OUTSOURCING PATHS OF ACCOUNTING BY SMEs

UNIVERSITEIT GENT FACULTEIT ECONOMIE EN BEDRIJFSKUNDE ACADEMIEJAAR 2008 – 2009

OUTSOURCING PATHS OF ACCOUNTING BY SMEs

Masterproef voorgedragen tot het bekomen van de graad van Master in de Toegepaste Economische Wetenschappen

Eline De Wilde en Marieke Meulewaeter onder leiding van Prof. dr. Everaert

Ondergetekenden, Eline De Wilde en Marieke Meulewaeter, verklaren dat de inhoud van deze masterproef mag geraadpleegd en/of gereproduceerd worden, mits bronvermelding.

Eline De Wilde Marieke Meulewaeter

Acknowledgements First and foremost we would like to thank Prof Dr Patricia Everaert. We are very grateful for her readiness to receive us at all times and for her expertise in giving us guidance and professional advice. We would like to thank Mr Yvan De Maesschalck, Master in Literature, and Jan Watté, an Irishman, for reading and correcting our thesis. We would also like to thank all the people prepared to participate in our interviews. In particular we would like to thank Mr Johan Verbeken (Verbitek), Mrs Carolien Danckaert (Pauwels Consulting), Mrs Sonja Demeyer (Accountemps), Mrs Elise Beerens (Securex), Mrs Sabine Janssens (Markomo) and Mrs Gudrun Phijs (CIACFleet). We are equally thankful to all participants who filled in our questionnaire. Last but not least we wish to thank our parents, family and friends for giving us their support and for stimulating us throughout the months we spent writing this paper.

Outsourcing paths of accounting by SMEs

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Table of Contents Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................I Table of Contents ....................................................................................................... II Used Abbreviations ................................................................................................... IV List of Figures ............................................................................................................. V List of Tables............................................................................................................... V List of Appendixes ...................................................................................................... V 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................. 1 2. Literature review ..................................................................................................... 3 2.1. Outsourcing ...................................................................................................... 3 2.2. Extent of Outsourcing in Accounting, HR, IT and Fleet Management ........... 4 2.2.1. Outsourcing of Accounting ................................................................... 4 2.2.2. Outsourcing of Information Technology............................................... 5 2.2.3. Outsourcing of Human Resources Management ................................... 6 2.2.4. Outsourcing of Fleet Management ........................................................ 7 2.3. Interdependency ............................................................................................... 8 2.4. Determinants to explain Outsourcing .............................................................. 9 3. Methodology ......................................................................................................... 13 3.1. Research design.............................................................................................. 13 3.2. Data collection ............................................................................................... 14 3.2.1. Non-response bias ............................................................................... 15 3.3. Variable Measures and Reliability ................................................................. 15 3.3.1. Measurement of Dependent Variables ................................................ 15 3.3.2. Measurement of Independent Variables .............................................. 16 3.3.3. Measurement of Control Variables ..................................................... 17 3.3.4. Model specification ............................................................................. 18 4. Results ................................................................................................................... 19 4.1. Descriptive statistics ...................................................................................... 19 4.2. Outsourcing interdependency ........................................................................ 21 4.3. Relationship outsourcing intensity and the personal characteristics of the owner-manager ............................................................ 22 4.3.1. Accounting .......................................................................................... 22


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4.3.2. IT ......................................................................................................... 22 4.3.3. HR ...................................................................................................... 23 4.3.4. Fleet Management ............................................................................... 23 5. Discussion ............................................................................................................. 24 6. Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 27 References .................................................................................................................. VI Figures .....................................................................................................................VIII Figure 1 – Outsourcing intensities of supporting tasks ............................................... IX Tables........................................................................................................................... X Table 1 – Accounting tasks ......................................................................................... XI Table 2 – IT tasks ........................................................................................................ XI Table 3 – HR Tasks ..................................................................................................... XI Table 4 – Fleet Management tasks .............................................................................XII Table 5 – Characteristics of the owner-manager ........................................................XII Table 6 – Non-response bias ......................................................................................XII Table 7 – Multi-item variable measurement ............................................................ XIII Table 8 – Descriptive statistics................................................................................. XIV Table 9 – Independent t test for dummy variables ................................................... XVI Table 10 – Correlation Matrix (2008) ..................................................................... XVII Table 11 – Correlation Matrix (2007) ................................................................... XVIII Table 12 – Pearson Correlation Coefficients for the outsourcing intensities ........... XIX Table 13 – Regression analysis of outsourcing intensity of Accounting .................. XX Table 14 – Regression analysis of outsourcing intensity of IT ................................ XXI Table 15 – Regression analysis of outsourcing intensity of HR ............................. XXII Table 16 – Regression analysis of outsourcing intensity of Fleet Management ... XXIII Table 17 – Overview findings third research question ......................................... XXIII Appendixes ........................................................................................................... XXIV Appendix 1 – Interviews ........................................................................................ XXV Appendix 2 – Questionnaire ....................................................................................... XL


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Used Abbreviations HR: Human Resources IT: Information Technology KSA: Knowledge, Skills and Abilities SME: Small and Medium-sized Enterprises TCE: Transaction Cost Economics


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List of Figures Figure 1 – Outsourcing intensities of supporting tasks ............................................... IX

List of Tables Table 1 – Accounting tasks ......................................................................................... XI Table 2 – IT tasks ........................................................................................................ XI Table 3 – HR Tasks ..................................................................................................... XI Table 4 – Fleet Management tasks .............................................................................XII Table 5 – Characteristics of the owner-manager ........................................................XII Table 6 – Non-response bias ......................................................................................XII Table 7 - Multi-item variable measurement ............................................................. XIII Table 8 - Descriptive statistics ................................................................................. XIV Table 9 – Independent t test for dummy variables ................................................... XVI Table 10 – Correlation Matrix (2008) ..................................................................... XVII Table 11 – Correlation Matrix (2007) ................................................................... XVIII Table 12 – Pearson Correlations Coefficients for the outsourcing intensities ......... XIX Table 13 – Regression analysis of outsourcing intensity of Accounting .................. XX Table 14 – Regression analysis of outsourcing intensity of IT ................................ XXI Table 15 – Regression analysis of outsourcing intensity of HR ............................. XXII Table 16 – Regression analysis of outsourcing intensity of Fleet Management ... XXIII Table 17 – Overview findings third research question ......................................... XXIII

List of Appendixes Appendix 1 – Interviews ........................................................................................ XXV Appendix 2 – Questionnaire ....................................................................................... XL


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OUTSOURCING PATHS OF ACCOUNTING BY SMEs

1. Introduction In this paper we will study outsourcing of staff functions by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Belgium. Nowadays many organizations realize that, to remain competitive, carrying out their core activities flawlessly is of paramount importance. As a consequence, they refer to external specialists to manage their non-core activities (staff functions). This current trend is endorsed by The European Outsourcing Survey 2008 of Ernst & Young. They examined 600 European firms across France, UK, Germany, Italy, Spain and Belgium. About 70% of the respondents outsource at least one of the staff functions. Belgian firms lead the field by 81%. Also the number of activities (5.3) Belgian firms outsource is higher than the European average (4.1). We can consequently conclude that outsourcing is an important Belgian phenomenon. In addition, this survey investigates which activities are mostly outsourced. The supporting functions to be discussed in this paper are the third (information technology (IT)), fourth (human resources (HR)) and fifth (accounting and finance) most frequently outsourced activities1. Although the survey of Ernst & Young only covers larger firms, we believe this trend also arises in SMEs. One of the outstanding characteristics of SMEs is resource poverty. To cope with this problem, special management tools are at their disposal (Welsh and White, 1981). These tools can enable SMEs to exploit their scarce resources. We believe outsourcing is one of those. Our research covers small and medium-sized enterprises in Belgium with an average number of employees between 20 and 250. SMEs are the engine of the Belgian economy2. Although most of the organizations in Belgium have less than 20 employees we will exclude these enterprises in our survey. Those micro-enterprises are not relevant for our research since they generally have no other choice than to outsource their supporting functions. This would preclude us from finding intensity in the level of outsourcing. The purpose of this study is to gain a better insight into outsourcing of following four different functional areas: accounting, information technology (IT), human resources management (HR) and fleet management. These activities are subject to our first research question “Which supporting activities are outsourced by SMEs?”. Whereas many authors conducted scientific research on these topics separately, we combine them to investigate the interdependency between the outsourcing intensities. This results in our second research question: “Is there a dependency between the outsourcing of accounting tasks?”. The third 1 The first and second most frequently outsourced areas are “maintenance functions” and “distribution, logistics and transport”, but they are not relevant for our research. These tasks only take place in production firms. 2 More than 99% of the Belgian companies have less than 200 employees. (source: UNIZO-CofaceEuroDB)


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research question will lead us to investigate whether the personality characteristics of the ownermanager influence the decision to outsource the four functional areas. To answer these research questions, we first conducted six exploratory interviews with organizations that provide HR, IT or fleet management services to SMEs. Subsequently, in order to obtain data to test the hypotheses concerning these research questions, a questionnaire was sent to 1999 SMEs in Belgium. We would like to contribute to the existing literature in three ways. Firstly, although SMEs are important in our economy, only a few papers have analyzed outsourcing in SMEs (e.g. Delmotte and Sels, 2008; Everaert, Sarens and Rommel, 2007). We extend this literature by focusing on SMEs in Belgium. Secondly, we investigate the internal connection between the outsourcing of four supporting functions. As far as we know, literature on the connections between these different tasks is missing. Finally, while most of the literature deals with the risks, benefits and success of outsourcing, we examine the relationship between the characteristics of the owner-manager and the area(s) which are outsourced. Our main conclusions can be summarized as follows. Firstly, IT turned out to be the most attractive candidate for outsourcing, followed by accounting and HR. SMEs are not inclined to outsource their fleet management. Secondly, with respect to the outsourcing interdependencies, we find the outsourcing intensity of accounting to be positively correlated with outsourcing of IT and negatively with outsourcing of fleet management. Thirdly, regarding the influence of the owner-manager on outsourcing of accounting, IT and fleet management, we found respectively two, three and one significant personality characteristic. Family businesses tend to outsource accounting and IT and to insource their fleet management. Also age influences outsourcing of accounting. Older owner-managers are more reluctant towards outsourcing. Furthermore, experience and interest in IT leads to insourcing of IT. In the following section, we will give an overview of the literature on outsourcing and the development of the hypotheses. The third section describes the methodology used, followed by a description of our results. Next, in section five, we will discuss these findings. Finally, we will give some concluding remarks.


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2. Literature Review First, we will discuss the definition of outsourcing that is most relevant in this study. Subsequently, we will cover the respective outsourcing literature about accounting, information technology, human resources and fleet management. In addition, we identify subtasks for each staff function. Thirdly, we will deal with the literature that focuses on the interdependency of outsourcing of the four functional areas. Finally, we will discuss the literature on the characteristics of top management teams. This last topic is of great interest for our third research question.

2.1. Outsourcing Outsourcing has been defined in many ways. Most of the definitions we find in IT and HR literature. Somewhat exaggerated, it can be said that there are as many definitions of outsourcing as there are authors who discuss outsourcing. Gilley and Rasheed (2000) acknowledge this problem of the spectrum of definitions. They propose that outsourcing may occur in two different ways. On the one hand, outsourcing may be seen as the substitution of internal activities for external ones. This explanation is commonly used in literature3. On the other hand, outsourcing may occur through abstention. In this case, a company has never performed this activity inside but it does possess the ability. This interpretation puts outsourcing in a different light, meaning that one may only speak of outsourcing when an activity is performed by a service provider while the organization itself is able to perform the activity internally. In what follows, we support the perspective on outsourcing by Gilley and Rasheed (2000). The latter also assume that an outsourcing strategy consists of two dimensions. The first dimension is breadth. This dimension refers to the number of activities that a company outsources. In this paper these are the number of subtasks of each activity (accounting, IT, HR and fleet management). The second dimension is depth referring to the portion of one particular activity that is outsourced. Concerning the latter dimension, we adapt the distinction that was introduced by Lacity and Willcocks (1998): 3

e.g. Loh and Venkatraman (1992) define outsourcing as “the significant contribution by external vendors of the physical and/or human resources associated with the entire or specific components of the IT infrastructure in the user organization” (Loh and Venkatraman, 1992, pg 336); Gilley, McGee and Rasheed (2004b) define outsourcing as “Outsourcing can be described as the act of subcontracting out all or parts of the functions of a firm to an external party” (Gilley et al., 2004b, pg 118).


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Total outsourcing: More than 80% of the activity is outsourced.

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Total insourcing: Less than 20% of the activity is outsourced.

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Selective outsourcing: The activity is outsourced from 20% to 80%

2.2. Extent of Outsourcing in Accounting, IT, HR and Fleet Management This section deals with the first research question. For each functional area we will first give an overview of the literature available on the extent of outsourcing. Secondly, we will identify the different tasks for each staff function. Arbaugh (2003) examines the relationship between outsourcing practices, firm strategy and growth in SMEs. This article distinguishes eleven activities. Five of these activities are also examined in this paper: information systems, accounting and three subtasks from HR namely training, payroll and recruitment and selection. Arbaugh (2003) reached the conclusion that 83% of the SMEs contracted one or more activities out with wages administration as front runner. More in general, human resources activities appear to be very attractive candidates for outsourcing. Furthermore, they found that the possibility to focus on core competences causes outsourcing of supporting functions.

2.2.1. Outsourcing of Accounting From the 1970s until the 1990s outsourcing of accounting consisted mainly of outsourcing of simple, repetitive processes e.g. payroll and transaction processing. However Anderson and Vita (2006) recently have noticed a tendency to outsource all or a major part of the accounting tasks to India, Singapore, Malaysia etc. With regard to outsourcing of accounting in SMEs there has been conducted research on a local basis. Bennett and Robson (1999) investigate the use of external business advice in Britain. Their results show that 83% of the interviewed SMEs make an appeal to accountants. They argue that accountants inspire a high level of institutional confidence. More recently, Everaert et al. (2007) examined the use of accounting services by Belgian SMEs. Following Lacity and Willcocks (1998) they used three sourcing strategies based on the degree of outsourcing. Their results show that on average 35% of the accounting tasks are being outsourced and roughly half of the companies follow a selective outsourcing strategy. As opposed to the latter, Nayak et al.


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(2007) conclude that accounting tasks appeared to be the least outsourced tasks in manufacturing firms. Academic literature on outsourcing tax functions is scarce. Dunbar and Phillips (2001) examine the determinants of corporate tax function outsourcing. They make a distinction between tax planning and tax compliance. Their results support the outsourcing practice of tax functions in SMEs, indicating that larger firms benefit from economies of scale and internalize their tax-planning and -compliance activities. We follow the lead of Everaert et al. (2007) and discern four accounting and two fiscal tasks. Table 1 gives an overview.

