Cloud computing is yet one of the leading developments and depicts the biggest progress in web technologies. It offers a convenient way for using shared and easy accessible resources, in both a web-based and demandoriented sense. However, cloud computing brings concept-based risks, e.g. the risk of private data becoming publicly available. Outsourcing of services into a cloud computing environm...

Outsourcing of business processes is crucial for organizations to be effective, efficient and flexible. To meet fast-changing market conditions, dynamic outsourcing is required, in which business relationships are established and enacted on-the-fly in an adaptive, fine-grained way unrestricted by geographic distance. This requires automated means for both the establishment of outsourcing relati...

Health care organizations considering outsourcing sterile compounding services should have a clear understanding of what they want to accomplish. Consideration should include, at the least, an internal needs assessment, a cost analysis, and a careful review of prospective compounding pharmacies. The organization should examine the potential long-term consequences of outsourcing as well as the s...

Many large organizations are increasingly outsourcing their IT functions. Factors like lower costs, improved productivity, higher quality, higher customer satisfaction, and ability to focus on core areas are some of the benefits of outsourcing. However, there are many challenges and risks associated with IT outsourcing. In this article, we identify the main risk factors and best practices in gl...

Adopting a contingency framework, this paper explores consequences of manufacturing outsourcing and product/process newness for R&D–manufacturing coordination. Based on case-study findings, the following coordination challenges are outlined: accessing manufacturing competence and understanding suppliers’ processes (outsourcing of manufacturing and high newness); receiving feedback from supplier...

Outsourcing parts of a company’s processes becomes more and more important in a globalized, distributed economy. While architectural styles and technologies such as service-oriented architecture and Web services facilitate the distribution of business process over several departments, enterprises and countries, these business processes still need to comply with various regulations. These regula...