Elements of sourcing strategy in facilites management services : decision categories and choices

"It is commonly suggested that effective procurement planning and management of FM services can directly affect the relative success of an organization s business. Therefore, it is surprising that only a few organizations and a few studies have focused on the development of sourcing strategy in FM services or their essential elements, such as outsourcing decisions, service bundling and the selection of relationship type. The lack of theoretical frameworks is perhaps one reason why strategic planning of sourcing is found to be ignored in the field of FM. This study presents the elements of sourcing decisions that are essential for the development of sourcing strategy in FM services, and integrates five scientifically reviewed research papers. The objectives of the study are to identify the different types of sourcing decisions and the alternative choices within the FM services sourcing strategy. Furthermore, the factors used for justifying a specific decision in sourcing FM services are identified and implications of the supply environment in FM services market for identified decisions are discussed. Based on literature review, a theoretical framework for FM service sourcing strategy was developed. The framework was used to examine the sourcing strategies in four case organizations. The case data were collected by using semi-structured interviews, open-ended questionnaires and focus group interviews. Later, the case data was supplemented with market data which were collected from Finnish service companies by using a questionnaire. The market data was aimed to generate additional information for decisions and choices of the framework from a FM services market perspective. This dissertation points out that the realized sourcing strategies in the FM services context are an integration of the different sourcing decisions that have features of different sourcing strategy approaches earlier presented in the supply chain management and FM literature. As information on a certain market is important for the buyers in making well-grounded sourcing decisions, it is suggested that the buyers of FM services should conduct systematic research of the markets prior to competitive bidding. By using a novel framework for selecting sourcing strategy in FM services, the buyers can make more rational sourcing decisions."