Defining the most desirable outsourcing contract between customer and vendor

Purpose – The purpose of this work is to identify commonalities that exist within the contracts between customer and vendor companies, the nature of the problems commonly associated with these contracts, and to provide a theoretical model that exists between customer and vendor companies.Design/methodology/approach – This research uses multiple sources of previous research to isolate the key elements and form a theoretical model for the ideal outsourcing contract. The common problems identified were also derived from previous research.Findings – The paper finds that there is a common set of key contractual elements that exist between most outsourcing contracts. The nature of the particular industry the companies exist within and the specific needs within each customer‐vendor relationship can be accommodated within the contract by tailoring these key elements to fit each scenario. A set of common problems may arise when any of the key elements are not sufficiently addressed. These problems can greatly deva...