
IT outsourcing is buying of information technology services from specialized IT
companies. It includes buying services such as installation of computer systems, com-
puter maintenance, strategic formation, activity coordination from an outside provider
partly or fully resigning technology professionals inside the company (Claver et al,
2002). Outsourcing is especially important for small business because of the limited
resources and limited competence of the executives. Services in general include few
elements of search and elements of experience and trust, which impedes explicit evalu-
ation of administration service outsourcing decision, so for evaluation of the reasons
of administration service outsourcing decision, the author uses particular chosen ele-
ments of transaction costs economics which, as it is thought, stimulate outsourcing of
administration services (Snieška, Vasiliauskienė, 2008).
Today, when companies seek to increase business efficiency and competitive abili-
ties, information technologies are becoming increasingly important. In order to properly
maintain the environment of information technologies, it is necessary to understand all
spheres of IT (computer break downs, nets, hardware, software, databases, information
protection and so forth). All of these tasks are impossible to fulfil by a single profes-
sional, physically unable to follow all technological novelties. If a company wants to have
a reliable and qualified team, it has to hire well-paid professionals. Only large and strong
companies can afford that. However, this causes additional problems – the work of IT
professionals is very uneven. In order to solve the arising problems they sometimes work
overtime, and sometimes they have almost no work. The factors such as holidays, illness
and personal problems make their work even more uneven. Buying IT services from out-
side helps to solve these problems in many cases (Siegel, Griliches, 2002).
Outsourcing services have already spread in the West. Lithuanian companies have
also begun to concentrate on the main activities and buy secondary services from out-
side professionals. Companies working with many IT projects from different customers
gain huge experience, which is impossible when dealing with the tasks of one kind, so
Measurement of Transaction Costs in Information Technology Outsourcing 595
outsourcing service providers better know the ways to identify and solve IT problems
of different companies (Bagdonas et al, 2004).
Information technologies tend to become outdated very quickly – the technolo-
gies that were the latest half a year ago can be both morally and technically outdated at
present time. That is why IT companies have to consider such particularity and adjust
to it. Participation of a customer is also a very important factor in this process (Murphy,
2004). Figure 1 shows the core computer sales, hardware and internet services usually
provided by IT outsourcing companies. It also explains accessibility of the services, in-
teraction ‘between a customer and a service provider’ (Mackenzie, 2006) and customer
participation in the service provision.
Core services
Computer sale and hardware
Internet services
Maintenance
Service accessibility Facility services Interaction
services
1. Central office in 1. Software 1. Computer literacy 1. Interaction with
the city centre. installation. courses. the personnel
2. Flexible working 2. Software renewal. 2. Training to work taking orders.
hours. 3. Software creation. with specific 2. Interaction with
3. Attractiveness of software. training personnel
training facilities, 3. Distance training. and attendants.
modernity 4. Consultations on 3. Interaction with
of training computer use. software.
equipment. 5. Technical
4. Opportunity to computer
order service in maintenance.
different ways. 6. Different ways to
5. Qualification of order services.
training personnel
and attendants.
6. Comprehensive
and clear
documentation
and instructions of
software use.
Customer participation
1. Knowing whether the customer fully
understands requirements of the software.
2. Knowing whether the customer has learnt
to work with the software.
3. Customer’s disposition to provide
additional information.
Fig. 1. Model of IT service provision concept (prepared by the author)
596 Ligita Vasiliauskienė
The analysis of the scientific literature has revealed that information technolo-
gies can significantly reduce the costs of information search.
3. Transaction costs and IT market
Use of information technologies reduces transaction costs of information search,
storage and transaction coordination and control if customers and service providers are
connected to the central electronic database. Transaction costs can be reduced when
transactions are made using e-commerce. Direct and indirect costs (appearing because
of the open standards), reduction of uncertainty and asset specificity can also appear
in this field. With the use of e-commerce, transaction costs can decrease because of the
lower costs of: 1) information search; 2) coordination and 3) payment process.
