| Abstract [eng] |
68 pages, 7 charts, 4 pictures, 3 tables, 67 references. The main purpose of this master thesis is to determine the impact on company’s competitive advantage using IT outsourcing. The work consists of three main parts: the analysis of the literature and research, the author’s research and its results, conclusions and recommendations. Literature analysis reviews the development of competitive advantage concept and its importance for the company. Analysis also presents the IT outsourcing development, the main reasons and risks for adopting this strategy and explains how it could impact company’s competitive advantage. After the literature analysis the author has carried out the study about the impact of using IT outsourcing on Lithuanian companies’ competitive advantage. The main purpose of the empirical research was to evaluate company’s IT outsourcing experience – how the number of IT vendors, type of purchased IT services, managerial support level, the level of planning and contracting IT services from outside vendors and other independent variables affects evaluation of company’s competitive advantage. The hypothesis about these factors’ impact on company’s competitivity were based on similar studies performed in other countries. The results of the research were statistically processed with the SPSS programme batch. The performed research revealed that not all the determinants were statistically significant or had bivariate correlation. A weak correlation was found between the company’s competitive advantage evaluation and successful integration of IT processes into the overall business plan of the company, the level of cooperation with external suppliers of IT services and the contribution of managers in ensuring sufficient financing of IT projects. The conclusion and recommendations summarise the main concepts of literature analysis and performed empirical research. The author of this study believes that results of this research could be useful for companies, that are already using IT outsourcing strategy and for companies that are planning to purchase its IT services from outside vendors. |