[Insert Table 1]

2.2.2. Outsourcing of Information Technology The second supporting function we identified, is the IT function. Since the beginning of the ‘90s IT outsourcing has drawn much attention of the academic world. Loh and Venkatraman (1992) call the decision from Kodak to outsource most of its IT functions to IBM a milestone, indicated as the pre- and post-Kodak regime. Furthermore, Kakabadse and Kakabadse (2002) argue that IT is the second most outsourced area with an average of approximately 55% of the organizations in US and Europe. The survey of Borthick (2001) confirms this finding. She emphasises the growth in IT outsourcing and argues that “IT outsourcing has evolved from its own phase of buzzword status in the early 1990s, into a standard business practice” (Borthick, 2001, pg. 28). Only 11 percent of their respondents indicate they are outsourcing not one of the IT functions. The majority of the available literature focuses on IT outsourcing without making a difference in the size of the companies. As a consequence, most research deals with outsourcing in large companies. We especially focus on IT outsourcing in SMEs. Rohde (2004) investigates the IS/IT outsourcing practices in small and medium-sized manufacturers through an in-depth analysis. She finds that SMEs consider most of their IT/IS function (apart from the accounting software) as a commodity which is consequently inviting to be outsourced.


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We identify 5 major IT tasks that could possibly be outsourced by SMEs (Table 2). The software and hardware task are adapted from Rohde (2004). She makes a distinction between acquisition and maintenance of hardware and software. With regard to software she identifies another task, namely the adjustment of the software to the company context. The third task to be considered, is the development and maintenance of the website. Although one could argue that this is part of the marketing function, we classified this as an IT task because of the lack of an effective marketing department in most SMEs4 (Carson, 1993; Carson and Gilmore, 2000; Gilmore, Carson and Rocks, 2006). The fourth task is the helpdesk5. Security of the network completes the list of five tasks. According to Barthélemy (2001), 56% of the companies outsource their network management. Also Clark et al. (1995) identify network design and control as an IS activity.

[Insert Table 2]

2.2.3. Outsourcing of Human Resources Management Human resources management is the third supporting function we will discuss in this paper. Kanter (2003) explains her opinion concerning the future of the human resources function in her book “Human Resources in het 21st Century”. From her point of view, HR as an internal department in the organisation faces an insecure future and will be carried out elsewhere and in a different manner. She distinguishes four developments of which outsourcing is one. Kakabadse and Kakabadse (2002) confirm this development. They find that HR management is the third most outsourced area in Europe and US with an average of approximately 45% of the surveyed firms. The sources we used to enlarge our knowledge of HR outsourcing are all dealing with large firms. There is little literature available on HR management in SMEs. According to Delmotte, Lambert, Sels and Van Hootegem (2002), this limited attention is due to the lower “visibility” of HR management in SMEs. Larger firms have formal procedures, HR departments etc. As a consequence, many academics doubt whether one could talk of HR management in SMEs. Bacon, Ackers, Storey and Coates (1996) verify this assertion. They survey the extent to which 4

We conducted an interview with a marketing- and communication agency. The CEO confirmed that most SMEs lack an effective marketing department. (interview with Mrs Janssens, 5th November 2008, Ghent). 5 We didn’t find any literature that explicitly mentioned “helpdesk” as an IT activity. However, we chose to include this task as the result of an interview we conducted with an IT service provider. (interview with Mrs Dankaert, 4th November 2008, Ghent)


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the new HR management practices are implemented in small organizations. Their results reveal that the take-up of the eleven HR key initiatives6 in SMEs is rather high. In the case of two of these initiatives (team working and increased flexibility between jobs) the adoption is close to 75%. This means that innovative and progressive employee relations practices are not restricted to large companies and HR management does apply to SMEs. Also for HR we identify six different tasks. We adopt most tasks of Delmotte and Sels (2008). They measure the level of HR outsourcing regarding following HR activities: payroll, training, temporary agency work, recruitment and selection of operational and support staff, advice in HR management, recruitment and selection of managerial staff, development of job or wage classification, outplacement, appraisal and career guidance. Lever (1997) also defines six HR activities: payroll, benefits, training, HR information systems, compensation and recruitment. We chose to consider only those HR activities that occur in both studies, meaning we exclude advice in HR management, outplacement, appraisal and career guidance and HR information systems. Table 3 gives an overview of the six HR tasks that could be outsourced by SMEs.

[Insert Table 3]

2.2.4. Outsourcing of Fleet Management Joosen (2004) describes the developments in the car leasing market over the past decade. According to him, nowadays customers are more critical and require more flexibility from leasing agencies than before. Besides the financing of their fleet of cars, firms are also looking for a more professional fleet management that can control the costs of using those cars. This control of and decrease in costs are often the most important reasons to outsource fleet management. Besides financial advantages, firms can also achieve a higher quality of their fleet management. Thonnon (2007) mentions the existence of a relationship between the size of a company and the financing of its company cars. One out of two SMEs finance their fleet of cars themselves 6

The eleven key initiatives are a culture change programme, devolved management, team working, performance appraisals, a mission statement, team briefing, quality circles, harmonized terms and conditions, psychometric tests, de-layering, increased flexibility between jobs.


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and only 4% of the small firms chooses for a long term rental. According to her, this is a missed opportunity because full service leasing is an interesting alternative for internal time-consuming fleet management. As a consequence of this reluctance of SMEs to outsource fleet management, we might expect that the outsourcing intensity will be rather low. Through an interview with a service provider7 of fleet management we identified two tasks for private cars as well as for company cars: acquisition and administration of the maintenance, assurances and fuel carts (Table 4).

[Insert Table 4]

2.3. Interdependency In this section we will address the second research question and develop the associated hypothesis. We want to measure the relationship between the outsourcing intensity of accounting and the outsourcing intensity of IT, HR and fleet management. The findings of Ordanini and Silvestri (2008) support a positive relation between recruitment and selection outsourcing and the outsourcing of other HR practices. They argue that enlarging the span of outsourced activities positively affects the outsourcing intensity of a firm. Patry, Tremblay, Lanoie and Lacombe (2008) also conclude that HR outsourcing is more likely to be found in firms which have already outsourced other activities like finance and IT. An explanation for the positive influence of experience is given by Gainey and Klaas (2003). They view knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) gained through experience in outsourcing as an important factor to effectively manage outsourcing relationships. Some examples of such KSAs are negotiation skills, knowledge of the vendor’s cost structure and familiarity with the outsourcing market. Therefore, firms that emphasise outsourcing of different functional areas are more likely to acquire these KSAs. Such firms are subsequently more likely to outsource other activities. This explanation relies on transaction cost economics (TCE) of Williamson (1973). The principal purpose of this theory is to specify the conditions under which an internal organization is preferred to the market. This approach argues that the features of the transaction determine 7

Interview with Mrs Phijs, 26th November 2008, Ghent


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what the most efficient governance structure is: market (=outsourcing) or hierarchy (=insourcing). Markets are often assumed to be efficient but efficiency requires that all information is available to all parties. If this condition is not met, firms can incur costs, called transaction costs. Gainey and Klaas (2003) assume that prior experience with outsourcing, resulting in KSAs, reduce these transaction costs for HR outsourcing. Williamson made two behavioral assumptions that underpin his theory (McIvor, 2009). Bounded rationality is his first assumption. It refers to the fact that the human mind has cognitive limitations. A decision-maker is not able to fully understand all cognitive complexities of all possible decisions. For example, managers do not know in advance all actions a competitor will take. The second assumption is opportunism, which refers to decision-makers acting “with guile in a self-interested way” (McIvor, 2009, pg. 47). Williamson (1973) calls these two assumptions human factors, which may lead to the internalization of an activity. These human factors and their associated costs increase when a transaction has following features: infrequency, uncertainty and asset specificity (McIvor, 2009). The negative influence of infrequency explains why firms that outsource already many activities are more inclined to outsource than firms that outsource only a few activities. TCE supposes that opportunistic behaviour of a supplier is less likely to happen when a transaction occurs frequently. Therefore transaction costs are likely to be lower in a market than in a hierarchy. Based on this theory we expect a positive relationship between the outsourcing intensity of other supporting functions (IT, HR and fleet management) and the outsourcing intensity of accounting tasks: H1: The outsourcing intensity of the accounting tasks is positively correlated with the outsourcing intensity of the other staff functions: HR, IT and fleet management.

2.4. Determinants to Explain Outsourcing In this section we go into a full consideration of the third research question. The hypotheses are founded mainly on the upper echelons theory (Hambrick and Mason, 1984). This theory states that top managers’ values and cognitive skills partially influence the strategies and performance levels of an organization. One assumption made is bounded rationality on account of top management. Three limitations occur sequentially in this process of bounded rationality. First, managers do not observe the entire reality. Managers do not take notice of certain aspects


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unconsciously; they have a limited field of vision. The second limitation is the fact that managers selectively perceive only some of the aspects of the limited field of vision. Finally, the managers’ own values and cognitive base shape a filter by which their selectively perceived information is interpreted (Hambrick and Snow, 1977). This interpretation results in a strategic choice, which in turn leads to corporate performance. Hambrick and Mason (1984) do not propose outsourcing as a strategic choice, but we will. In turn, outsourcing leads to corporate performance. The upper echelons theory emphasises the observable managerial characteristics because Hambrick and Mason (1984) are of opinion that the psychological dimensions are very difficult to measure. This theory also focuses on the team of managers and not on the single CEO. In our study, we assume that the outsourcing decision in small and medium-sized organizations is made by the owner-manager and not by a team. A study by Feltham, Feltham and Barnett (2005) investigates the influence of the owner-manager in family businesses. Three to four enterprises confirm that the company is dependent on the owner-manager. The upper echelons characteristics proposed in their theory are age, functional tasks, other career experiences, education, socioeconomic roots, financial position and group characteristics. Functional tasks evolve from past experience in some functional area. Age and education we will discuss later. The variable other career experiences considers whether managers have either worked inside or outside the present organization in the past. Socioeconomic roots equals with a lower or higher socioeconomic group. Financial position refers to the percent of shares managers own of the organization and their total income. The last variable, group characteristics, is not relevant for our research because we consider a single owner-manager. With respect to our subhypotheses we want to mention that literature on the effect of manager characteristics (mentioned in the upper echelons theory) on the outsourcing decision is rather uncommon. We did find literature on the effect of some characteristics on leadership style and influence tactics. Our subhypotheses are developed from these papers and the interviews we conducted. The first characteristic we adopt, is age. During our interviews with the service providers, it became clear that older owner-managers are more reluctant to outsource (some of) their activities. Grant et al. (2001) find a positive relationship between age and conservatism. Given the fact that outsourcing is a relative new concept for SMEs, this could be an explanation for the findings from our interview. This results in the first subhypothesis.


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H2: The age of the owner-manager influences the outsourcing intensity in a negative way. The second characteristic affecting the outsourcing decision is the past experience in a functional area. In the upper echelons theory this variable is named ‘functional tasks’. We favour a slightly different definition for reasons of clarity. McDonald, Westphal and Graebner (2008) study the effect of outside director acquisition experience on firm acquisition performance. They find a positive effect of experience on firm performance. We suppose that when an ownermanager has experience in a certain area, he will not be inclined to outsource (part of) that activity because his experience contributes to good firm performance. H3: Past experience in a functional task influences the outsourcing intensity in a negative way. The third and last characteristic from the upper echelons theory relevant for our research is education. Education consists of two dimensions. The first dimension is the level of education. Barbuto Jr., Fritz, Matkin and Marx (2007) investigate the influence of gender, age and education on leadership styles and leaders’ influence tactics. With regard to education the latter make a distinction between high school, bachelor and graduate degree. Leaders with a graduate degree received the highest scores for both institutional and transformational leadership. Howell and Avolio (1993) found a positive association between locus of control and transformational leadership. The latter refer to Bass (1985) to prove that transformational leadership is the strongest form of leadership and often includes aspects of institutional leadership as well. Therefore we argue that the higher the level of education, the stronger the locus of control (and thus transformational leadership) of the owner-manager and the less likely he/she will tend towards outsourcing. In this way, he is able to supervise the correct execution of the staff functions. This results in the following subhypothesis: H4: The level of education of the owner-manager influences the outsourcing intensity in a negative way. The second dimension of education is the field of training or education of the ownermanager. We refer to this characteristic as the field of studies of the owner-manager. Galanaki, Bourantas and Papalexandris (2008) develop a decision model for outsourcing of training functions. Only one factor appeared to have impact on outsourcing training functions, namely the existence of expertise and the investment to provide in-house training. This means that companies will outsource training when they lack internal resources. Conversely, companies will


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not outsource training functions when they have the necessary expertise inside. Everaert, Sarens and Rommel (2008) investigate why SMEs engage in outsourcing of accounting tasks. They include educational background as a control variable in their model. They were particularly interested in whether the education of the CEO had an economic orientation or not. Their results confirm that CEOs who are qualified in accounting will not outsource accounting. Therefore we posit that when a manager is qualified in e.g. accounting, he will not outsource this area. H5: The field of studies of the owner-manager influences the outsourcing intensity of that functional field (accounting, HR and IT) in a negative way. Arendt, Priem and Ndofor (2005) introduce a CEO-advisor model of strategic decision making. Next to the influence of the team of top managers (in accordance with the upper echelons theory) or the influence of one person (the CEO), this model proposes a middle way where the CEO takes the final decision, but is assisted in the gathering and interpretation of the information and the recommendation of the final decision by his advisors (service providers for instance). The factors influencing this CEO-advisor model are environmental dynamism (see also Gilley, Greer and Rasheed, 2004a), organizational strategy, CEO leadership style, CEO tenure and advisor selection. We would like to consider CEO tenure as an independent variable. Arendt et al. (2005) expect a positive relation between CEO tenure and reliance on the formal advisory system, postulating that as tenure increases, managers have had the opportunity to replace incompetent service providers. In the wake of Arendt et al. (2005), we expect outsourcing to be positively correlated with owner-manager tenure. H6: Owner-manager tenure influences the outsourcing intensity in a positive way. The fifth characteristic that could influence the outsourcing decision is the owner-manager’s gender. Mukhtar (2002) gives evidence for a different management approach between men and women. Schutjens and Stam (2003) give evidence for the fact that male managers have more cooperative relationships than female (29% vs. 14%). Subsequently, the following hypothesis is developed: H7: The outsourcing intensity is higher for male owner-managers than for female ownermanagers. Another variable we posit, is whether the company is a family business or not. In the current increasingly complex and competitive environment, strategic flexibility is a very important


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determinant of corporate performance. As a consequence, to maintain a competitive advantage, a company must be able to adapt quickly to a changing environment. Following Miller, Le BretonMiller and Scholnick (2008), there are two opposite views on the effect of family business on corporate performance. First of all, there is the stewardship perspective. Zahra et al. (2008) investigate the effect of family commitment on strategic flexibility. The results indicate a positive relationship. Since outsourcing gives the possibility to focus on core competences and to have a high level of strategic flexibility, this could indicate a positive relationship between family business and outsourcing. In the opposite direction, the stagnation perspective holds that conservatism prevails in family business. This, in turn, could lead to a negative relationship between outsourcing and family business. The results from Miller et al. (2008) give evidence for the stewardship perspective. Hence, we formulate following subhypothesis. H8: A family-business influences the outsourcing decision in a positive way. The last variable we want to measure is the interest of the owner-manager in accounting, IT, HR and fleet management. Our exploratory research has taught us that there is a negative relationship between interest in a specific area and outsourcing of that activity because the owner-manager enjoys performing that activity himself. We formulate the following hypothesis: H9: The interest of the owner-manager in a certain functional field (accounting, HR, IT and fleet management) influences the outsourcing intensity of that field in a negative way. In Table 5 we summarize the characteristics of the owner-manager and the expected relationship.