Transaction costs include the costs necessary for the transaction to be made. In
real markets these costs can be related to ownership, advertising and so forth. For ex-
ample, in e-commerce these are only advertising costs because sellers do not need to
present their assortment in a physical area. However, other fixed transaction costs such
as maintenance of the e-shop or internet connection can emerge.
Fixed costs can be lower when the products are presented on-line rather than
physically. In this case, a place with proper infrastructure has to be chosen in order to
attract a customer while an internet server can be located in a very distant place or can
even be shared with suppliers or agents. Selling with the help of ‘seeing and touching’
is different from selling on-line, but the latter requires lower expenses. Lower market
entrance costs motivate new players to enter, therefore, competition increases, and this
determines a wider choice of goods for customers.
Correlation coefficients calculated in the research revealed that the spread of e-
commerce has a positive impact on minimisation of transaction costs, especially the
ones related to information search, production-technological operations and choice of
logistics and agents.
One of the effects of outsourcing – changes in labour market – draws much atten-
tion of the economists. Different scientists, evaluating factors of outsourcing trans-
action costs, differently support their opinions and make different (sometimes even
opposite) conclusions about the effects of outsourcing on unemployment level. The
main object of the discussions is loss of workplaces. In general, integration of differ-
ent markets caused by globalisation, fast development of IT and changes of business
management concepts has determined integration of labour markets and formation
of international work teams. However, some scientists state that outsourcing leads
to reduction of the number of high-qualified employees and increases unemploy-
ment rate (Bhagwati et al, 2004). But this does not mean that increase of unemploy-
ment will last long. On the one hand, there is always an opportunity of retraining
(of course, it requires time and effort), on the other hand, outsourcing may result
in decrease of unemployment of high-qualified employees. For instance, the survey
of the opinion of high-qualified employees carried out in the USA (which included
Measurement of Transaction Costs in Information Technology Outsourcing 597
the respondents whose annual income exceeded $ 100000) showed that the number
of free trade supporters went down from 57% in 1999 to 28% in 2004 (Amiti, Wei,
2004). Such evaluation of free trade and effects of outsourcing facilitate conditions
for lobbyist activities which prefer application of different protectionist means. For
example, lobbyists in Australia offered that producers of software were forbidden
from concluding contracts with Indian companies for the services related to soft-
ware development and purchase by means of outsourcing. Similar examples could be
found in trade and industry policy of most countries.
Increase in labour demand directly impacts the increase of wages. Therefore, it is
impossible to unambiguously evaluate outsourcing as useful or harmful for a country’s
labour market. What is more, although use of outsourcing can increase unemployment
of high-qualified workers in the short term, it can also cause increase of employment
in the long term because increased profits can encourage companies to expand their
activities and hire additional workforce, especially when a company has competitive
advantage and transfers non-core activities to the countries of cheaper resources which
increases competitiveness of the company’s goods (services). This can determine the
increase of the labour force needed for the creation (production) of particular goods
or services. At that point, the level of unemployment in outsourcing providing coun-
try goes down because of the labour demand increase. For the same reason wages of
high-qualified workers (because most workers working in outsourcing service sector
have higher education) go up. According to Meshcheryakova (Meshcheryakova, 2005),
when applying outsourcing, ‘qualification bonus’ – difference between the wages of
high and low-skilled work force in the country applying outsourcing increases and
decreases in the country providing outsourcing.
The empirical research carried out by the author in the field of wage changes while
applying outsourcing has revealed that protectionist means (particularly – import
duty) in the country (the USA) leads to wage decrease for high-qualified workers and
wage increase for low-qualified workers. The profits of domestic investors also increase.
