Abstract

In a highly competitive industry, especially high-tech industry, a firm needs to have appropriate outsourcing strategies in order to survive. However, a firm used to have a strategic dilemma between supplier-oriented strategy and production-oriented strategy. Because of increasing complexity in the socio-economic surroundings along with rapidly changing technologies, how to have a suitable outsourcing investment is becoming an important focus for companies. However, there is no such a research in previous literatures. In order to fill the vacancy, the paper tries to briefly discuss the mechanisms of strategic outsourcing investment, its critical success criteria, and then introduce different evaluation models to help in having suitable outsourcing investment. Finally, the paper finds that an analytic network process (ANP) associated with benefits, opportunities, costs and risks (BOCR), is optimal to help companies to select the most suitable outsourcing investment projects.

Key words: Analytic Network Process (ANP), Benefits, Opportunities, Costs and Risks (BOCR), strategic outsourcing investment.