Faraway, so close. Division of labour, supplier relationships and industry architectures

Outsourcing is a viable strategy, increasingly used by firms to lower costs, to access new technologies and capabilities, to gain flexibility and to be able to focus on distinctive and core capabilities. However, the resolution to outsource a specific activity it is only the first step of a series of important decisions that we define as ?outsourcing strategies? and that constitute the central focus of the present work. In exploring outsourcing strategies, we identified the existence of a continuum of possible outsourcing strategies, positioned between to extremes poles: on one side, we have a very close relationship between supplier and client; on the other side we observe a clear and rigid division of tasks, roles and duties: no overlapping of knowledge nor capabilities is present. The empirical setting of the study is the offering of integrated solutions, where we assist to the elimination of the traditional division between service and manufacturing. Adhering to solutions, firms are called to offer products and services together, as a unique package. Due to its novelty, this represents an ideal context to observe the dynamics taking place. Relying on an original dataset of 102 firms operating in the IT sector in Europe, this paper explores the rationales behind outsourcing decisions, investigating type of activities externalized, and firms' relationships with suppliers in an outsourcing processes.