However, according to Meshcheryakova (Meshcheryakova, 2005), the benefits of such
duties do not compensate wage decreases for high-qualified workers. Therefore, appli-
cation of import duties does not bring economic benefits to the country. What is more,
according to Siegel and Griliches (Siegel, Griliches, 2002), the difference between wages
of high and low-skilled workers is determined by technological development and need
of professionals for the management of these technologies. Besides, necessary skills
enable faster understanding of technological innovation and, of course, bring faster
benefits. Figure 2 shows the structure of Indian labour force (in outsourcing service
sector) according to business activity sphere and reveals great importance of informa-
tion technologies.
The pace of the workers’ increase in IT sphere is faster than in other sectors. Some
scientists forecast that it will get even faster. In addition, the study carried out by Siegel
and Griliches (Siegiel, Griliches, 2002) revealed that the development of IT services has
the greatest impact on the changes of labour force structure (when high-qualified work
force takes bigger comparative part than low-qualified work force).
598 Ligita Vasiliauskienė
600
500
400
IT workers
300
Workers in other service
200 sectors
100
0
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Fig. 2. Structure of Indian labour force according to activity sphere on outsourcing
service sector (Hilsenrath, 2003)
The research revealed that outsourcing and elements of transaction costs deter-
mine labour cost reduction in global economics. For instance, a trade association or
policy which determines the level of particular wages does not have significant impact
on the companies performing in other countries or their wage policy. Therefore, com-
panies, considering their own business peculiarities, can hire work force abroad on
the basis of contracting much cheaper than they could do it in domestic country. With
reference to Feenstra and Hanson (Feenstra, Hanson, 1996), it explains the increase of
the difference between wages of high and low qualified workers.
According to Hilsenrath (Hilsenrath, 2003), even biggest losses experienced be-
cause of outsourcing transaction costs make only a small part of all losses experienced
because of other reasons or all lost work places. For example, during the last decade,
the USA lost about 15 million workplaces annually (when people retire, they leave
many workplaces). However, this does not mean that the rate of unemployment in
the USA should go down in the long term because these workplaces are transferred
to other countries such as India or the Philippines. Anyway, considering the fact that
the number of retiring people is increasing, some authors are of the opinion that by
2012, the USA will not be able to fill more than a million workplaces (Prahalad, Hamel,
1990). The problem of population ‘ageing’ and lack of workers is relevant for the coun-
tries like Germany, France, Great Britain or Japan. This problem can be solved in two
ways: either immigrants occupy free workplaces or the elements of outsourcing trans-
action costs are applied by making contracts with companies operating in India, China,
Russia, the Philippines or the countries of Eastern Europe. In addition, the benefits of
outsourcing can be explained by the improvement of trade conditions in the coun-
try caused by reduced production costs, increased demand and export volumes. This
can also cause excessive demand of particular product or service. However, in many
cases, the result of outsourcing is a product or service having a high added value for a
customer. Economic benefit is also gained as outsourcing enables the use of resources
which probably cannot be found inside the country.
Measurement of Transaction Costs in Information Technology Outsourcing 599
The analysis of the scientific literature suggests that R&D activities related to the ele-
ments of outsourcing transaction costs are taking pace, however, they still make a com-
paratively small part in overall R&D activities. One of the reasons for this is that compa-
nies are afraid of the disclosure of trade and production secrets under the conditions of
imperfect competition. But at the same time, companies seek to make their products and
services more competitive, and with reference to the theory of product life cycle, they must
reduce costs. One of the ways to do that is to reduce R&D activity costs. Making the deci-
sion, companies should make sure that they will work with high-qualified people who are
able to co-operate and will avoid the risk of information leak causing higher outsourcing
costs. Cost reduction can also be interpreted as product innovation when the launch of a
renewed and improved product helps reducing company’s costs. In cases when a company
transfers R&D activities abroad, it is important to agree on the payment for the research. If
a company chooses a fixed pay, it is not as effective as payment depending on work results.