[Insert Table 5]

3. Methodology 3.1. Research design Our research design can be divided into two parts. The first research method contains six personal interviews with service providers of SMEs (Appendix 1). We interviewed one provider of each staff function except for the accounting function8. For this function, we did not conduct 8

IT services (two interviews), recruitment and selection services, wages administration, marketing and fleet management


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an interview but used the information from Everaert et al. (2007). The purpose of these interviews was to get more insight in the different subtasks suppliers take on and to examine the extent of outsourcing of each subtask (total insourcing, selective outsourcing or total outsourcing). The second research method contains the questionnaire (Appendix 2). Each owner-manager of the sample received an e-mail with an invitation to cooperate with our research by filling in our questionnaire. The link to this questionnaire was included in the e-mail. We sent two reminders, respectively one and two weeks after the original invitation was sent.

3.2. Data collection The population of this study consists of all Belgian SMEs with limited responsibility and public limited companies with an annual average number ranging from 20 to 250 employees9. The upper bound is chosen according to the European criteria for SMEs (6 May 2003) and the lower bound is chosen to exclude the micro-enterprises which often do not have the possibility to chose between in –and outsourcing. We obtained a list of 4794 Belgian SMEs from Spectron Business Solutions and generated a sample of 1999 SMEs using two steps. In the first stage, we used the systematic probability method to select 2397 SMEs from this list. Subsequently, we randomly selected 1999 SMEs. Before the questionnaires were sent, we conducted a pilot test with 10 organizations with an employee number between 10 and 100. After this, the questionnaire was adjusted to eliminate lack of clarity. Each owner-manager of the selected SMEs received an e-mail including a link to our questionnaire. Of the surveys mailed, eleven were returned because of incorrect e-mail addresses. 298 SMEs completed the questionnaire. Due to two reasons, we had to eliminate 48 companies. Firstly, there were companies for which the sum of the percentages for ‘insourcing’ and ‘outsourcing’ of a subtask was not equal to 100%. Secondly, although we bought the e-mail addresses of SMEs that fulfilled our criteria, there were some companies who had less than 20 or more than 250 employees. Eventually, we used data from 250 companies, representing an effective response rate of 12.5%. Compared to other studies about outsourcing with a similar 9

Also the other criteria of the SME definition, according to the European Commission, are fulfilled.


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population, such a response rate seems acceptable (e.g. Everaert et al., 2007(10%); Delmotte and Sels, 2008(13.3%)).

3.2.1. Non-response bias We measured the non-response bias in two ways (Table 6). First, a possible non-response bias was examined by comparing early and late respondents (Armstrong and Overton, 1977). According to this method, we compared the earliest responses with responses received later. There were no significant differences in terms of number of employees (2008 and 2007), total assets (2008 and 2007), sales 2008 and outsourcing intensity (accounting, HR, IT and fleet management) found between the responses of these two groups (Table 6 – Panel A). Furthermore, we compared our data with the Belfirst database of Bureau Van Dijck in terms of number of employees and total assets. Again, we identified no significant differences between these two databases (Table 6 – Panel B). These results suggest that the received responses do not contain a non-response bias. As a consequence, we can generalize our findings to the whole population of Belgian SMEs.

[Insert Table 6]

3.3. Variable Measures and Reliability 3.3.1. Measurement of Dependent Variables The third question intends to measure the effects of owner-manager characteristics on the outsourcing intensity of accounting, IT, HR and fleet management. To measure the outsourcing intensities, we asked our respondents to indicate the workload (in percentages) of the subtasks of accounting, IT, HR and fleet management that were performed internally and externally. The extent of outsourcing of each subtask ranged from 0% (total insourcing) to 100% (total outsourcing). Subsequently, the overall outsourcing intensity of each supporting activity is calculated as the average of the percentages for the subtasks performed externally. This overall outsourcing intensity is similar to the outsourcing intensity meant by Gilley and Rasheed (2000). This variable takes into account both depth (degree of outsourcing) and breadth (number of subtasks outsourced) of outsourcing (Everaert et al., 2007). Following Lacity and Willcocks (1998) we turned this continuous variable into a categorical one. When less than 20% of an Outsourcing paths of accounting by SMEs

15

activity is performed externally, this is called ‘total insourcing’. When more than 80% is performed externally, this is seen as ‘total outsourcing’. When an activity is performed outside from 20% through 80%, we speak of selective outsourcing. Table 7 gives an overview of the measurement items and reliability measures. The first column indicates the reliability measures for the overall outsourcing intensities. The second column indicates the Cronbach’s alpha if the corresponding item was deleted. This value gives an indication of which items should be deleted if we want to improve the Cronbach’s alpha for that construct. The outsourcing intensity of accounting was measured using six items (six subtasks) and exhibited a sufficiently high Cronbach’s alpha of 0.88. In the second column all values range between 0.84 and 0.90, which gives an indication that there are no items that distort the reliability measure. The nine subtasks of IT allowed us to measure the outsourcing intensity of IT. The construct obtained a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.91 and was found to be consistent. The outsourcing intensity of fleet management is measured by four items or subtasks. The reliability measure is 0.92, which is sufficiently high. With respect to the outsourcing intensity of HR, we are faced with difficulties. Cronbach’s alpha is only 0.51 for the construct including the six subtasks we initially identified. This low value is an indication that the subtasks we identified, in their entirety, are not appropriate to measure the outsourcing intensity of HR. This is somewhat surprising since we adopted those tasks from earlier studies (Delmotte and Sels, 2004; Lever, 1997). As a consequence, we decided to measure the outsourcing intensity of HR by including only the three recruitment and selection subtasks10. We found subsequently a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.63, which is just above the cut-off value of 0.60, but still not a strong scale. With respect to the research questions, we decided to use this improved construct.

[Insert Table 7]

3.3.2. Measurement of Independent Variables To measure the effect of personality characteristics of owner-managers on outsourcing, we identified eight independent variables. The majority of these variables are measured using a selfreported measure. Age and tenure of the owner-manager was measured by asking the ownermanager to indicate his age and the number of mandate years. Owner-manager tenure was

10

We excluded the subtasks ‘function and pay classification’, ‘wages administration’ and ‘training’.


16

subsequently recoded into a dummy variable with 0 equals five or less mandate years as manager and 1 equals more than five mandate years. With respect to experience and interest, we were particularly interested to know whether the owner-manager had experience and/or interest in accounting, HR, IT and/or fleet management. Both are measured by a five-point Likert-type scale (1= no experience, 5= a lot of experience; 1= no interest, 5= a lot of interest). Fourth, we measured education which consists of two dimensions. Accordingly, there is one question in which we asked to indicate the owner-manager’s level of education and one to indicate the field of the study. Concerning the latter, we were again especially interested in studies involving accounting, HR and IT. Therefore, we recoded the field of study into three dummy variables: economic oriented or not, social oriented or not and technological oriented or not. Field of studies is not included as an explanatory variable for fleet management since there exist no studies on fleet management. Level of education was initially measured by a scale (1= secondary education, 5= postgraduate), but was also recoded into a dummy variable in which 0 equals no university degree and 1 equals university degree. Gender and family business are also measured as dummy variables: 1 equals respectively male and family business, 0 equals respectively female and not a family business.

3.3.3. Measurement of Control Variables Despite of the fact we only want to examine the influence of the characteristics of the ownermanager on the outsourcing intensity, other characteristics may also influence the outsourcing intensity. Therefore we control for three variables. The first control variable is size. Literature shows that size of an organization influences the outsourcing intensity (Klaas, McClendon and Gainey, 2001; Bennett & Robson, 1999). Size is measured by five different proxies: number of employees in 2007 and 2008, total assets in 2007 and 2008 and sales in 2008. Therefore we used two different sets of data referring respectively to 2008 and 2007. To obtain the first set, we asked the participants to self-report this data. We provided six answering categories for sales 200811. Likewise, for total assets 2008 we provided seven categories. Number of employees 2008 was measured as a continuous variable. The second set, we obtained from the Belfirst database and the National Bank of Belgium. Both, total assets 2007 and number of employees 2007, are continuous variables.

11

< 1.000.000 euro; 1.000.001 – 2.000.000 euro; 2.000.001 – 4.000.000 euro; 4.000.001 – 6.000.000 euro; 6.000.001 – 10.000.000 euro; > 10.000.000 euro.


17

Since small Belgian companies are not required to disclose their turnover, sales 2007 could not be used as a proxy. Further, we can not measure size as the average number of employees in 2007 or 2008 because this number is directly influenced by the outsourcing decision (Leiblein and Miller, 2003). Finally, there are three remaining proxies. In the regression analyses we used for each staff function the most appropriate proxy. According to Klaas et al. (2001), our second control variable is industry. They found significant relationships between certain industries and their extent of outsourcing. In our questionnaire we included eight industries and asked the respondents to indicate the industry (industries) they are in. These eight classifications were used as dummy variables. The last control variable is maturity, measured as the age of the firm. Gilley, McGee, Rasheed (2004b) argue that “less mature firms simply lack the resources necessary to internalize all functional activities” (Gilley et al., 2004b, pg. 122). They will as a consequence be more inclined to outsource functional activities. To measure this control variable, we asked the respondents to self-report the year in which their organization was founded. We subsequently computed the variable firm age by subtracting the reported year from the year of data collection.

3.3.4. Model specification Because of collinearity problems for two independent variables12, we made two regression models for each supporting function to test the relationship between outsourcing intensity and the characteristics of the owner-manager. With respect to control variable size, we tested each model with the three remaining proxies13. We selected the most appropriate proxy for each supporting activity. The corresponding formulas for the models are: -

model 1 (experience):

Outsourcing intensity supporting functioni = α0,i + α1,i experience + α2,i age + α3,i tenure + α4,i gender + α5,i level of education + α6,i field of studies + α7,i family business + α8,i age firm + α9,i industry + α10,i size + εi

12 13

These variables are experience and interest. The three proxies are sales (2008), total assets (2008), and total assets (2007).


18

-

model 2 (interest):

Outsourcing intensity supporting functioni = α0,i + α1,i experience + α2,i age + α3,i tenure + α4,i gender + α5,i level of education + α6,i field of studies + α7,i family business + α8,i age firm + α9,i industry + α10,i size + εi i = firm

4. Results 4.1. Descriptive statistics Table 8 shows the descriptive statistics. These statistics are interesting with respect to the first research question which deals with the outsourcing intensity of accounting, HR, IT and fleet management. Figure 1 gives an overview of the outsourcing strategies. The descriptives of the outsourcing strategy for accounting show that more than half of the responding companies chose not to outsource their accounting tasks. Close to 40% of the investigated companies outsource accounting selectively and barely 10% outsources accounting totally. With respect to the overall outsourcing intensity of accounting, the average is 29%. This intensity increases as a firm goes further in the accounting process (from 8% (entry of invoices and financial transactions) towards 50% (Belgian corporate income tax compliance)). Although total outsourcing is absolutely out of the question for HR, 60% of the responding SMEs prefer a selective outsourcing strategy. Furthermore, as shown in Panel A of Table 8, the responding firms are, on average, outsourcing about a quarter of the HR services. The subtask function and pay classification has the lowest outsourcing intensity while, on average, 50% of the wages administration is outsourced. With only 25% of the responding companies who perform IT inside, this is the most popular supporting function to be outsourced. More than 20% outsources IT totally and roughly 50% outsources IT selectively. The statistics of the outsourcing intensity of IT reveal no remarkable differences between the subtasks (Table 8 – Panel A). The percentages range from 30% to 60%. The three most frequently outsourced tasks are maintenance of hardware and software and development of the website. Acquisition and installation of hardware is the least outsourced IT task.


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In contrast to the latter supporting activity fleet management is the least attractive candidate for outsourcing. More than 70% of the companies prefer to perform fleet management inside. Also the average outsourcing intensity and the single intensities of the different subtasks are rather low (12% to 18%). The general features of the investigated SMEs reveal the following. About 67% of the responding owner-managers indicated that their firm is a family business. With regard to the experience and interest in the different supporting activities, the levels are rather high (in most cases a mean of 4 on 5). Especially the interest in marketing and sales is high (minimum 2 and on average 4 on 5). Furthermore, the majority of the responding owner managers have a university degree and about 40% percent studied economical sciences.

[Insert Figure 1] [Insert Table 8]

Table 9, 10 and 11 relate the outsourcing intensity of each functional task with the various explanatory and control variables. The results are based on independent t tests for the dummy variables and on correlation analyses for numeric variables. Table 9 indicates that, concerning IT and accounting, the outsourcing intensity seems to be significantly higher in family businesses, while the outsourcing intensity of fleet management is significantly lower in these businesses. Furthermore, the results show that there are differences in the outsourcing intensity of accounting and fleet management according to owner-manager tenure. When tenure is low (5 or less than 5 years), the extent of outsourcing accounting is lower whereas the inverse applies for the outsourcing intensity of fleet management. With regard to the field of studies of the owner-manger, we note that when the field is economic (law or economical sciences), the outsourcing intensity of accounting is marginally lower. Table 9 indicates further that building firms seem to have a lower outsourcing intensity of fleet management. In contrast to the latter, financial service providers are more involved in outsourcing of fleet management, but less in outsourcing of accounting. It also should be noted that there are no significant differences in the outsourcing intensity of HR according to the dummy variables.


