The Efficacy of business process outsourcing on performance of manufacturing firms in Mutare Zimbabwe

Author

Zhumo, Promise

Title

The Efficacy of business process outsourcing on performance of manufacturing firms in Mutare Zimbabwe

Abstract

The twenty first century is densely characterised by many business organisations looking for sustainable strategies to outclass their competitors. Third world economies have enthusiastically embraced Business process outsourcing (BPO) as a strategy of choice to improve the efficacy of the organisational operations. Business process outsourcing (BPO) is a technique of contracting a specific vendor or processes to an external service provider who has experience and expertise. This study therefore seeks to assess the impact of business process outsourcing on performance of manufacturing firms in Mutare urban area in Zimbabwe. The specific outcome variables were cost efficiency, productivity and profitability of the manufacturing firms in Mutare t. The sample size calculator according to Krejcie and Morgan was used to compute a sample size of 48 participants who were used in this research study. Quantitative data was computed using the STATA (version 12.0) and the information was triangulated with qualitative data from thematic analysis derived from interviews to validate the research findings. The findings pointed out that BPO had a positive impact on value for money in manufacturing firms Mutare in Zimbabwe. The findings indicated that BPO has got a statistical significance on all the hypothesised variables. The findings also pointed out that BPO had a positive impact on positively and significantly influencing the organisation’s performance as indicated by cost efficiency, productivity and profitability. It was however established that the organisation faced challenge with unforeseen costs, employee insecurity on their jobs and loss of control of business processes. Through the study findings it is recommended the manufacturing firms must holistically implement BPO to all sectors and closely monitor all factors that inhibit the successful implementation of outsourcing.

Date

JUNE 2025

Publisher

BUSE

Keywords

Productivity

Cost efficiency

Profitability

Business process outsourcing

Supervisor

Dr Chari