On the other hand, R&D outsourcing can be interpreted as the way to improve the quality
of the product and innovation process which enables reduction of company’s costs. Since
foreign trade consists of export and import, the effects of outsourcing on overall trade are
analysed as the effects on export and the effects on import.
4. Conclusions
1. It has been established that IT outsourcing services are becoming increasingly
important in every company because companies want the processes to be performed
perfectly. Since not all companies can hire a professional, but want to reduce costs, they
use outsourcings. However, this decision is not always beneficial as it is necessary to
consider all transaction costs and factors determining the choice of outsourcing and
mind that if the benefit of the service is lower than transaction costs, the company has
to find other alternatives.
2. Use of information technologies reduces transaction costs of information search,
storage and transaction coordination and control if customers and service providers
are connected to the central electronic database.
3. Using e-commerce, transaction costs can go down because of the lower costs of
1) information search; 2) coordination and 3) payment process.
4. In the age of IT, markets all over the world are becoming more efficient because
of the faster pace of information spread and transaction making. However, at the same
time, IT can become the reason for market inefficiency if unreliable information is
used due to the fact that decisions must be adopted immediately and there is no time
to verify the data.
References
1. Abraham, K. G.; Taylor, S. K. 1996. Firms’ Use of Outside Contractors: Theory and
Evidence, Journal of Labor Economics 16(3): 395–424.
600 Ligita Vasiliauskienė
2. Amiti, M.; Wei, S.J. 2004. Fear of Service Outsourcing: Is it Justified? IMF Working Paper,
wp/04/186.
3. Bagdonas, E.; Kunigėlienė, D.; Patašienė, I.; Skvernys, V. 2004. Socialinė statistika, D. 3,
Darbai : [mokomoji knyga] . Kaunas : Technologija. 72 p. ISBN 9955094052.
4. Bartkus, E. V.; Jurevičius, V. 2007. Išteklių nuoma tarptautinėje prekyboje, Inzinerine
Ekonomika [Engineering Economics] (1): 67-75.
5. Bhagwati, J.; Panagariya, A.; Srinivasan, T.N. 2004. The Muddles over Outsourcing, Journal
of Economic Perspectives, vol.18, no.4: 93-114.
6. Butter, F. A. G. den; Mosch R. H. J. 2003. Trade, trust and transaction costs, Tinbergen
institute discussion paper TI 82: 3–26.
7. Claver, E.; Gonzalez, R.; Gasco, J.; Llopis, J. 2002. Information systems outsourcing: reasons,
reservations and success factors. Available on the Internet: <http://sf.library.lt:2094/jour-
nals.htm?issn=0957-6053&volume=15&issue=4&articleid=852201&show=html>.
8. Feenstra, R. C. 1998. Integration of Trade and Disintegration of Production in the Global
Economy, Journal of Economic Perspectives 12(4): 31–50.
9. Feenstra, R.C.; Hanson, G.H. 1996. Foreign Investment, Outsourcing, and Relative Wages,
NBER Working Papers, no.3458: 15-24.
10. Gatautis, R.; Neverauskas, B.; Snieska, V. 2002. Interneto įtaka sandorių kaštams ir tarpin-
inkavimo paslaugoms, Engineering Economics 3: 28-36. ISSN 1392–2785.
11. Heakal, R. 2002. What is Market Efficiency? Available on the Internet: http://www.investo-
pedia.com/articles/02/101502.asp>.
12. Hilsenrath, J.E. 2003. Behind Outsourcing Debate: Surprisingly new hard numbers, Wall
Street Journal, no.7: 17-34.
13. Javalgi, R. G.; Ashutosh D.; Scherer, R. F. 2009. Outsourcing to emerging markets: Theoretical
perspectives and policy implications, Journal of International Management, 156–168.
14. Mackenzie, S. 2006. Outsourcing: The Economic Model of Comparative Advantage,
Recharger Magazine, 71–79.
15. Meshcheryakova, Y. 2005. Macroeconomic Effects of International Outsourcing, Journal
of Industrial Economics, no.6: 1-36.