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[Insert Table 9]

Table 10 shows the Pearson correlation coefficients of the continuous variables including three proxies for size from 2008. Table 11 shows the same matrix, but including two proxies of size from 2007. These tables allow us to have a first look at the relationships among the variables. The outsourcing intensity of HR seems not to be correlated with one of the explanatory or control variables. Furthermore, experience in a certain functional area (accounting, IT, HR and fleet management) is significantly correlated with the interest in that area. This high level of correlation between those two independent variables indicates collinearity problems. As an answer, we used two models for each supporting function.

[Insert Table 10] [Insert Table 11]

4.2. Outsourcing interdependency Concerning our second research question, we made the following hypothesis: H1: The outsourcing intensity of the accounting tasks is positively correlated with the outsourcing intensity of the other staff functions: HR, IT and fleet management. Table 12 shows the correlations between the outsourcing intensities of the four supporting functions. We are interested in the interdependency of the outsourcing intensity of accounting and the other three supporting activities. The results show that accounting is positively correlated with IT and negatively correlated with fleet management. For HR, no association was found. Consequently, our hypothesis can be partly accepted. Although it is not our intention to measure the interdependency of the outsourcing intensities mutually, we mention that the outsourcing intensity of HR appears to be positively correlated with fleet management while the outsourcing intensity of IT is negatively correlated with fleet management.

[Insert Table 12]


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4.3. Relationship outsourcing intensity and the personal characteristics of the owner-manager We tested our eight hypotheses with respect to the outsourcing intensity of each supporting function. In the following paragraphs, we will reveal the results of each supporting activity separately. Panel A shows the regression including only the control variables size, industry and age of the firm. Panel B and C show the results for the regression with respectively the independent variable experience and interest. For each supporting function, except HR, the adjusted R² increases when the explanatory variables are included.

4.3.1. Accounting Table 13 presents a view on the results of the regression with the outsourcing intensity of accounting as dependent variable. The most appropriate proxy for size appeared to be sales 200814. All models are significant at 1%. Panels B and C reveal that family business and age are explanatory variables. Age has a negative and family business a positive relationship with the outsourcing intensity of accounting. Both are significant at 5%. With respect to the control variables, we conclude that age of the company, financial services and size have a significant negative influence on outsourcing intensity. They all have a negative influence on outsourcing at a significance level of 5%.

[Insert Table 13]

4.3.2. IT Table 14 shows the results for the outsourcing intensity of IT as dependent variable. All models are significant at 5%, except the model with only the control variables included. The most appropriate proxy for size is total assets 2007.15 Panel B reveals two significant explanatory variables: experience and family business (both significant at alpha minimum 5%). Panel C adds 14

We mention that each model including one of the other proxies for ‘size’ was also significant. The F- values were : * experience : F(sales 2008)= 3.191, F(total assets 2008)=2.691, F(total assets 2007)=2.751 * interest : F(sales 2008)= 3.175, F(total assets 2008)=2.711, F(total assets 2007)=2.710 15 We mention that each model including one of the other proxies for ‘size’ was also significant. The F- values were : * experience : F(sales 2008)= 1,818, F(total assets 2008)= 1.811, F(total assets 2007)= 1.840 * interest : F(sales 2008)=2.293, F(total assets 2008)= 2.261, F(total assets 2007)= 2,260


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interest and level of education as significant explanatory variables. Interest and experience have a negative influence on outsourcing of IT while family business and level of education have a positive influence.

[Insert Table 14]

4.3.3. HR As mentioned above, Cronbach’s alpha for HR was only 0.51116. Because this value was insufficient, we made a construct of HR intensity with only three items included. This new construct permits us to make a regression with outsourcing intensity of HR as dependent variable. However, the results indicate that all three models are insignificant (Table 15)17.

[Insert Table 15]

4.3.4. Fleet management The regression models for fleet management as dependent variable are significant at 1%. Similar to IT, the most appropriate proxy for size is total assets 200718. Also here, Panel B and C (Table 16) confirm that family business has a significant and negative influence. In Panel C, tenure is marginally significant (at alpha 10%) and negatively associated with the outsourcing intensity. With respect to the control variables, two industries are considerable: building industry and financial services. They have respectively a significant negative and positive influence on the outsourcing intensity of fleet management. Size also has a positive influence (at alpha 10%).

[Insert Table 16]

16 We mention that each model including one of the other proxies for ‘size’ was also not significant. The F-values were : * experience : F(sales 2008)= 0.783, F(total assets 2008)= 0.546, F(total assets 2007)= 0,546 * interest : F(sales 2008)= 0.906, F(total assets 2008)= 0.659, F(total assets 2007)= 0.658 17 We also made a regression with wages administration as dependent variable. Also in this case, the results indicated that the three models were not significant. 18 We mention that each model including one of the other proxies for ‘size’ was also significant. The F-values were : * experience : F(sales 2008)= 2.773, F(total assets 2008)= 2.676, F(total assets 2007)= 2.880 * interest : F(sales 2008)= 2.815, F(total assets 2008)= 2.697, F(total assets 2007)= 2.932


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5. Discussion The purpose of this paper is threefold. The first objective is to identify which supporting activities are being outsourced by SMEs. With respect to accounting, which is the main supporting function, the findings demonstrate that more than half of the investigated companies do not outsource accounting. Approximately 40% choose selective outsourcing and only 10% opt for total outsourcing. These results are somewhat disappointing compared with the results from previous studies. Everaert et al. (2007) argue that more than half of the SMEs outsource accounting selectively. Also the outsourcing intensity of firms examined in our study is significantly less than 35%, the percentage established by Everaert et al. (2007). This is mainly caused by a much lower level of the outsourcing intensity of the Belgian corporate income tax compliance (71,2% vs. 49,28%). Bennett and Robson (1999), who measured outsourcing accounting as a dummy, also clearly show that accounting is one of the most attractive candidates for outsourcing. With respect to the outsourcing intensity of HR, literature agrees it is an attractive candidate for outsourcing. Kakabadse and Kakabadse (2002) prove that 45% of all companies outsource HR. These findings are confirmed by our results, which demonstrate that more than 60% of the SMEs outsource HR selectively. Also Delmotte and Sels (2008) point out that 89.2% of the SMEs outsource one or more HR activities. In their study wages administration is the most frequently outsourced activity (71.8%). This percentage is rather high compared to Gilley et al. (2004a), according to whom manufacturing firms outsource only 33.49% of the value of wages administration. In our study the outsourcing intensity lies somewehere in between these two percentages and seems to be a reasonable average. In this study, IT turns out to be the most frequently outsourced supporting function. This result is consistent with previous research (Kakabadse and Kakabadse, 2002). Willcocks, Lacity and Fitzgerald (1995) investigated 61 IT outsourcing decisions. Our approach is similar to theirs, as we also distinguish between total and selective outsourcing. In their study 23% of all decisions resulted in total outsourcing while 52% resulted in selective outsourcing. In ours approximately the same results were obtained. More than 70% of the SMEs perform fleet management inside. These findings cannot be compared with any other data because, as far as we know, research on the outsourcing of fleet management is missing. This lack of academic references might indicate that fleet management


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is not easily outsourced by SMEs. As a consequence, our results can only be compared with those put forward by Thonnon (2007). She argues that only 4% of the SMEs choose for a long term rental. The explanatory interview with a manager of a fleet management company also revealed the reluctance of SMEs to outsource fleet management (interview with Mrs Phijs, 26th November 2008, Ghent). Outsourcing fleet management is a relatively new concept for SMEs and many companies are therefore not aware of the financial benefits of outsourcing. Secondly, we have investigated the relationship between the outsourcing intensity of accounting and the outsourcing intensity of the other three supporting functions. The outsourcing intensity of accounting is positively correlated with outsourcing IT and negatively with outsourcing fleet management. An explanation for the positive correlation between the outsourcing of accounting and IT is given by Gainey and Klaas (2003). They argue that firms experienced in outsourcing one activity are able to reduce transaction costs for outsourcing other activities. The negative correlation with fleet management is not corroborated by our hypothesis, but this is hardly surprising. We assume that any owner-manager who personally manages his vehicle fleet will not be familiar with accounting, so that they are likely to be inclined to outsource their accounting tasks and vice versa. Thirdly, we want to explain outsourcing intensity by linking it to characteristics of the owner-manager of the SMEs. Because the model for HR is not significant, we can only draw conclusions for the outsourcing intensity of accounting, IT and fleet management. Table 17 gives an overview of our findings. In every model family business turns out to be a significant explanatory variable. There are, however, remarkable differences. Accounting and IT appear to be outsourced rather more by family businesses. It follows that the stewardship perspective (Miller et al., 2008) is confirmed by our hypothesis, with regard to accounting and IT. By contrast, family businesses are less inclined to outsource fleet management. This finding is consistent with the stagnation perspective (Miller et al., 2008). Given the fact that the outsourcing of fleet management is a fairly new concept, conservatism indeed prevails in family businesses. Experience and interest are significantly associated with IT only. As we predicted, a higher level of experience and interest in a certain activity will lead to insourcing it. As a consequence, our hypotheses are accepted. Regarding the owner-manager’s age, we found evidence that it influences the outsourcing intensity of accounting negatively. Older managers are apparently more conservative than their younger colleagues. We can consequently accept hypothesis 2. Unlike Everaert et al. (2008), who found a negative relationship between the


25

outsourcing of accounting and the manager’s economic education profile, the hypothesis about the field of studies is not supported by the data. We only found a marginally significant difference in the outsourcing intensity of accounting according to the owner-manager’s field of studies (a higher intensity if they were not ‘economic’). Everaert et al. (2008) also included the level of education as a control variable. It was found to affect the outsourcing intensity negatively. Our results do not support the association with the level of education. Further, tenure turns out to have a marginally significant and negative effect on the outsourcing intensity of fleet management. This finding is in contrast with our hypothesis, but we found some evidence in one of the preliminary interviews. The manager of a fleet management company pointed out that the new generation of owner-managers seem more inclined to outsource their fleet management (interview with Mrs Phijs, 26th November 2008, Ghent). The last variable we examined is gender. This variable appears to have no explanatory power. As a consequence, hypotheses 4, 5, 6 and 7 are rejected. With respect to the control variables, we present the following results. The age of the company has a negative influence on the outsourcing of accounting, i.e. the older the company, the less frequent outsourcing of accounting will tend to be. Gilley et al. (2004b) explain this negative relationship by referring to the lack of internal resources to insource all functional activities. Furthermore, when the company provides financial services, accounting will be insourced, while fleet management will be outsourced. Intuitively, this can be explained as follows: many companies are likely to have the accounting/financial expertise inside and will consequently not outsource accounting tasks. Fleet management, on the other hand, will be more readily outsourced in these companies because company cars are generally part of the remuneration. Furthermore, when the SME is in the building industry, fleet management will be more easily outsourced. Finally, the bigger a company, the more it will outsource fleet management and the less it will outsource accounting, which is in agreement with expectancies as investigated by Klaas et al. (2001).

[Insert Table 17]


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6. Conclusion The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of outsourcing four supporting functions in small and medium-sized firms in Belgium: accounting, IT, HR and fleet management. This study highlights three main perspectives. First of all, we have found that IT is the most frequently outsourced activity, followed by accounting and HR. Only a minority of the examined companies are willing to totally outsource IT and accounting. With respect to selective outsourcing, HR is the frontrunner, followed by IT and accounting. Fleet management did not appear to be an attractive candidate for outsourcing in Belgian SMEs. Secondly, the outsourcing of accounting is positively correlated with the outsourcing of IT, but negatively correlated with outsourcing fleet management. A possible explanation for the first relationship is found in transaction cost economics. A last implication of our research is that owner-managers seem to have a substantial influence on the outsourcing intensity of three supporting functions: accounting, IT and fleet management. The owner-managers were not found to have any impact on the outsourcing of HR. Family businesses seem to outsource accounting and IT more than non-family businesses. They are, however, reluctant to outsource fleet management. Both the stewardship perspective and stagnation perspective (Miller et al., 2008) offer a sound explanation for these findings. Furthermore, younger managers were found to be more willing to outsource their accounting activities than older managers. Both experience and interest in IT had a negative impact on the outsourcing of IT. Neither the level of education nor the field of studies were found to have any impact on the outsourcing intensity. Furthermore, we did not identify gender and tenure to be a determinant for outsourcing. In addition, the control variables in the model suggest no consistent results for all three supporting activities. Whereas firm maturity matters for the outsourcing of accounting, it does not for the outsourcing of IT or fleet management. Size has a negative impact on the outsourcing of accounting, but a positive impact on the outsourcing of fleet management. The same conclusion can be drawn when the SME provides financial services. Finally, the building industry influences the outsourcing of fleet management in a negative way. This study is subject to several limitations. Firstly, we would like to point out that, although the tests do not reveal any non-response bias, we do not know whether our results can be generalised for other countries than Belgium. Secondly, the HR tasks we identified were not appropriate to measure outsourcing intensity of HR. To solve this problem we measured the outsourcing intensity of HR by means of three items concerning recruitment and selection.


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Hence, it is rather doubtful that SMEs engage in any other HR tasks but recruitment and selection. To conclude we wish to give some directions for future research. Firstly, we should emphasise the interdependency between the outsourcing intensity of accounting and the outsourcing intensity of IT and fleet management. We put forward transaction costs as a possible explanation for this positive interdependency. There may, however, be a number of different explanations. Secondly, as our measure for the outsourcing intensity of HR turned out to be inappropriate, further research could focus on which HR tasks are typically performed by SMEs. Thirdly, owner-managers seem to have a definite impact on the outsourcing intensity of accounting, IT and fleet management. However, four of the personality characteristics we identified, did not have any influence. Because we are the first to address personality characteristics of the owner-manager as determinants for the outsourcing intensity of accounting, IT, HR and fleet management, it would interest us greatly to know whether further research would confirm our findings.


28

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VII

Figures


VIII

Figure 1 – Outsourcing intensities of supporting tasks total outsourcing selective outsourcing total insourcing

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Accounting

HR


IT

Fleet Managament

IX

Tables


X

Table 1 - Accounting tasks

–

Entry of invoices and financial transactions

–

Preparation of an interim profit and loss account (e.g. monthly profit calculation)

–

Period end accounting (e.g. depreciations, interest accruals)

–

Preparation of financial statements (balance sheets, profit and loss account, notes)

–

Belgian Value Added Tax (VAT) compliance

–

Belgian corporate income tax compliance

Table 2 - IT tasks

–

–

Hardware •

Acquisition and installation

•

Maintenance

Software •

Selection and installation

•

Adjustment to the company context

•

Maintenance and updates

–

Website: development and maintenance

–

Helpdesk –

Security of the network

Table 3 – HR Tasks

–

Wages administration (payroll and benefits)

–

Training

–

Recruitment and selection of the carrying staff

–

Recruitment and selection of temporary employees

–

Recruitment and selection of the executives

–

Function and pay classification


XI

Table 4 – Fleet Management tasks

–

Acquisition of private cars

–

Acquisition of company cars

–

Administration of the maintenance, assurances, fuel carts...of private cars

–

Administration of the maintenance, assurances, fuel carts... of company cars

Table 5 – Characteristics of the owner-manager.

