Abstract
Information technology (IT) is in many cases business critical for small and medium-sized enterprises (SME). IT outsourcing is an already common practice for SMEs and their IT outsourcing projects are often similar in size and demands with those of large corporations. This thesis aims to provide an answer to the following research question: "What are capabilities that facilitate the governance of IT outsourcing and lead to the successful management of external IT resources in SMEs?" The findings may be used to draw one or more hypotheses or propositions about IT outsourcing capabilities of SMEs. The study follows a positivistic qualitative approach and applies inductive analytical strategies and procedures to address the research question. The author presents multiple-case study research on SMEs in Austria and Germany and, based on a conceptual model from the literature, identifies capabilities that facilitate the governance of IT outsourcing in SMEs. This study explores these capabilities based on five IT governance domains (i.e. strategic alignment, value delivery, risk management, resource management, and performance measurement), which are commonly known in the professional IT management and cover most processes and aspects of the IT operations of a company. The outcome of this research is a model of ten capabilities that are expected to facilitate the governance of IT outsourcing in SMEs: (1) Relationship building, (2) business-IT linkage, (3) communication (4), knowledge management, (5) contract facilitation and monitoring, (6) informed buying, (7) process management, (8) quality management, (9) project management, and (10) IT goals planning and measurement. The conclusions provide suggestions for executive managers of SMEs on how to grow and develop IT outsourcing capabilities. Following these suggestions can substantially influence the IT outsourcing experience of SMEs and improve the benefits achieved through IT outsourcing.