Offshore outsourcing and firm performance: Moderating effects of size, growth and slack resources

This study explores the impact of foreign technology and professional services from outsourcing on firm financial performance. To this aim, we use a sample of 1710 Indian firms over a time period of 13 years, from 2001 to 2013. The empirical evidence obtained shows that the positive effects of technological knowledge and professional services on performance are moderated by firm size, business growth and slack resources. In particular, the benefits of outsourcing in terms of higher profitability are more pronounced for small than for large firms, especially when small firms have higher growth rates and financial slack. The work contributes to the resource based view and the internalization theory of the firm. Our results suggest that firms from an emerging country such as India may have alternative motives for offshore outsourcing different from the reasons of firms from advanced economies. Several managerial implications are also derived from our findings.