Characteristic

Relationship

-

Age

-

-

Past Experience in a Functional Task

-

-

Level of Education

-

-

Field of Studies

-

-

Owner-Manager Tenure

+

-

Gender (m=1; f=0)

+

-

Family Business

+

-

Interest

-

Table 6 – Non-response bias

Panel A

p-value

Outsourcing intensity of accounting

0.818

Outsourcing intensity of HR

0.437

Outsourcing intensity of IT

0.287

Outsourcing intensity of fleet management

0.424

Number of employees (2008)

0.293


0.410

Total assets (2008)

0.477

Total assets (2007)

0.647

Turnover (2008)

0.641

Panel B Total assets (2007)

0.390


0.245


XII

Table 7 – Multi-item variable measurement

Measures and items

Outsourcing intensity Accounting (ranging from 0% to 100%) 1. Entry of invoices and financial transactions 2. Preparation of an interim profit and loss account 3. Period end accounting 4. Preparation of financial statements 5. Belgian Value Added Tax (VAT) compliance 6. Belgian corporate income tax compliance Outsourcing intensity IT (ranging from 0% to 100%) 1. Acquisition and installation of hardware 2. Maintenance of hardware 3. Selection and installation of software 4. Adjustment to the company context of software 5. Maintenance and updates of software 6. Development of website 7. Maintenance of website 8. Helpdesk 9. Security of the network Outsourcing intensity Fleet Management (ranging from 0% to 100%) 1. Acquisition of private cars 2. Acquisition of company cars 3. Administration of the maintenance, assurances, fuel carts...of private cars 4. Administration of the maintenance, assurances, fuel carts... of company cars Outsourcing intensity HR (ranging from 0% to 100%) 1. Function and pay classification 2. Recruitment and selection of the carrying staff 3. Recruitment and selection of temporary employees 4. Recruitment and selection of the executives 5. Wages administration (payroll and benefits) 7. Training Outsourcing intensity HR (3 items) (ranging from 0% to 100%) 1. Recruitment and selection of the carrying staff 2. Recruitment and selection of temporary employees 3. Recruitment and selection of the executives


Cronbach's Cronbach's alpha Alpha if Item Deleted 0.88 0.89 0.86 0.84 0.86 0.87 0.87 0.91 0.91 0.91 0.90 0.90 0.90 0.91 0.91 0.90 0.90 0.92 0.89 0.90 0.91 0.90 0.51 0.52 0.40 0.43 0.40 0.52 0.51 0.63 0.58 0.41 0.63

XIII

Table 8 – Descriptive statistics Panel A Accounting Outsourcing intensity Accounting Entry of invoices and financial transactions Preparation of an interim profit and loss account Period end accounting Preparation of financial statements Belgian Value Added Tax (VAT) compliance Belgian corporate income tax compliance HR Outsourcing intensity HR Function and pay classification Recruitment and selection of the carrying staff Recruitment and selection of temporary employees Recruitment and selection of the executives Wages administration (payroll and benefits) Training IT Outsourcing intensity IT Acquisition and installation of hardware Maintenance of hardware Selection and installation of software Adjustment to the company context of software Maintenance and updates of software Development of website Maintenance of website Helpdesk Security of the network Fleet management Outsourcing intensity Fleet Management Acquisition of private cars Acquisition of company cars Administration of the maintenance, assurances, fuel carts...of private cars Administration of the maintenance, assurances, fuel carts... of company cars Experience HR IT Accounting and Finance Marketing and sales Production Fleet management Interest HR IT Accounting and Finance Marketing and sales Production Fleet management Age Tenure


N

Min.

Max.

Mean

S.D

250 250 250 250 250 250 250

0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%

100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%

29% 8% 19% 32% 48% 19% 50%

30.49 24.94 34.57 0.39 44.71 36.37 46.38

250 249 250 241 248 248 248

0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%

70% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%

27% 3% 17% 36% 22% 49% 37%

15.38 11.29 22.18 37.71 27.71 34.11 31.32

250 250 250 250 248 248 250 250 224 250

0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%

100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%

50% 32% 58% 38% 56% 58% 59% 42% 48% 54%

30.58 36.33 40.43 37.36 39.13 40.64 38.90 40.41 42.42 42.61

250 244 232

0% 0% 0%

100% 100% 100%

16% 15% 12%

30.14 32.62 30.87

246

0%

100%

18%

33.90

236

0%

100%

15%

31.94

247 246 249 249 231 247

0 0 0 0 0 0

5 5 5 5 5 5

4 3 3 4 3 3

1.03 1.26 1.18 1.04 1.48 1.34

249 247 250 250 234 249 250 250

0 0 0 2 0 0 30 1

5 5 5 5 5 5 75 45

4 3 4 4 4 3 50 17

1.12 1.34 1.02 0.87 1.42 1.46 81.17 103.34

XIV

Age company Number of employees 2008 Number of employees 2007 Total assets 2007 (in thousands) Panel B Tenure ≤ 5 years > 5 years Gender of the owner-manager Woman Man Highest level of education of the owner-manager Lower than university degree University degree Field of studies Social sciences Exact and applied sciences Economic sciences IT Languages Technical Law Others No idea Industry Production B2C Production B2B Building industry Wholesale and retail Distribution en transport Catering en hospitality business Other services Financial services Other Sales 2008 < 1.000.000 Euros 1.000.001 – 2.000.000 Euros 2.000.001 – 4.000.000 Euros 4.000.001 – 6.000.000 Euros 6.000.001 – 10.000.000 Euros > 10.000.000 Euros No idea Total assets 2008 < 500.000 Euros 500.001 – 1.000.000 Euros 1.000.001 – 3.000.000 Euros 3.000.001 – 5.000.000 Euros 5.000.001 – 10.000.000 Euros 10.000.001 – 20.000.000 Euros > 20.000.000 Euros Family business No Yes


250 250 250 250

1 20 17 276

196 246 195 175,397

40 62 50 9,904

N

28.19 431.36 36.79 16,098.15 Percentage

32 218

13% 87%

12 238

5% 95%

131 107

55% 45%

10 65 102 5 13 27 6 11 11

4% 26% 41% 2% 5% 11% 2% 4% 4%

28 91 57 51 22 3 46 8 6

11% 36% 23% 20% 9% 1% 18% 3% 2%

1 6 32 31 49 128 3

0% 2% 13% 12% 20% 51% 1%

8 9 53 45 50 43 42

3% 4% 21% 18% 20% 17% 17%

83 167

33% 67%

XV

Outsourcing intensity of accounting Total insourcing Selective outsourcing Total outsourcing Outsourcing intensity of HR Total insourcing Selective outsourcing Total outsourcing Outsourcing intensity of IT Total insourcing Selective outsourcing Total outsourcing Outsourcing intensity of fleet management Total insourcing Selective outsourcing Total outsourcing

130 93 27

52% 37% 11%

96 154 0

38% 62% 0%

58 132 60

23% 53% 24%

190 39 21

76% 16% 8%

Table 9 – Independent t test for dummy variables

Outsourcing intensity Accounting

Outsourcing intensity IT

Outsourcing intensity HR (3 items)

Outsourcing intensity Fleet Management

Gender 0.919 0.509 0.576 Tenure -2.316** -1.451 0.280 Level of education 1.252 -0.279 -0.639 Field of studies - Accounting 1.924* -0.854 -0.210 Field of studies - HR -1.148 0.029 0.393 Field of studies - IT -1.118 1.025 0.066 Family business -2.392** -3.149*** 1.023 Production B2C -1.428 -0.327 -0.173 Production B2B 0.008 1.047 -0.693 Building industry 0.614 -1.033 1.569 Wholesale and retail -0.595 -0.883 0.415 Distribution and transport 1.447 -0.663 0.534 Catering -0.043 -0.226 -0.673 Financial services 2.300** 0.608 -0.463 Other services -0.508 1.603 0.871 * significant at ≤ 10% level; ** significant at ≤ 5% level; *** significant at ≤ 1% level

-0.659 2.544** -1.632 -0.033 -0.069 -1.791* 5.014*** 0.123 0.019 2.702*** 1.040 0.813 0.937 -2.041* -1.856*

Statistics shown: t-statistics


XVI

Table 10 – Correlation matrix (2008)

Outsourcing intensity

Interest

Experience

HR IT Accounting Fleet Management HR IT Accounting Fleet Management Age Age firm Employees (FTE) 2008 Sales 2008 T.A 2008 Accounting HR (3 items) IT Fleet Management

Fleet Management

IT

HR (3 items)

Accounting

T.A 2008

Sales 2008

Employees (FTE) 2008

Age firm

Age

Fleet Management

Accounting


HR

Fleet Management

Accounting

Interest IT

HR

Experience

1 0.235***

1

0.335***

0.258***

1

0.419***

0.294***

0.350***

1

0.480***

0.104

0.151**

0.106

1

0.209***

0.609***

0.193***

0.110

0.369***

1

0.182***

0.128**

0.595***

0.225***

0.345***

0.396***

1

0.249***

0.177***

0.138**

0.606***

0.252***

0.296***

0.180***

1

0.140**

-0.051

0.094

0.065

0.080

-0.084

0.038

-0.019

1

0.048

-0.017

0.045

0.030

-0.013

0.041

0.048

0.028

0.076

1

-0.093

-0.092

-0.045

-0.131**

0.037

0.022

-0.024

-0.034

0.084

0.168***

1

-0.096

-0.112

-0.122

-0.163**

0.049

-0.024

-0.096

-0.093

0.014

0.114

0.450***

1

-0.041

-0.012

0.040

-0.133**

0.013

-0.006

0.038

-0.082

0.064

0.194***

0.407***

0.515***

1

0.051

0.094

-0.108

0.178***

-0.076

0.023

-0.083

0.080

-0.115

-0.200***

-0.249***

-0.228***

-0.244***

1

-0.006

0.004

-0.149**

-0.136**

-0.094

-0.001

-0.176***

-0.176***

0.086

0.013

-0.001

0.113

0.016

-0.038

1

-0.125**

-0.260***

-0.078

0.048

-0.197***

-0.287***

-0.04

-0.014

0.030

0.001

-0.09

0.069

-0.028

0.139**

0.086

1

0.089

0.058

0.016

-0.152**

0.083

0.125**

0.047

-0.148**

-0.027

-0.07

0.043

0.075

0.037

-0.182***

0.165***

-0.140**

* significant at ≤ 10% level; ** significant at ≤ 5% level; *** significant at ≤ 1% level Statistics shown: Pearson Correlation Coefficients


XVII

1

Table 11 – Correlation matrix (2007)


Interest

Experience

HR IT Accounting Fleet Management HR IT Accounting Fleet Management Age Age firm Employees (FTE) 2007 T.A 2007 Accounting HR (3 items) IT Fleet Management

Fleet Management

IT

HR (3 items)

Accounting

T.A 2007

Employees (FTE) 2007

Age firm

Age

Fleet Management

IT

Accounting


HR

Fleet Management

Accounting

Interest IT

HR

Experience

1 0.235***

1

0.335***

0.258***

1

0.419***

0.294***

0.350***

1

0.480***

0.104

0.151**

0.106

1

0.209***

0.609***

0.193***

0.110

0.369***

1

0.182***

0.128**

0.595***

0.225***

0.345***

0.396***

1

0.249***

0.177***

0.138**

0.606***

0.252***

0.296***

0.180***

1

0.140**

-0.051

0.094

0.065

0.080

-0.084

0.038

-0.019

1

0.048

-0.017

0.045

0.030

-0.013

0.041

0.048

0.028

0.076

1

0.052

-0.083

-0.014

-0.158**

0.177***

0.024

-0.011

-0.016

0.104

0.089

-0.065

-0.088

-0.082

-0.177***

0.123

0.015

0.072

-0.085

0.144**

0.022

0.428***

1

0.051

0.094

-0.108

0.178***

-0.076

0.023

-0.083

0.080

-0.115

-0.200***

-0.274***

-0.239***

1

-0.006

0.004

-0.149**

-0.136**

-0.094

-0.001

-0.176***

-0.176***

0.086

0.013

0.028

0.016

-0.038

1

-0.125**

-0.260***

-0.078

0.048

-0.197***

-0.287***

-0.04

-0.014

0.030

0.001

-0.117

-0.057

0.139**

0.086

1

0.089

0.058

0.016

-0.152**

0.083

0.125**

0.047

-0.148**

-0.027

-0.07

0.118

0.187***

-0.182***

0.165***

-0.140**

1

* significant at ≤ 10% level; ** significant at ≤ 5% level; *** significant at ≤ 1% level Statistics shown: Pearson Correlation Coefficients


XVIII

1

Table 12 - Pearson Correlations Coefficients for the outsourcing intensities

Outsourcing intensity Accounting

Outsourcing intensity HR (3 items)


Outsourcing intensity Accounting 1 Outsourcing intensity HR (3 items) -0.038 1 Outsourcing intensity IT 0.139** 0.086 Outsourcing intensity Fleet Management -0.182*** 0.165*** * significant at ≤ 10% level; ** significant at ≤ 5% level; *** significant at ≤ 1% level

Outsourcing intensity Fleet Management

1 -0.140**

1

Statistics shown: Pearson Correlation Coefficients


XIX

Table 13 – Regression analysis of outsourcing intensity of Accounting (0%= total insourcing, 100%= total outsourcing)

Prediction

Panel A control variables

Panel B Experience

Panel C Interest

Experience -0.089 Interest -0.058 Age -0.134** -0.138** Tenure + -0.060 0.098 Gender + 0.108 -0.065 Level of education 0.053 0.047 Field of studies -0.071 -0.093 Family business + 0.145** 0.143** Age firm -0.199*** -0.169** -0.176*** Production B2C 0.091 0.085 0.087 Production B2B -0.059 -0.077 -0.067 Building industry -0.068 -0.093 -0.088 Wholesale and retail 0.054 0.016 0.012 Distribution and transport -0.088 -0.081 -0.073 Catering -0.008 -0.024 -0.020 Financial services -0.170*** -0.16** -0.162** Other services -0.078 -0.059 -0.056 Size (Sales 2008) -0.243*** -0.248*** -0.241*** (Constant) *** *** *** N 250 250 250 F 3.515*** 3.191*** 3.175*** p-value 0.000 0.000 0.000 Adjusted R² 0.092 0.136 0.135 *significant at ≤ 10% level; ** significant at ≤ 5% level; *** significant at ≤ 1% level Statistics shown: Standardized Betas


