Outsourcing Services for Entrepreneurs and startups: how can apps, tools and service companies help you along the entrepreneurial value chain

Bachelor Thesis, Master Thesis, Project Study or IDP

📌 Key facts

• Mission: Determine best practices of entrepreneurial outsourcing at each step along the value chain: Which tasks can be outsourced? What has to be considered when outsourcing is applicated? • When: Start anytime. Applications are open! • How to apply: Send us an e-mail (at the end of this page) with your CV and a grade report and a tentative research idea (research question, data, and methods, possible outcomes with a tentative outline all in word as *.docx)

Contents

• 💡 Background
• 🦾Who We Are
• 🎯 Goals
• 🧠 Topics of Interest
• 🎓 Profile
• 📚 Further Reading
• 📄 Requirements to any Work
• 📬 How to Apply

💡 Background

In our modern digital world, we are becoming increasingly connected with people all around the globe. Closely related to this trend outsourcing has been and still is on the rise. Today not only big corporations but also Startups are benefitting from outsourcing tasks, especially regarding IT-topics. Prominent examples for the succesful implementation of outsourcing are the multi-billion-dollar startups Slack, Skype and Github. Due to better access and a widening supply more and more small startups are able to increase their growth and cut costs by outsourcing tasks. And IT-tasks are by far not the only outsourcing opportunities, there are various applications regarding taxes, recruitung, marketing etc.. Therefore, many questions emerge: Which tasks can be outsourced? What has to be considered when outsourcing is applicated? Those questions could be dealt with by creating an overview, showing outsouricing opportunities arranged regarding subject matter and their position in the value chain.

🦾Who We Are

The Chair for Strategy and Organization is focused on research with impact. This means we do not want to repeat old ideas and base our research solely on the research people did 10 years ago. Instead, we currently research topics that will shape the future. Topics such as Agile Organizations and Digital Disruption, Blockchain Technology, Creativity and Innovation, Digital Transformation and Business Model Innovation, Diversity, Education: Education Technology and Performance Management, HRTech, Leadership, and Teams. We are always early in noticing trends, technologies, strategies, and organizations that shape the future, which has its ups and downs.

🎯 Goals

• Do extensive desk and internet reasearch analyzing opportunities regarding all activities (Michael Porter´s primary/secundary value chain activities)
• Create an overview/website, showing outsouricing opportunities arranged regarding subject matter and their position in the value chain.
• Determine best practices regarding entrepreneurial outsourcing
• Detect the most suitable tasks and fields of work to be outsourced
• Formulate recommendations for entrepreneurs when and how to outsource properly
• You may also interview successful founders to get first-hand experience

🧠 Topics of Interest

• Entrepreneurial activities and innovations
• Global collaboration and working trends e.g., outsourcing
• Skills of successful Entrepreneurs

🎓 Profile

• Reliable and self-driven
• Enthusiasm for entrepreneurship / the future of work / venture capital
• Ability to do sophisticated internet, desk research, and connect with practitioners
• Passionate to learn more about the future and do research with impact

📚 Further Reading

4 Steps To Outsourcing Successfully

This past year has turned the working world on its axis. We've learned that a remote workforce is not only viable but often more efficient than an office environment. And if remote work is more effective than a traditional, in-person office, it is only logical that this concept could apply to in-house employees and outsourced contractors alike.

www.forbes.com

Council Post: The Business Process Outsourcing Trend: How BPO Benefits Businesses Of All Sizes

President, Sales Xceleration , leading the organization which focuses on helping small to mid-size businesses get their sales back on track. The Growing Scope Of Business Process Outsourcing In business process outsourcing, or BPO, subcontractors perform essential business operations in lieu of using internal staff.

www.forbes.com

Outsourcing Costs: The Ultimate Guide for Entrepreneurs

For entrepreneurs, the main concern is to launch, establish, and scale their startup within a shoestring budget. Outsourcing acts as the cost-effective solution to bring expertise to the table without exhausting the funds. However, a majority of the entrepreneurs still have their own inhibitions about outsourcing software development to other countries.

www.classicinformatics.com

Four Reasons Your Startup Should Consider Outsourcing

5 min read Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. You're reading Entrepreneur Middle East, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media. The global outsourcing market is estimated to be worth around US$90 billion. Within that vast market are businesses of all sizes, outsourcing the work of marketing, accounts, IT, HR and many other departments.

www.entrepreneur.com

rdgllc.com

What do Slack, Skype and GitHub have in common? They're all multi-billion-dollar startups that used IT outsourcing to grow their business. Outsourcing is, by definition, one of the greatest economic resources for startup companies. By offloading essential IT tasks to remote teams, entrepreneurs can focus on what really matters - growing their business.

rdgllc.com

Tommy Fang on Twitter: "Best money we've spent this year is the $3.50/hr we pay our Virtual Assistants in the Philippines. 10,000+ hours saved on answering emails, support requests, and reviews. / Twitter"

Best money we've spent this year is the $3.50/hr we pay our Virtual Assistants in the Philippines. 10,000+ hours saved on answering emails, support requests, and reviews.

twitter.com

Your website/overview could look like this:

Ultimate List of Sites to Job Hunt for Developers

Most popular sites to job hunt AngelList - https://angel.co GitHub: http://jobs.github.com Mashable: http://jobs.mashable.com/jobs Indeed: http://indeed.com StackOverflow: http://stackoverflow.com/jobs LinkedIn: http://linkedIn.com Glassdoor: http://glassdoor.com Dice: http://dice.com Monster: http://monster.com Simply Hired: http://simplyhired.com Toptal: https://toptal.com Hired - https://hired.com

randallkanna.com

https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/050115/what-are-primary-activities-michael-porters-value-chain.asp#:~:text=Porter breaks value chain analysis into five primary,operations%2C outbound logistics%2C marketing and sales%2C and service.

📄 Requirements to any Work

We do not want your research to gather dust in some corner of bookshelf but make it accessible to the world. Thus, we warmly encourage you to create some or all of the following:

• Infograph - visually represent some of your work (find examples here)
• Slide Deck - summarize your research and possibly present it
• Extract most important sequences from podcasts, videos, and other media
• 3-4 Tweets about the most important findings and summarizing the topic
• optional: Medium Article - let people outside the university know about your research and start your personal brand

📬 How to Apply

If you are interested, please contact Prof. Dr. Isabell Welpe (e-mail below) by submitting your CV and grade report. Please also briefly outline your tentative research idea (research question, data and methods, possible outcomes with a tentative outline all in word as *.docx)

We're greatly looking forward to hearing more about you!

👉 welpe@tum.de