C ONSIDERACIONES PRELIMINARES A PROPÓSITO DE LA DOCUMENTACIÓN Y EL REGISTRO

Like any study, there are some limitations in this paper that future research may be able to improve. First, as mentioned in the first section, there are generally three types of IT outsourcing activities: business process outsourcing, systems outsourcing and applications outsourcing. However, this paper does not study if different types of IT outsourcing activities have different influence on banks’ performance. The sample included all the commercial banks and saving institutions with IT outsourcing announcements from year 1990 to year 2006 but did not categorize the IT outsourcing

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announcements into different types. The aggregation over all categories of IT outsourcing may offset the favorable impacts of certain categories. It might be meaningful to know which type of IT outsourcing has the most impact on banks’ performance, which can serve as guidance of the IT outsourcing practice in the banking industry.

Second, in this paper, only four most frequently used firm-level performance measures ROA, ROE, ROI and NIM are selected. Other firm performance measures such as profit margin on sales, return on total capitalization and EVA (Economical Value Added) can also serve as good firm performance indicators. More specifically, when analyzing an individual bank or thrift, except for firm performance, capital levels and asset quality are the other two key areas to consider. Capital acts as a cushion against potential losses, it is a means of expansion and it can determine a bank’s ability to pay dividends. Total equity (including preferred) to total assets ratio is an important measure to determine the capital level of banks, which gives a strong indicator of how well-capitalized the institution is. The measurements related to assets quality are also good indicators of banks’ performance. Although banks can be profitable in the near-term, in the long term they may fail due to poor asset quality. The provision for credit losses divided by total loans is a ratio that reflects the risk inherent in a bank’s portfolio. A bank’s total reserve for credit losses is another indicator of risk and a gauge of how well banks can sustain losses. Future study can investigate the IT outsourcing impact on the performance measurements discussed above. In addition, as already mentioned in the former sections, the performance measurement system used in this paper is the most traditional accounting-based measurement system. Future research can also develop more comprehensive firm performance measurement system, which includes not only financial measures but also other non-financial measures such as the increase in customer value and the improvement of customer-centric processes.

Third, as pointed out by earlier researchers, the contribution of IT to business value should be assessed not only at the firm level but also at the intermediate process level

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(Wang et al. 2008, Dehning, Richardson 2002, Barua, Kriebel & Mukhopadhyay 1995). Firms derive business value from IT through its impacts on intermediate business processes. Former research has classified business process into operational processes and managerial processes (Mooney, Gurbaxani & Kraemer 1995). Mooney et al.’s (1995) elaborates: ―operational processes are the activities that build up an organization's value chain. Management processes, on the other hand, are the activities associated with the administration, allocation and control of resources within organizations.‖ In a word, operational processes are associated with primary business operations; management processes are associated with information handling, coordination and the control processes that are required to ensure the efficiency and effectiveness of the primary operations. IT outsourcing has impact on both operational processes and management processes by cutting operational costs as well as the costs of resource administration and control. The cost deduction effect brought on by IT outsourcing can be measured by the improvement in selling, general and administrative expenses (SGAS). IT outsourcing can also improve the operational and managerial efficiency, which can be reflected in increased sales and increased sales per employee.

Last but not least, the complimentary synergy between IT outsourcing and IT capabilities is also interesting to be explored. IT capabilities are comprehensive and integrated IT resources. Refer to the definition from Dale Stoel, ―IT capabilities are complex bundles of IT-related resources, skills and knowledge that enable firms to coordinate activities and make use of the IT assets to provide desired results‖ (Dale Stoel, Muhanna 2009). Researchers who adopt the resource-based view have long indicated that IT outsourcing in conjunction with superior IT capability will produce better firm performance than IT outsourcing along (Bharadwaj 2000). Whether or not banks can fully realize the IT potential may depend on their overall IT capability, which moderates the relationship between outsourced IT and firm performance.

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