XX

Table 14 – Regression analysis of outsourcing intensity of IT (0%= total insourcing, 100%= total outsourcing)

Panel A Panel B - Panel C Prediction Control Experience Interest Variables Experience in IT -0.252*** Interest in IT -0.283*** Age -0.008 -0.041 Tenure + 0.067 0.071 Gender + -0.016 0.026 Level of education 0.106 0.118* Field of studies -0.026 -0.043 Family business + 0.172** 0.167** Age firm -0.020 -0.049 -0.051 Production B2C 0.019 -0.005 -0.023 Production B2B -0.095 -0.081 -0.109 Building industry 0.016 -0.009 -0.034 Wholesale and retail 0.029 0.013 -0.016 Distribution and transport 0.017 0.014 0.037 Catering -0.006 -0.009 0.023 Financial services -0.057 0.008 -0.009 Other services -0.127 -0.069 -0.134* Size (Total Assets 2007) -0.037 -0.051 -0.011 (Constant) *** *** *** N 250 250 250 F 0.692 1.869** 2.201*** p-value 0.732 0.022 0.005 Adjusted R² -0.013 0.059 0.080 * significant at ≤ 10% level; ** significant at ≤ 5% level; *** significant at ≤ 1% level Statistics shown: Standardized Betas


XXI

Table 15 – Regression analysis of outsourcing intensity of HR (0%= total insourcing, 100%= total outsourcing)

Prediction

Panel A control variables

Panel B Experience

Panel C Interest

Experience 0.003 Interest -0.099 Age 0.120* 0.133* Tenure + 0.023 0.008 Gender + -0.050 -0.063 Level of education 0.019 0.024 Field of studies -0.041 -0.051 Family business + -0.035 -0.040 Age firm 0.007 -0.001 -0.001 Production B2C -0.003 0.012 0.013 Production B2B -0.042 -0.062 -0.049 Building industry -0.158** -0.163** -0.150* Wholesale and retail -0.093 -0.059 -0.072 Distribution and transport -0.074 -0.059 -0.046 Catering 0.001 0.018 0.023 Financial services 0.015 -0.010 0.004 Other services -0.087 -0.105 -0.089 Size (Sales 2008) 0.119* 0.137** 0.138** (Constant) ** N 250 250 250 F 0.896 0.783 0.906 p-value 0.538 0.712 0.567 Adjusted R² -0.004 -0.016 -0.007 * significant at ≤ 10% level; ** significant at ≤ 5% level; *** significant at ≤ 1% level Statistics shown: Standardized Betas


XXII

Table 16 – Regression analysis of outsourcing intensity of Fleet Management (0%= total insourcing, 100%= total outsourcing)

Panel A Prediction Control Variables

Panel B Panel C Experience Interest

Experience in Fleet Mgt -0.071 Interest in Fleet Mgt -0.07 Age 0.003 -0.003 Tenure + -0.113 -0.119* Gender + 0.068 0.066 Level of education -0.025 -0.021 Family business + -0.189*** -0.195*** Age firm -0.016 -0.014 -0.01 Production B2C -0.015 0.003 -0.002 Production B2B -0.091 -0.054 -0.07 Building industry -0.228*** -0.193** -0.193** Wholesale and retail -0.117* -0.055 -0.055 Distribution and transport -0.108 -0.075 -0.082 Catering -0.066 -0.085 -0.082 Financial services 0.100 0.152** 0.139** Other services 0.007 0.015 0.006 Size (Total assets 2007) 0.177*** 0.113* 0.12* (Constant) *** ** ** N 250 250 250 F 2.875*** 2.944*** 3.002*** p-value 0.002 0.000 0.000 Adjusted R² 0.070 0.117 0.117 * significant at ≤ 10% level; ** significant at ≤ 5% level; *** significant at ≤ 1% level Statistics shown: Standardized Betas

Table 17 – Overview findings third research question

Characteristics of the owner-manager: o Family business o Experience o Interest o Age Control variables: o Age firm o Size o Industry: financial services o Industry: building industry


Accounting

IT

Fleet management

+

+ -

-

-

+ + -

XXIII

Appendixes


XXIV

Appendix 1: Interviews Interview IT Mr. Johan Verbeken (Verbitek) en Mevr. Carolien Danckaert (Pauwels Consulting) 30 oktober 2008, 9u00 en 4 november 2008, 13u00 1. Welke diensten biedt uw bedrijf aan? Carolien Danckaert: We kunnen onze activiteiten opdelen in enerzijds engineering en anderzijds IT. De diensten die wij aan de klant leveren zijn: –

helpdesk

–

telefonische support: wanneer een klant een probleem heeft, contacteert die ons meestal per telefoon

–

softwareontwikkeling op vraag van de klant: daaronder vallen zowel technische, functionele als ontwerpanalyse. Er wordt ook gevraagd om de producten zelf te testen.

–

sinds juli hebben we een bedrijf Telco overgenomen dat vooral zal instaan voor de hardware. Dit houdt voornamelijk aankoop en onderhoud in.

–

databaseontwikkeling (bestandsbeheer)

Johan Verbeken: IT hardware, software en integratie in netwerken is de volgende sectoren: -

Medische (US GENT – Privé specialisten – huisdokters)

-

Productie (fabrieken – plantenbedrijven)

-

KMO

-

Huis en tuin gebruikers die voorvloeien uit bovenstaande sectoren.

Back-up op afstand Werken op afstand Camerabewaking Analyse en herstelling met datarecuperatie Domotica via IT netwerken geïntegreerd met pc en telefonie over IP Alle domoticasturing, zoals verwarming, airco, zonne-energie, alarmering met beeldherkenning, RF-id (radiofrequent identification) enz. Optimalisatie van industriële en de iets duurdere privé gebouwen (van plan tot opvolging en afwerking)


XXV

2. Wat zijn de doorsnee drijfveren om die taken aan jullie door te geven? (strategische motivatie, kosten motivatie…) Carolien Danckaert: Er is een gebrek aan kennis over IT bij de bedrijven zelf. De taken die wij uitvoeren voor de klant zijn eigenlijk meer projectgerelateerd. We sluiten dus contracten af voor 3 tot 6 maand. Een consultant van ons gaat dan ter plaatse in het bedrijf de software ontwikkelen en nadien stopt het contract. Het is wel zo dat we van diezelfde bedrijven dan wel andere projecten toegewezen krijgen. Een tweede motivatie is dat het te duur is voor bedrijven om mensen met een bepaald profiel vast aan te nemen. Het is goedkoper om een consultant van ons enkele maanden “in te huren”. Het is ook wel zo dat bedrijven hun kernactiviteiten in huis willen houden. IT is meestal een ondersteunende functie, maar toch blijft er nog altijd een IT-verantwoordelijke binnen het bedrijf die controle op ons uitvoert. Johan Verbeken: Ik zie drie belangrijke drijfveren. Ten eerste zijn bedrijven op zoek naar één bedrijf voor alles zodat alle problemen onmiddellijk geanalyseerd en snel opgelost worden. Wij werken daarom ook 24u op 24 en 7dagen op 7. Ten tweede de lage kost waaraan wij onze diensten aanbieden, aangezien we met buitenlandse werknemers werken. Als laatste reden is er de technologische vooruitgang. De technologie vordert zo snel dat men moet uitbesteden. Wij investeren 80% van ons inkomen in R&D, zoals Jan De Nul te Aalst. 3. Schommelende diensten qua tijd? Meer en minder werk, zouden ze daarom uitbesteden? Carolien Danckaert: Zoals ik daarjuist al zei zijn onze activiteiten projectgerelateerd, dus er wordt wel degelijk uitbesteed omdat men na enkele maanden die personen met een bepaald profiel niet meer kan gebruiken. Johan Verbeken: Wat onze sector betreft is het grote probleem de snel vorderende technologie. Ikzelf studeer 4u per dag, 7dagen op 7. 4. Hebben jullie klanten deze activiteiten vroeger zelf gedaan? Carolien Danckaert: Nee. Ik denk dat de taken altijd al uitbesteed geweest zijn. We zijn een extra ondersteuning voor het IT personeel dat in de bedrijven zelf aanwezig is. Johan Verbeken: Vijf jaar geleden deden KMO’s sommige interventies zelf. Nu is de voornaamste prioriteit van de bedrijven zich concentreren op hun “core business”.


XXVI

5. Zijn er nog andere activiteiten die de klanten aan jullie overlaten? Carolien Danckaert: Als klanten van onze diensten tevreden zijn, worden ook wel andere projecten aan ons toegewezen. Johan Verbeken: Zeker, alles waar zij zelf geen tijd voor hebben en dat nemen wij graag mee. 6. Welke kenmerken heeft de doorsnee klant, KMO? (sector…) Carolien Danckaert: We hebben klanten uit verschillende sectoren: farmacie, productie, energie, banksector… Johan Verbeken: -

Meer en meer wil de doorsnee manager tijd voor zichzelf en familie.

-

Zij willen één contact voor al hun problemen. Één telefoon volstaat en wij handelen alles af.

7. Zit er in het klantenbestand vooral dienstenondernemingen of ook productieondernemingen? Carolien Danckaert: Vooral dienstenondernemingen. Johan Verbeken: Beide 50/50 8. Hoe groot zijn jullie klanten, de KMO’s? (omzet, werknemers, winst, ouderdom…) Carolien Danckaert: Middelgroot tot grote ondernemingen. Johan Verbeken: -

Tot 50 werknemers

-

Van familiebedrijf tot kleine zelfstandige

-

Omzet van 100€ tot 1000€

9. Zijn kleinere ondernemingen meer sceptisch? Carolien Danckaert: Ja. Kleinere bedrijven hebben een kleiner budget dat kan gespendeerd worden.


XXVII

Johan Verbeken: Niet echt, zij zweven wel meer in het vacuüm wat betreft kennis. Zij zijn volledig op ons aangewezen door hun gebrek aan tijd voor opleiding. 10. Trekken jullie een grens wat een KMO is? Carolien Danckaert: Nee Johan Verbeken: Ja, tot 50 pc’s. 11. Wie is jullie contactpersoon bij KMO’s? Carolien Danckaert: We onderhandelen eerst me de aankoopdienst o.a. over de kostprijs. Van hen ontvangen we ook een functiebeschrijving. Daarna komen we in contact met de ITverantwoordelijke. Johan Verbeken: Vooral de bedrijfsleider. 12. Evolutie naar de toekomst toe? (online-diensten…) Carolien Danckaert: Ik denk dat bedrijven in de toekomst meer zullen uitbesteden. De redenen daarvoor zijn dezelfde als diegene die ik daarjuist heb aangehaald: de loonkost, continue verandering op IT-gebied, opleidingskosten… In kleinere bedrijven denk ik dat de basisinfrastructuur wel zal overgebracht worden naar een centrale server zodat er in het bedrijf zelf niet veel meer overblijft van de IT-afdeling. Johan Verbeken: We proberen onze klanten er van te overtuigen om hun basisinfrastructuur bij ons te huisvesten. Dit biedt alleen al op de factuur elektriciteit een serieuze hap in hun budget. Maar ook de continuïteit is verzekerd. Als hun burelen afbranden bijvoorbeeld, kunnen ze de dag nadien terug verder werken.


XXVIII

Interview HR: selectie en rekrutering Mevr. Demeyer Sonja (Accountemps) maandag 10 november, 9u 1. Welke diensten biedt uw bedrijf aan? Accountemps is vooral gespecialiseerd in tijdelijke en dringende opdrachten in verband met boekhouding/ finance. Robert Half is gespecialiseerd in het zoeken van mensen met het oog op een vast contract. Onze procedure ziet er als volgt uit: –

Mensen sturen hun CV naar ons door. We maken ons bekend via beurzen, scholen, VDAB, onze eigen website, websites van VBAD, Monster, Vacature…

–

De eerste selectie(CV-screening) doen we via telefoon

–

Als de persoon geschikt is bevonden na de telefonische screening, dan wordt die op kantoor uitgenodigd. Op kantoor vindt een interview plaats en verschillende testen (boekhoudtest, Excel-test, nauwkeurigheidstest). Er wordt ook aan elke kandidaat gevraagd om minimum 2 referenties van vorige werknemers te geven.

–

Vervolgens krijgen we een aanvraag van een klant binnen. We gaan naar dit bedrijf en doen daar de jobopname.

–

Op basis van de jobopname, zoeken we in onze database naar geschikte kandidaten.

–

Vervolgens geven we aan het bedrijf een telefonische voorstelling van de geselecteerde kandidaten.

–

Soms gaan de kandidaten dan nog eens op gesprek bij de klant zelf, soms niet. Uiteindelijk kiest het bedrijf de meest geschikte kandidaat.

–

Tijdens de werkperiode doen we aan opvolging zowel bij de klant als bij de werknemer.

De werkkrachten krijgen een tijdelijk contract aangeboden. Soms gebeurt het wel dat zij van het bedrijf zelf een vast contract krijgen, maar eerst moet de interim-periode voldaan zijn. De procedure van Robert Half (het selectie –en rekruteringskantoor) is gelijklopend met de onze op volgende verschillen na: –

Tijdens het interview bij ons op kantoor zullen ook persoonlijkheidstesten afgenomen worden. Het is belangrijk dat, met het oog op een vast contract, de kandidaten in het bedrijf zelf passen.

–

De kandidaten zullen bij een vast contract in ieder geval bij het bedrijf zelf ook op gesprek moeten gaan.

Een andere activiteit die we ook doen is op prospectus gaan. We bezoeken verschillende bedrijven om de jobs, de bedrijfscultuur… beter te leren kennen. We gaan ook proactief tewerk. De bedrijven waarmee we samenwerken, kennen we goed. Wanneer we een kandidaat binnenkrijgen en die past perfect binnen een bepaald bedrijf, gaan we die voorstellen in dat bedrijf, ook al is er geen vraag gekomen.


