International Journal of Management & Strategy,July-Dec.2010 Vol.1No.1 Business Process Outsourcing: Lessons From Case Studies In India, Poland, And Canada Steven H. Appelbaum, Concordia University, Canada Anis Samaha, Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp, Canada ABSTRACT The objective of this article is to study the effectiveness of the company-partner relationship when outsourcing business processes in a large aerospace company. The intent is to supplement existing anecdotal evidence with data collected through a structured methodology in an effort to highlight process inefficien cies that may lead to hidd en costs. Recommendations are provided to management as a means of addressing the process gaps to improve productivity. A literature review was conducted and a selection of findings from relevant papers and studies were retained as best practices for a successful outsourcing venture. These findings were then used to generate questions as part of a survey. The latter wa s distributed to 90 emp loyees and managers from both the company and the vendor with the purpose of identifying gaps with the literature. A mismatch between the survey results and the literature would signal an improvement opportunity requiring management of attention. Although the overall health of the outsourcing process is satisfactory, several aspects of the working relationship were found to be deficient and the cause of inefficiencies (i.e. loss time, frustration, increased cost …). In particular, emplo yees from both sides found a lack in upfront planning, commun ication of expectations, and information sharing. Furthermore, both employees and managers expressed concern about the need for training to better deal with cultural differences and motivation. Keywo rds: Business Process Outsourcing, Strategic Alliances, Partnerships, Culture, International Business, Globalization. T INTRODUCTION he concept of outsourcing has existed for centuries. In his book, The World is Flat , Thomas Friedman takes us thro ugh the history and evo lution of outsourcing from the days of Christopher Columbus to a modern call center in Bangalore, India. Friedman argues, through statistics, interviews and case studies, that the modern wave of outsourcing is quite different than those of the past. The world has become “flat” in the sense that these forces have converged to level the competitive playing field betwe en developed and emerging countries. In a “flat” world, the traditional b usiness model can no longer apply. It becomes imperative that companies adapt their structure and operations in order to survive in this new business reality. Vertical operating structures where collaboration is top-down within the company have to give way to an increasingly horizontal structure where collaboration occurs globally across different departments, suppliers, and partners. Today everything fro m purchasing to payroll, human resource management to information technology, research & development to engineering tasks is being outsourced to the four corners of the world . In fact, it has become possible to outsource virtually any part of a business. Outsourcing is most commonly used when a company wants to reduce cost and improve quality by leveraging the expertise of specialized vendor. However, outsourcing strategies have become much more complex as companies are attempting to achieve numerous other objectives (J. Linder et al., 2002). In a stud y conducted by Elmuti and Kathawala (2000), the top reasons for outsourcing included 37