Health Outsourcing/Backsourcing: Case studies in the Australian and Italian health sector

Public Management Review

Volumn 14, Issue 6, 2012, Pages 771-794

  Young, Suzanne ^a   Macinati, Manuela S ^b  

^a LA TROBE UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

^b CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY   (Italy)

Author keywords

Australia; backsourcing; contracting out; health; Italy; Outsourcing

Indexed keywords

EID: 84866671162     PISSN: 14719037     EISSN: 14719045     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/14719037.2011.642627     Document Type: Article

References (65)

1. AIHW. (2009) Health Expenditure 2008-09. Available at http://www.aihw.gov.au/publication-detail/?id=6442472450 (accessed 16 June 2011)
2. AIHW Life expectancy. (2010) Life Expectancy Estimates (Years) for Selected Countries, by Sex, 2005-2010. Available at http://www.aihw.gov.au/life-expectancy-how-australia-compares/ (accessed 16 June 2011)
3. Alchian, A. and Demsetz, H. 1986. "Production, Information Costs and Economic Organization". In Organizational Economics, Edited by: Barney, J. and Ouchi, W. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
4. Anderson, S. W. and Dekker, H. C. 2005. Management Control for Market Transaction: The Relation Between Transaction Characteristics, Incomplete Contract Design and Subsequent Performance. Management Science, 51: 1734-52.
5. Atkinson, J. 1984. Manpower Strategies for Flexible Organisations. Personnel Management, August: 28-31.
6. Barney, J. 1991. Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage. Journal of Management, 17(1): 99-120.
7. Boardman, A. and Hewitt, E. 2004. Problems with Contracting Out Government Services: Lessons from Orderly Services at SCGH. Industrial and Corporate Change, 13(6): 917-29.
8. Brown, T. L. and Potoski, M. 2003. Contract-Management Capacity in Municipal and County Governments. Public Administration Review, 63(2): 153-64.
9. Brown, T., Potoski, M. and van Slyke, D. 2006. Managing Public Service Contracts: Aligning Values, Institutions, and Markets. Public Administration Review, 66(3): 323-31.
10. Chalmers, J. and Davis, G. 2001. Rediscovering Implementation: Public Sector Contracting and Human Services. Australian Journal of Public Administration, 60(2): 74-85.
11. Coase, R. H. 1937. "The Nature of the Firm". In Organizational Economics, 1986, Edited by: Barney, J. and Ouchi, W. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
12. Contractor, F., Kumar, V., Kundu, S. and Pedersen, T. 2010. Reconceptualizing the Firm in a World of Outsourcing and Offshoring: The Organizational and Geographical Relocation of High-Value Company Functions. Journal of Management Studies, 47(8): 1417-33.
13. Das, T. K. and Teng, B. S. 1998. Between Trust and Control: Developing Confidence in Partner Cooperation in Alliances. Academy of Management Review, 23: 491-512.
14. Deery, S., Plowman, D. and Walsh, J. 1997. Industrial Relations: A Contemporary Analysis, Roseville, NSW: McGraw Hill.
15. Domberger, S. and Rimmer, S. 1994. Competitive Tendering and Contracting Out in the Public Sector: A Survey. International Journal of Economics and Business, 1(3): 439-53.
16. Downs, A. 1967. Inside Bureaucracy, Boston, MA: Little Brown.
17. Eisenhardt, K. M. 1989. Agency Theory: An Assessment and Review. Academy of Management Review, 14(1): 57-74.
18. Ekelund, R.B. Jr. and Tollison, R. D. 1997. Economics: Private Markets and Public Choice, 5th edn, Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
19. Fama, E. and Jensen, M. 1983. Separation of Ownership and Control. Journal of Law and Economics, 26: 301-25.
20. Fernandez, S. 2007. What Works Best when Contracting for Services: An Analysis of Contracting Performance at the Local Level in the US. Public Administration, 85(4): 1119-41.
21. Fernandez, S. 2009. Understanding Contracting Performance: An Empirical Analysis. Administration & Society, 41(1): 67-100.
22. Fernandez, S., Ryu, J. and Brudney, J. 2008. Exploring Variations in Contracting for Services Among American Local Governments: Do Politics Still Matter. American Review of Public Administration, 38(4): 439-62.
23. Healy, M. and Perry, C. 2000. Comprehensive Criteria to Judge Validity and Reliability of Qualitative Research Within the Realism Paradigm. Qualitative Market Research, 3(3): 118-26.
24. Hefetz, A. and Warner, M. 2004. Privatization and its Reverse: Explaining the Dynamics of the Government Contracting Process. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 14(2): 171-90.
25. Hodge, G. 1996. Contracting Out Government Services: A Review of International Evidence, Melbourne: Monash University.
26. Hodge, G. 1999. Competitive Tendering and Contracting Out: Rhetoric or Reality. Public Productivity & Management Review, 22: 455-69.
27. Industry Commission. (1996) Competitive Tendering and Contracting by Public Sector Agencies, Report No. 48, 24 January, Melbourne: Australian Government Publishing Service
28. Jensen, M. C. and Meckling, W. H. 1976. Theory of the Firm: Managerial Behavior, Agency Costs, and Ownership Structure. Journal of Financial Economics, 3: 305-60.
29. Kamerman, S. B. and Kahn, A.J. 1989. Privatization and the Welfare State, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
30. Kern, T., Willcocks, L. P. and van Heck, E. 2002. The Winner's Curse in IT Outsourcing: Strategies for Avoiding Relational Trauma. California Management Review, 22(2): 47-69.
