Market Research into the willingness of Finnish companies to outsource their operations

Abstract

The process of transferring activities to other companies is known as outsourcing. The history of outsourcing is not very long. It was not even identified as a business strategy until 1989. The evolu-tion of outsourcing started after companies started to outsource manufacturing supplies and labor to reduce the operating costs. Besides cost reduction, companies realized the additional benefits of outsourcing such as efficiency, flexibility and time saving. After this companies have started to out-source other activities like accounting, insurance, legal services, research and other business sup-port services. Katrium OÜ is an international contact center established in 2007 providing research and business support services all over Europe and Russia. It is a Finnish-owned company with operations located in Estonia and Spain. The main objective of the research was to find potential customers in Finland, interested in out-sourcing their operations, and to learn what operations would they like to outsource through Katrium OÜ. The main purpose of the survey was to get a clear picture of the future customers and their needs. The theoretical part of the research is focused on outsourcing, history, advantages, disadvantages and contact center business. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to do the research. The data was collected through a questionnaire survey. It was sent to 91 different online stores and research companies via email. In conclusion, the research shows that Katrium OÜ provides all the services that their customers want to outsource among those who were surveyed. The companies who want to be contacted are interested in outsourcing their operations if offered reasonable prices and quality.