16. Murphy, R. 2004. Outsourcing the program, Supply Management Journal 9(6): 32-3.
17. Prahalad, C.K.; Hamel, G. 1990. The Core Competence of the Corporation, Harvard
Business review, May-June, no.1: 79-91.
18. Reca, J.V.; Zieg, K.C. Jr. 1995. Privatization – an analysis of contracting out of government-
provided services, National Contract Management Journal, vol.26, no.2: 51-64.
19. Siegel, D.; Griliches, Z. 2002. Purchased Services, Outsourcing, Computers, and
Productivity in Manufacturing, In Output Measurement in the Service Sectors, ed. by Z.
Griliches [University of Chicago Press]: 429–458.
20. Snieška, V.; Drakšaite, A. 2007. The role of knowledge process outsourcing in creating national
competitiveness in global economy, Engineering Economics 3(53): 35–42. ISSN 1392–2785.
21. Swenson, D. L. 2004. Entry Costs and Outsourcing Decisions: Evidence from the U.S. Overseas
Assembly Provision, The North American Journal of Economics and Finance 15(3): 267–286.
22. Tomiura, E. 2005. Foreign outsourcing, exporting, and FDI: a productivity comparison at
the firm level, Kobe University, Discussion paper 168: 167–178.
23. Snieska, V.; Vasiliauskienė, L. 2008. Pervedimo kaštų analizė gamybos įmonių autsorcin-
guose. Lietuvos atvejis. Economics and management, the material of international scientific
conference, ISSN 1822-6515.
24. Williamson, O. E. 1998. Transaction cost economics: how it works; where it is headed, De
Economist, 146: 23–58.
Measurement of Transaction Costs in Information Technology Outsourcing 601
Sandorio kaštų matavimas informacinių technologijų
išornaudoje
Ligita Vasiliauskienė
Santrauka. Išornaudos sandorio kaštų formavimo tobulinimas bendrovėse leidžia ne
tik padidinti jų priimamų sprendimų kokybę ir veiklos efektyvumą, bet ir plečia šalies kon-
kurencingumo tarptautinėse rinkose didinimo galimybes, darančias poveikį šalies išornaudos
apimtims. Išornauda tapo viena iš strategijų, naudojamų verslo įmonių savo informacinėms
technologijoms valdyti. Per pastaruosius keletą metų naudojimasis išornauda sukėlė mokslinės
literatūros pagausėjimą. Todėl šiame straipsnyje analizuojama mokslinė literatūra, turint tikslą
nustatyti svarbiausias temas bei metodikas, dažniausiai taikomas autorių ir šalių informacinių
technologijų išornaudos srityje. Šiame darbe pateikiama straipsnių apie informacinių technolo-
gijų išornaudas, išspausdintų prestižiniuose vadybos ir verslo žurnaluose, apžvalga.
Mokslinė problema – sandorio kaštų klasifikavimas IT išornaudoje.
Straipsnio tikslas – nustatyti sandorio kaštų informacinių technologijų išornaudoje for-
mavimo aspektus.
Analizės metodai: loginė, sisteminė mokslinės literatūros analizė, pagrįsta lyginamuoju ir
apibendrinamuoju metodais.
Praktinis pritaikymas – straipsnyje atskleidžiami nesuderinamumai tarp išornaudos ap
linkos veiksnių ir realios išornaudos praktikos.
Ligita Vasiliauskienė – Dr., Associated Professor of Department of Banking and Invest
ments, Faculty of Economics and Finance Management, Mykolas Romeris University. Research
interests: transaction costs, outsourcing.
Ligita Vasiliauskienė – Mykolo Romerio universtiteto Ekonomikos ir finansų valdy-
mo fakulteteo Bankininkystės ir investicijų katedros docentė, dr. Mokslinių tyrimų kryptys:
sandorių kaštai, išornauda.