31. Lacity, M. and Hirschheim, R. 1993. Information Systems Outsourcing: Myths, Metaphors and Realities, Chichester: Wiley.
32. Lavoie, J., Boulton, A. and Dwyer, J. 2010. Analysing Contractual Environments: Lessons from Indigenous Health in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Public Administration, 88(3): 665-79.
33. Le Grand, J. 2007. The Politics of Choice and Competition in Public Services. The Political Quarterly, 78(2): 207-13.
34. Lee, S. and Kingsley, G. 2009. The Impact of Relational Factors on Contracting Management in Public Organizations. Review of Public Personnel Administration, 29: 270-92.
35. Luo, Y. 2002. Contract, Cooperation and Performance in International Joint Ventures. Strategic Management Journal, 23: 903-20.
36. Macinati, M. S. 2008. Outsourcing in the Italian National Health Service: Findings from a National Survey. International Journal of Health Care Planning and Management, 23: 21-36.
37. Macinati, M. and Young, S. 2009. International Perspectives in Backsourcing: Is it Just a Merry-go-Round. Health Care Management Review, 34(4): 372-82.
38. Macneil, I. R. 2000. Relational Contract Theory: Challenges and Queries. Northwestern University Law Review, 94: 877-907.
39. McLaughlin, D. and Peppard, J. IT Back in House. Paper presented at the European Conference on Information Systems. Proceedings of the Fourteenth European Conference on Information Systems, ECIS 2006, Göteborg, Sweden. Available at http://www.informatik.uni-trier.de/~ley/db/conf/ecis/ecis2006.html (accessed 9 April 2012)
40. Miles, M. and Huberman, A. M. 1994. An Expanded Sourcebook Qualitative Data Analysis, 2nd edn, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
41. Mudambi, R. and Venzin, M. 2010. The Strategic Nexus of Offshoring and Outsourcing Decisions. Journal of Management Studies, 47(8): 1510-33.
42. OECD Health Data. (2010) Health Expenditures - Selected Data. Available at http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx (accessed 17 June 2011)
43. Parkhe, A. 1993. Strategic Alliance Structuring: A Game Theory and Transaction Cost Examination of Interfirm Cooperation. Academy of Management Journal, 36: 794-829.
44. Perry, C. 1998. Process of a Case Study Methodology for Postgraduate Research in Marketing. European Journal of Marketing, 32(9/10): 785-802.
45. Pfeffer, J. 1981. Power in Organisations, Marshfield, MA: Pitman.
46. Pfeffer, J. 1992. Understanding Power in Organizations. California Management Review, 34:2: 29-50.
47. Poppo, L. and Zenger, T. R. 2002. Do Formal Contracts and Relational Governance act as Substitutes or Complements. Strategic Management Journal, 23: 707-25.
48. Porter, M. E. 1980. Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors, New York: The Free Press.
49. Quinn, J. 1992. The Intelligent Enterprise a New Paradigm. Academy of Management Executive, 6(4): 48-63.
50. Reeves, E. 2008. The Practice of Contracting in Public Private Partnerships: Transaction Costs and Relational Contracting in the Irish Schools Sector. Public Administration, 86(4): 969-86.
51. Rehfuss, J. 1991. A Leaner, Tougher Public Management? Public Agency Competition with Private Contractors. Public Administration Quarterly, 15:2: 239-52.
52. Romzek, B. and Johnston, J. M. 2002. Effective Contract Implementation and Management: A Preliminary Model. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 12(3): 423-53.
53. Stanton, P., Willis, E. and Young, S. 2005. Workplace Reform in the Healthcare Industry, Hampshire, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
54. Stoker, G. 1997. "Conclusion: Privatization, Urban Government and the Citizen". In The Privatization of Urban Services in Europe, Edited by: Lorrain, D. and Stoker, G. London: Pinter.
55. van Slyke, D. M. 2003. The Mythology of Privatization in Contracting for Social Services. Public Administration Review, 63(3): 296-311.
56. Veltri, N. F., Saunders, C. S. and Kavan, C. B. 2008. Information Systems Backsourcing: Correcting Problems and Responding to Opportunities. California Management Review, 51(1): 50-76.
57. Vining, A. R. and Globerman, S. 1999. Contracting-out Health Care Services: A Conceptual Framework. Health Policy, 46: 77-96.
58. Whitten, D. and Leidner, D. 2006. Bringing IT Back: An Analysis of the Decision to Backsource or Switch Vendors. Decision Sciences, 37(4): 605-21.
59. Whitten, D., Chakrabarty, S. and Wakefiel, R. 2010. The Strategic Choice to Continue Outsourcing, Switch Vendors, or Backsource: Do Switching Costs Matter. Information & Management, 47: 167-75.
60. Williamson, O. E. 1979. Transaction-Cost Economics: The Governance of Contractual Relations. Journal of Law and Economics, 22: 233-61.
61. Williamson, O. E. 1986. "Transaction-Cost Economics: The Governance of Contractual Relations". In Organizational Economics, Edited by: Barney, J. and Ouchi, W. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
62. Yang, K., Hsieh, J. Y. and Li, T. S. 2009. Contracting Capacity and Perceived Contracting Performance: Nonlinear Effects and the Role of Time. Public Administration Review, 69(4): 681-96.
63. Yin, R. 1994. Case Study Research: Design and Methods, 2nd edn, Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.
64. Young, S. 2007. Outsourcing: Uncovering the Complexity of the Decision. International Public Management Journal, 10: 307-25.
65. Young, S. 2008. Outsourcing in Public Health: A Case Study of Contract Failure and its Aftermath. Journal of Health Organisation and Management, 22(5): 446-64.