XXIX

Wanneer wij niet kunnen voldoen in de vraag van de klant, dan “onthouden” we de vraag van de klant wel. Wanneer we dan iemand hebben, die wel geschikt is voor deze job, dan lichten we de bedrijven daar over in, ook al is die job op dat moment al ingevuld. 2. Hebben jullie klanten deze activiteiten vroeger zelf gedaan? Sommige klanten hebben zelf soms al een advertentie geplaatst, maar meestal komen ze rechtstreeks naar ons. Wanneer de bedrijven in het verleden met ons goed hebben samengewerkt, zien we dat ze, wanneer ze een extra persoon nodig hebben, op ons beroep doen. (Lange termijnrelatie) 3. Welke kenmerken heeft de doorsnee klant, KMO? (sector) We hebben een grote variëteit aan klanten. Ik kan geen bepaalde kenmerken opnoemen van bedrijven die we meer bedienen dan andere. 4. Zit er in het klantenbestand productieondernemingen?

vooral

dienstenondernemingen

of

ook

(niet relevant) 5. Hoe groot zijn jullie klanten, de KMO’s? (omzet, werknemers, winst, ouderdom) We hebben zowel grote als kleine klanten. Dat gaat van bedrijven met 4 werknemers tot multinationals. Bij de prospectie/ jobopname vragen we wel naar omzet, aantal werknemers, winst… maar we maken geen onderscheid. Ik heb dan ook geen idee van de gemiddelde KMO in ons bestand. 6. Zijn kleinere ondernemingen meer sceptisch? We maken geen onderscheid tussen grote en kleine ondernemingen. We geven ze allemaal dezelfde dienst. Kleinere ondernemingen hebben wel een beperkter budget en weten soms niet zo goed wat interim-werk inhoudt, op dat vlak zijn ze dan misschien wel wat sceptischer. 7. Trekken jullie een grens wat een KMO is? Neen, we behandelen onze klanten gelijk. We zoeken wel naar de juiste match tussen de werknemer en het bedrijf. Sommige uitzendkrachten zijn meer vertrouwd en hebben meer ervaring in KMO’s. We gaan deze dan ook trachten te plaatsen in een KMO. 8. Wat zijn de doorsnee drijfveren om die taken aan jullie door te geven? (strategische motivatie, kosten motivatie, gebrek aan kennis…) –

tijdsbesparing

–

kostenbesparing (zelf advertenties plaatsen, de CVs screenen => dit is zeer tijdsrovend en kostelijk)

–

expertise


XXX

–

geen eigen personeelsdienst

9. Schommelende diensten qua tijd (cyclisch)? Meer en minder werk, zouden ze daarom uitbesteden? Bedrijven doen beroep op ons om verschillende redenen: –

teveel werk

–

ziekte/ zwangerschap…

–

verschillende projecten

–

nieuwe functie

10. Wie is jullie contactpersoon bij KMO? We proberen zoveel mogelijk met de lijnmanager te overleggen, omdat die best de job kan beschrijven, maar we hebben ook contact met de HR-manager (als er één is). 11. Evolutie naar de toekomst toe? Eventueel: waarom? De evolutie gaat met pieken, samenhangend met de economie. Interim is zeer flexibel, wat een zekerheid is voor het bedrijf en de werkkracht. Ik denk dat interim de schommeling met de economie minder ervaart dan vaste contracten. Op dit moment ervaren we niet dat er minder vraag is, maar het kan misschien nog komen.


XXXI

Interview HR : loonadministratie Mevr. Elise Beerens (Securex) donderdag 27 november 2008, 9u 1. Welke diensten biedt uw bedrijf aan? –

loonadministratie en –berekening volgens de laatste sociale & fiscale wetgeving en het arbeidsrecht

–

administratie van het personeelsbeheer (kinderbijslag, individuele rekening, tijdskrediet)

–

administratieve verplichtingen tegenover publieke en niet-publieke instanties (trimestriële aangifte, externe dienst voor Preventie en bescherming op het werk)

–

bijstand en documentatie voor boekhoudkundig personeelsbeheer.

2. Activiteiten die je aanbiedt: wettelijk moeten of ook buiten het wettelijke? Het grootste deel van de activiteiten zijn wettelijk verplicht. Dit is ook een belangrijke reden waarom ze dit uitbesteden. De wetgeving is heel complex hieromtrent. 3. Wat zijn de doorsnee drijfveren om die taken aan jullie door te geven? (strategische motivatie, kosten motivatie…) De belangrijkste reden is dat ze deze administratieve taken zelf niet kunnen uitvoeren en ook geen interesse hebben om deze zelf uit te voeren. De meeste KMO’s hebben geen zin om zich te verdiepen in deze “formaliteiten”. Ze laten deze taak liever over aan een sociaal secretariaat dan zijn ze ook zeker dat het correct gebeurd. Een tweede reden is dat een sociaal secretariaat continuïteit verzekert. Alle verplichtingen zullen steeds tijdig vervuld worden, terwijl in een bedrijf dit niet altijd mogelijk is. Wanneer bijvoorbeeld de verantwoordelijke voor loonsadministratie ziek is, zullen de lonen, RSZ… toch op tijd moeten betaald worden. Er is geen uitstel mogelijk. 4. Schommelende diensten qua tijd? Meer en minder werk, zouden ze daarom uitbesteden? Dit is niet echt een reden. Er zijn wel pieken in de diensten. Bijvoorbeeld elke maand bij de betaling van de lonen, wanneer een werknemer in zwangerschapsverlof gaat, bij het regelen van het vakantiegeld… 5. Hebben jullie klanten deze activiteiten vroeger zelf gedaan? Neen, loonsadministratie is te complex. 20 à 30 jaar geleden deed de zaakvoerder dit zelf nog omdat de wetgeving toen veel minder complex was, 10 à 15 jaar terug deed de boekhouder soms nog de loonadministratie, maar nu zijn er zodanig veel verplichtingen dat je een echte specialist moet zijn.


XXXII

6. Zijn er nog andere activiteiten die de klanten aan jullie overlaten? Ja, dit is ook het grote voordeel van Securex. We hebben een heel breed aanbod. We zijn niet alleen gespecialiseerd in loonsadministratie, we hebben ook verzekeringspakketten, pensioenfondsen en we helpen bij de opstart van een nieuw bedrijf (advies over ondernemingsvorm, hulp bij administratieve verplichtingen…) 7. Welke kenmerken heeft de doorsnee klant, KMO? (sector…) Ik kan geen kenmerken opsommen. De klanten zijn heel gevarieerd. Vroeger was het wel zo dat we vooral klanten hadden uit de textielsector, maar dit was omdat Securex zich vooral richtte naar bedrijven uit deze sector. 8. Zit er in het klantenbestand vooral dienstenondernemingen of ook productieondernemingen? 50/50 9. Hoe groot zijn jullie klanten, de KMO’s? (omzet, werknemers, winst, ouderdom…) We hebben zowel heel grote als heel kleine, startende en gevestigde ondernemingen. Ons klantenbestand is echt heel gevarieerd. 10. Zijn kleinere ondernemingen meer sceptisch? Neen, integendeel zelfs. Ik heb de indruk dat KMO’s eerder minder sceptisch zijn dan grote bedrijven. Ze zijn opgelucht dat de loonadministratie in goede handen is. Ze denken er zelfs niet aan om dit zelf te doen omdat het zo complex is, terwijl grotere bedrijven vaak wel het vermogen hebben dit zelf uit te voeren. 11. Trekken jullie een grens wat een KMO is? Ja, bij ondernemingen die we niet kennen spreken we tot 50 werknemers van een KMO. Bij bedrijven die we wel kennen, kijken we naar waar de HR-problematiek zich “bevindt.” Is dit bij de bedrijfsleider dan spreken we over een KMO, is dit bij een HR-verantwoordelijke dan wordt het bedrijf niet aanzien als een KMO. De reden hiervoor is dat wanneer er een HRverantwoordelijke aanwezig is, het personeelsbeleid meer gestructureerd is en men zich ook meer bezig gaat houden met problematieken bij het personeel (motivatie, opleidingen) We bieden aan de grote bedrijven (HR solutions) ook een ander pakket van diensten aan dan aan KMO’s (Securex Optimal.) 12. Wie is jullie contactpersoon bij KMO’s? Ik kan hiervoor niet écht één persoon noemen. Dit kan de bedrijfsleider zijn, de productiemanager, de HR-verantwoordelijke, de meewerkende echtgenote.


XXXIII

13. Evolutie naar de toekomst toe? (online-diensten…) Online-diensten zijn inderdaad in opmars. Er zal meer en meer via internet gebeuren, waardoor alles veel sneller zal gaan. Ik vermoed dat er in de toekomst meer en meer “self-service diensten” op het internet te vinden zullen zijn.


XXXIV

Interview Marketing Mevr. Sabine Janssens (Markomo) 5 november 2008, 15u30 1. Welke diensten biedt uw bedrijf aan? Drie domeinen van activiteiten: -

Marketing: Actieplannen definiëren. Hoe verkoop verhogen? Hoe nieuwe klanten bereiken? Hoe op de markt komen?

-

Communicatie: Hoe een advertentie, brochure opstellen? Hoe een brief naar klant opstellen?

-

Websites: Hoe de bestaande website optimaliseren? Bijvoorbeeld: hoger verschijnen bij zoekrobots.

Elke activiteit kan uitgevoerd worden aan de hand van drie werkwijzen: -

Klankbord: Begeleiding om het marketingbudget van de KMO optimaal te spenderen (bijv. ideeën geven)

-

Bijstand: Hoe bepaalde taken uitvoeren? (bijv. hoe een mailing opstellen, verzenden)

-

Co-sourcing: marketing-afdeling van KMO’s vervangen (bijvoorbeeld: 1dag per week langskomen om advertenties te versturen, website op te bouwen)

2. Hebben jullie klanten deze activiteiten vroeger zelf gedaan? Meestal hebben onze klanten dit in het verleden wel zelf uitgevoerd, maar ze voelen aan dat ze met hun marketingcampagnes onvoldoende resultaat behalen. 3. Welke kenmerken heeft de doorsnee klant, KMO? (sector) -

Op groei gerichte KMO’s

-

Kritisch staan tegenover huidige werking

-

Oudere KMO’s

-

5-500 werknemers (gemiddeld 5-50 werknemers)

-

B2B

-

Het uitbesteden gebeurt projectmatig, hoewel we graag de frequentie zouden optrekken.


XXXV

4. Zit er in het klantenbestand productieondernemingen?

vooral


of

ook

Vooral productieondernemingen (meestal hoger aantal werknemers). 5. Hoe groot zijn jullie klanten, de KMO’s? (omzet, werknemers, winst, ouderdom) -

Heel divers klantenbestand. (zie vraag 3)

-

Oudere bedrijven (vaak bestaan ze al langer dan 20 jaar)

-

Met winst en omzet hou ik geen rekening

6. Zijn kleinere ondernemingen meer sceptisch? In de huidige economische situatie zijn alle bedrijven meer sceptisch. Er is slechts een beperkt budget beschikbaar en daar trachten wij zo creatief mogelijk met om te gaan. Onze sterkte is dan ook dat wij advies geven aan de klant. We kaderen het bedrijf op een hoger strategisch niveau en bekijken dan welke optie voor hem het best zou zijn. Aangezien wij een dienst verlenen aan een bedrijf is ook vertrouwen heel belangrijk. De persoonlijke relatie moet goed zitten. 7. Trekken jullie een grens wat een KMO is? Er wordt geen echte grens getrokken want we hebben eigenlijk enkel KMO’s. We weten dat onze sterkte ligt in marketing voor KMO’s. Wanneer een groter bedrijf naar ons toekomt, zullen wij dit aanbod enkel aanvaarden wanneer zij akkoord gaan met onze methode. 8. Wat zijn de doorsnee drijfveren om die taken aan jullie door te geven? (strategische motivatie, kosten motivatie, gebrek aan kennis…) -

De belangrijkste drijfveer is meestal een “pijnpunt” in de organisatie. Men ervaart een probleem in hun marketinggebeuren, een gebrek aan kennis over marketing. Meestal trachten wij de oplossing voor dit probleem te kaderen binnen hun strategie, maar dit wordt nooit op die manier uitgesproken. Bedrijven zien “strategisch” vaak als iets dat niet praktisch is, niet onmiddellijk bruikbaar.

-

Het kostenplaatje is meestal van weinig belang.

-

Er is zelden een marketingafdeling aanwezig in het bedrijf. Men benoemt meestal wel een marketingverantwoordelijke, maar deze heeft vaak de nodige opleiding niet gekregen en bezit dan ook de nodige kennis niet.

Extra vraag: Zijn de relaties met de klanten duurzaam? Aangezien een KMO een beperkt budget heeft, moeten wij het vooral hebben van een zeer uitgebreid klantenbestand. Zoals ik daarjuist al zei, zijn er ook wel klanten waar we bijvoorbeeld 1 keer per week of per maand naartoe gaan om bepaalde marketing- of communicatiezaken op te lossen.


XXXVI

9. Schommelende diensten qua tijd? uitbesteden?

Meer en minder werk, zouden ze daarom

Niet echt, aangezien we vooral in een B2B omgeving werken. In een B2C omgeving is dit wel zo. Meestal is de reden van de KMO om bij ons aan te kloppen het gebrek aan kennis. Wanneer de KMO al een tijdje klant is bij ons, zal deze al sneller eens uit tijdsnood taken aan ons doorgeven. 10. Wie is jullie contactpersoon bij KMO? Personen van het bestuur van de KMO (bijvoorbeeld: zaakvoerder) vooral omdat wij onze oplossing willen kaderen binnen de strategie 11. Evolutie naar de toekomst toe? Hierover hebben we een enquête lopen. Ik vermoed dat professionalisering één van de belangrijkste trends is. KMO’s beseffen meer en meer dat marketing en communicatie een vak op zich is, waar ze zeker rekening met moeten houden om te kunnen overleven. Dit is ook duidelijk te zien in het stijgend aantal opleidingen in dit domein. Uit de praktijk ervaar ik dat wat nu in multinationals omgaat op het marketing- en communicatiegebied, binnen 3 jaar ook -mits wat aanpassingen- zal toepasbaar zijn op de KMO’s.


