Abstract Firms struggle to manage touchpoints in their customer journey that consumers perceive as dissatisfying. Based on attribution theory and associative learning we examine branded outsourcing as a strategic means to reduce such touchpoints’ negative impact on brand evaluations. We find in the field and in a series of experimental studies that brands can reduce the detrimental impact of dissatisfying touchpoints. This effect is reversed for satisfying touchpoints. Importantly, we find that the explanation for the effect of branded outsourcing goes beyond consumers’ responsibility attributions. Rather, we find evidence that branded outsourcing reduces the extent to which consumers mentally associate the focal brand with the outsourced touchpoint, which results in a shift in brand evaluations. In an additional study we show that a strong thirdparty brand is not always more beneficial than a weak third-party brand, which further enhances the managerial relevance of our findings. Keywords Branded outsourcing . Consumer-based strategy . Brand associations

Abstract— In a world characterized by intense competition, outsourcing has infiltrated the management world in a major way. Outsourcing services are becoming an increasingly important source to companies focus on their core competencies, reduce costs, and increase efficiency in several organizational functions. Even though outsourcing of business activities has become a prevalent practice amongst organisations, the literature provides only a one-dimensional view of the phenomenon by focusing on the service receivers’ perspectives – buyer. This article overcomes this weakness by investigate and analyse the business models of outsourcing companies – vendor - as a way to understand how they reach a sustainable competitive advantage that differentiates them in the market. Hence, the whole investigation explores the service provider’s perspectives by conducting interviews to 16 top executives from 15 different outsourcing companies in Portugal. The findings suggest that all the organizations presented in the study face the same challenges/pains in the market and each of them manifest an exclusive combination of mechanisms, methods, strategies and approaches within their business models to be differentiated in the market and sustainable in terms of efficiency and competitive advantage. Keywords— Outsourcing, Sustainability, Business Models

ABSTRACT

The effect of investing in online advertising on a firm’s financial outcomes can depend on whether or not the development and implementation of advertising campaigns are managed by advertising agencies. Agencies may have experienced professionals or workload to perform these jobs, but the costs are greater. This paper aims to investigate the effects of investments in digital marketing on the financial outcome of a company’s services, comparing whether or not it is outsourced to advertising agencies. The secondary data relates to services advertised and marketed by a firm. We tested the possible moderating effect of outsourcing the service in the relationship between investment in online advertising (Google and Facebook) and return on sales (profit margin), by controlling the effect of covariates. Through four regression analyses, the results showed that outsourcing the service moderates the relationship. Specifically, the higher the amount of advertising investment, the more it pays to outsource the service to an advertising agency in order to generate greater profit margin. But with a low investment value, it does not pay to outsource. This study helps to identify situations in which it pays to outsource digital marketing services to an advertising agency