Financial processes outsourcing in pharmaceutical companies: Case Studies in the European Union

espanolEn las ultimas decadas las companias se han enfrentado a mercados mas competitivos, en los que los margenes de los negocios se reducen. Como respuesta a ello, multiples organizaciones, desde principios de los anos 1980s, empezaron a revisar la estructura de sus costes administrativos y financieros con el afan de poder encontrar posibles modelos que contribuyeran a la reduccion de los costes de gestion, a la vez que mejorar la calidad del servicio. A partir de aqui, surgieron los modelos de externalizacion, principalmente en aquellas areas de soporte o transaccionales que tienen un menor impacto en la relacion con los clientes, como podrian ser finanzas, recursos humanos, compras y sistemas de informacion. El presente estudio trata de profundizar en el analisis de los modelos de externalizacion aplicados en companias de la industria farmaceutica en relacion con un grupo de empresas consideradas como “referencia en la externalizacion”, en el ambito de la Union Europea (UE). Del analisis realizado se puede inferir que las empresas farmaceuticas avanzan hacia modelos avanzados de externalizacion. Asimismo, se identifica una clara tendencia generalizada hacia el uso de modelos de Business Process Outsourcing en detrimento de los Shared Service Centers. EnglishIn last decades, companies have faced more competitive markets in which business margins were reduced. In response to this effect, multiple companies since the early 1980s, began to review the structure of their administrative and financial costs with the eagerness to find possible models that contribute to the reduction of management costs, while improving the quality of service. Outsourcing models emerged, mainly in those support or transactional areas that have the least impact on the relationship with customers, such as finance, human resources, purchasing and information systems. The present study tries to deepen the analysis of the outsourcing models applied in pharmaceutical industry companies in relation to a group of companies considered as "reference in outsourcing", within the scope of the European Union (EU). From the analysis carried out, it can be inferred that the pharmaceutical companies move towards advanced models of outsourcing. Likewise, a clear general trend is identified towards the development of Business Process Outsourcing models instead of Shared Service Centers.