XXXVII

Interview Fleet Management Mevr. Gudrun Phijs (CIACfleet) woensdag 26 november, 15u 1. Welke diensten biedt uw bedrijf aan? Oorspronkelijk boden we operationele leasing aan, maar omdat dit een slecht imago heeft bij KMO’s hebben we onze diensten veranderd. Nu bestaan onze diensten uit vier grote activiteiten: –

wagenparkbeheer: car policy (voor grote bedrijven), onderhoud, verzekeringen, brandstofkaarten, ongevallen

–

aankoopbeheer: dit hangt samen met het wagenparkbeheer

–

leasing: operationeel en financieel

–

korte termijn oplossingen, bijvoorbeeld: verhuur op korte termijn

2. Hebben jullie klanten deze activiteiten vroeger zelf gedaan? Onze klanten vinden het vaak moeilijk om dit uit te besteden. Veel hangt samen met de financiële situatie van het bedrijf. Vaak worden auto’s gefinancierd met eigen middelen of via de bank. De laatste tijd zien we wel een keerpunt. Wanneer er jonge mensen op de boekhoud- of financieringsafdeling zitten, zien zij ook in dat eigen vermogen gebruikt moet worden om te investeren in activa en niet in auto’s. 3. Welke kenmerken heeft de doorsnee klant, KMO? (sector) Onze klanten bestaan uit enkele multinationals, maar vooral KMO’s. Dit is ook onze doelgroep. Ik kan geen specifieke kenmerken noemen die gemeenschappelijk zijn voor onze klanten. 4. Zit er in het klantenbestand productieondernemingen?

vooral


of

ook

Dit is 50/50. Het is wel zo dat we aan dienstenondernemingen meer auto’s leasen aangezien er in productieondernemingen meer arbeiders werken en die krijgen geen bedrijfsauto’s. 5. Hoe groot zijn jullie klanten, de KMO’s? (omzet, werknemers, winst, ouderdom) Zoals ik al zei (zie vraag 3), kan ik geen specifieke kenmerken opnoemen. 6. Zijn kleinere ondernemingen meer sceptisch? Toch wel. Bij kleinere ondernemingen speelt het budget een belangrijke rol. Kleinere bedrijven die geen geld hebben of geen geld kunnen lenen van de bank gaan dan over tot operationele leasing omdat ze niet anders kunnen. Zoals ik al zei, heeft operationele leasing een negatief imago bij KMO’s.


XXXVIII

7. Trekken jullie een grens wat een KMO is? Neen. We behandelen onze klanten gelijk. Voor grote bedrijven helpen we ook mee aan het opstellen van een car policy. Kleinere bedrijven hebben meestal geen car policy. 8. Wat zijn de doorsnee drijfveren om die taken aan jullie door te geven? (strategische motivatie, kosten motivatie, gebrek aan kennis…) Vooral tijdswinst speelt hier een belangrijke rol en, zoals ik daarjuist al zei, de financiële middelen in het bedrijf. Uitbesteding van fleet management heeft het imago van duurder te zijn. 9. Schommelende diensten qua tijd (cyclisch)? daarom uitbesteden?

Meer en minder werk, zouden ze

Ik denk niet dat dit een reden is tot uitbesteding. Het is wel zo dat we pieken kennen. Bijvoorbeeld: voor de zomer komen veel auto’s de garage binnen voor onderhoud, in de winter krijgen we vaak te kampen met ongevallen (verzekeringen), bij grote evenementen zoals het autosalon, omdat er dan promoties zijn… 10. Wie is jullie contactpersoon bij KMO? Dit is vooral de zaakvoerder. Meestal zijn dit mannen en zij vinden over het algemeen auto’s zeer interessant. We hebben ook contact met het financieel management en de HR-afdeling. De KMO’s hebben geen specifieke verantwoordelijke voor fleet management. Extra vraag : Is het ook zo dat bedrijven bijvoorbeeld het wagenparkbeheer uitbesteden behalve de verzekeringen? (selectief outsourcen) Ja dit is zeker zo. Bijvoorbeeld: productieondernemingen kunnen vaak betere verzekeringen krijgen en dit doen ze dan zelf. De rest van het wagenparkbeheer besteden ze dan uit aan ons. 11. Evolutie naar de toekomst toe? Eventueel: waarom? We zien dat in Oost- en West-Vlaanderen de meeste KMO’s nog altijd via eigen middelen en via de bank financieren. Daarentegen in de verstedelijkte gebieden (Brussel) doen bedrijven meer beroep op leasing. Ik denk dat door de financiële crisis wel meer bedrijven beroep zullen doen op leasing omdat ze bij de bank geen lening krijgen (of aan slechte voorwaarden) of omdat de eigen middelen op zijn.


XXXIX

Appendix 2: Questionnaire

Vragenlijst KMO en Uitbesteding Vooraleer deze vragenlijst opgestart wordt, geven we u graag nog deze informatie mee: • Met “zelf uitvoeren” bedoelen we dat eigen werknemers van de onderneming deze activiteit uitvoeren binnen hun normale opdracht. In de vragenlijst noemen we dit “intern”. Ook indien bv. de boekhouder, personeelsmanager of IT-dienstverlener een zelfstandige is die enkel voor uw onderneming werkt, dan beschouwen we dit als een interne medewerker. •

Met “uitbesteden” bedoelen we dat een extern bedrijf deze activiteit voor u uitvoert. In de vragenlijst noemen we dit “extern”.


XL

A. Boekhoudtaken: intern of extern of combinatie In dit onderdeel willen we graag weten in welke mate uw onderneming voor de diverse boekhoudtaken een beroep doet op een interne boekhouder en/of een externe boekhouder. Er zijn geen goede of slechte antwoorden. Voorbeeld 1: Uw onderneming boekt alle facturen zelf in. U vult dan in: % door interne boekhouder = 100%

% door externe boekhouder = 0%

Voorbeeld 2: Uw onderneming boekt alle facturen zelf in, maar de externe boekhouder komt af en toe langs om dit na te kijken en/of correcties aan te brengen. U schat dat ongeveer 80% van het werk intern wordt gedaan en 20% door de externe boekhouder. U vult dan in: % door interne boekhouder = 80%


Voorbeeld 3: Uw externe boekhouder boekt alle facturen in. U vult dan in: % door interne boekhouder = 0%


(Indien van toepassing, dient voor elke activiteit de som van ‘intern’ en ‘extern’ 100% te zijn)

1a. 1b. 1c.

1d.

Hoe schat u de werkverdeling voor volgende boekhoudtaken in? Inboeken van aankoopfacturen, verkoopfacturen en financiële transacties Opmaken van een tussentijdse rapportering (vb. tussentijdse resultatenrekening)

% intern

% extern

Niet van toepassing

Afsluiten van de boekhouding op het einde van het boekjaar (vb. afschrijvingen, voorraadwijzigingen, leningen, overlopende rekeningen) Opstellen van de jaarrekening op het einde van het boekjaar (balans, resultatenrekening)

1e.

Opmaken van de Belgische BTW-aangifte

1f.

Opstellen van de aangifte voor de Belgische vennootschapsbelasting


XLI

B. Personeelsbeleid: intern of extern of combinatie In dit onderdeel willen we graag weten in welke mate uw onderneming voor de diverse human resource (HR) taken een beroep doet op een interne personeelsafdeling en/of een externe HR dienstverlener (vb. sociaal secretariaat, rekruteringskantoor…) Er zijn geen goede of slechte antwoorden. Voorbeeld 1: Uw onderneming voert zelf de rekrutering van tijdelijke werknemers uit. U vult dan in: % door interne personeelsafdeling = 100%

% door externe HR-dienstverlener = 0%

Voorbeeld 2: Uw onderneming voert zelf de rekrutering van tijdelijke werknemers uit, maar de externe HRdienstverlener helpt u bij een eerste selectie. U schat dat ongeveer 80% van het werk intern wordt gedaan en 20% door de externe HR-dienstverlener. U vult dan in: % door interne personeelsafdeling = 80%


Voorbeeld 3: Uw externe HR-dienstverlener voert de rekrutering van tijdelijke werknemers volledig uit. U vult dan in: % door interne personeelsafdeling = 0%



2a.

Hoe schat u de werkverdeling voor volgende HR-taken in? Opstellen van functiebeschrijvingen

2b.

Rekrutering en selectie van uitvoerend personeel

2c. 2d.

Rekrutering en selectie van tijdelijke werknemers (uitzendkrachten) Rekrutering en selectie van leidinggevend personeel

2e.

Loonadministratie

2f.

Opleiding geven


% intern

% extern

Niet van toepassing

XLII

C. ICT: intern of extern of combinatie In dit onderdeel willen we graag weten in welke mate uw onderneming voor de diverse informaticataken een beroep doet op een interne IT-afdeling en/of een externe IT-dienstverlener. Er zijn geen goede of slechte antwoorden. Voorbeeld 1: Uw onderneming voert zelf het onderhoud van de hardware uit. U vult dan in: % door interne IT-afdeling = 100%

% door externe IT-dienstverlener = 0%

Voorbeeld 2: Uw onderneming voert zelf een gedeelte van het onderhoud van de hardware uit, maar de externe IT-dienstverlener komt af en toe langs om de hardware na te kijken en/of herstellingen uit te voeren. U schat dat ongeveer 80% van het werk intern wordt gedaan en 20% door de externe IT-dienstverlener. U vult dan in: % door interne IT-afdeling = 80%


Voorbeeld 3: Uw externe IT-dienstverlener voert het onderhoud uit. U vult dan in: % door interne IT-afdeling = 0%



3a.

Hoe schat u de werkverdeling voor volgende IT-taken in? Aankoop en installatie van hardware

3b.

Onderhoud van hardware

3c.

Aankoop en installatie van software

3d.

Aanpassen van de software aan de bedrijfscontext

3e.

Onderhoud van software

3f.

Ontwikkeling van website

3g.

Onderhoud van website

3h.

Helpdesk

3i.

Beveiliging van het netwerk


% intern

% extern

Niet van toepassing

XLIII

D. Fleet management: intern of extern of combinatie In dit onderdeel willen we graag weten in welke mate uw onderneming voor het beheer van het wagenpark een beroep doet op een interne medewerker en/of een extern bedrijf gespecialiseerd in fleet management (vb. leasingmaatschappij, fleet management maatschappij). Er zijn geen goede of slechte antwoorden. Voorbeeld 1: Uw onderneming beheert zelf het wagenpark. U vult dan in: % door interne medewerker = 100%

% door externe dienstverlener = 0%

Voorbeeld 2: Uw onderneming beheert een gedeelte van het wagenpark en een externe dienstverlener gespecialiseerd in fleet management beheert het overige gedeelte. U schat dat ongeveer 80% van het werk intern wordt gedaan en 20% door de externe dienstverlener. U vult dan in: % door interne medewerker = 80%


Voorbeeld 3: Een externe dienstverlener gespecialiseerd in fleet management beheert het wagenpark. U vult dan in: % door interne medewerker = 0%



4a.

Hoe schat u de werkverdeling voor het fleet management in? Aankoop van personenwagens

4b.

Aankoop van bedrijfsvoertuigen

4c.

Opvolging van onderhoud, verzekeringen en brandstofkaarten voor personenwagens Opvolging van onderhoud, verzekeringen en brandstofkaarten voor bedrijfswagens

4d.


% intern

% extern

Niet van toepassing

XLIV

E. Algemene vragen over de bedrijfsleider Indien meerdere bedrijfsleiders, neem dan de oudste bedrijfsleider in gedachten bij het antwoorden van deze vragen. 5. Geef aan in welke mate de huidige bedrijfsleider werkervaring heeft in elk van de volgende domeinen. Er zijn geen goede of slechte antwoorden. Gebruik volgende antwoordschaal: 0 geen ervaring

1 weinig ervaring

2

3

4

5 heel veel ervaring

(omcirkel telkens het best passende antwoord) a. Personeelsbeleid

0

1 2 3 4 5

geen idee

b. Informatietechnologie

0

1 2 3 4 5

geen idee

c. Accounting en financiën

0

1 2 3 4 5

geen idee

d. Marketing en verkoop

0

1 2 3 4 5

geen idee

e. Productie

0

1 2 3 4 5

geen idee

f. Wagenparkbeheer

0

1 2 3 4 5

geen idee

6. Geef aan in welke mate de huidige bedrijfsleider interesse heeft in elk van de volgende domeinen. Er zijn geen goede of slechte antwoorden. Gebruik volgende antwoordschaal: 0 geen interesse

1 weinig interesse

2

3

4

5 heel veel interesse

(omcirkel telkens het best passende antwoord) a. Personeelsbeleid

0

1 2 3 4 5

geen idee

b. Informatietechnologie

0

1 2 3 4 5

geen idee

c. Accounting en financiën

0

1 2 3 4 5

geen idee

d. Marketing en verkoop

0

1 2 3 4 5

geen idee

e. Productie

0

1 2 3 4 5

geen idee

f. Wagenparkbeheer

0

1 2 3 4 5

geen idee

7. Wat is de leeftijd van de huidige bedrijfsleider? ……………………………………. 8. Wat is het geslacht van de huidige bedrijfsleider?


Man

/ Vrouw (omcirkel wat past)

XLV

9. Hoeveel jaar oefent de bedrijfsleider zijn/haar huidige functie uit? ………………….. 10. Wat is het hoogste opleidingsniveau van de huidige bedrijfsleider? Secundair onderwijs Hoger onderwijs van het korte type Hoger onderwijs van het lange type Universitair Post universitair Andere: …………………………… Geen idee

o o o o o o o

11. In welk domein situeerden zich de studies van de huidige bedrijfsleider? o Sociale wetenschappen (bv. psychologie, pedagogie, politieke en sociale wetenschappen…) o Exacte en toegepaste wetenschappen (bv. wiskunde, chemie, fysica, ingenieurswetenschappen, …) o Economische wetenschappen (bv. accounting, marketing…) o Informatica o Talen o Technisch (bv. elektriciteit, sanitair, automechanica, ….) o Andere: ………………………. o Geen idee 12. Wat is uw functie? o o o o

Bedrijfsleider Financieel directeur Hoofd van de boekhouding Andere: …………………………


XLVI

F. Algemene vragen over de onderneming 13. Sinds wanneer bestaat uw onderneming al? Sinds…………………………. 14. Tot welke sector behoort uw onderneming? Meerdere antwoorden mogelijk. o o o o o o o o o

Productie van goederen voor de finale consument (Business-to-Consumer) Productie van goederen voor andere bedrijven (Business-to-Business) Bouw Groot- en kleinhandel Distributie en transport Catering en horeca Verlenen van financiële diensten Verlenen van diensten, andere dan financiële Andere:………………………………

15. Hoeveel werknemers (in voltijdse equivalenten) telt uw onderneming momenteel? ………………………. werknemers 16. Hoeveel bedroeg de jaaromzet van uw onderneming in 2008? o o o o o o

< 1.000.000 euro 1.000.001 – 2.000.000 euro 2.000.001 – 4.000.000 euro 4.000.001 – 6.000.000 euro 6.000.001 – 10.000.000 euro > 10.000.000 euro

o Geen idee 17. Hoeveel bedroeg het balanstotaal van uw onderneming in 2008? o o o o o o o

< 500.000 euro 500.001 – 1.000.000 euro 1.000.001 – 3.000.000 euro 3.000.001 – 5.000.000 euro 5.000.001 – 10.000.000 euro 10.000.001 – 20.000.000 euro > 20.000.000 euro

o Geen idee 18. Is uw onderneming een familiebedrijf (in termen van eigendomstructuur)? 0 Ja

0 Neen


0 Geen idee

XLVII

OUTSOURCING PATHS OF ACCOUNTING BY SMEs

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