Drivers and risk of business process outsourcing in South African mobile telecommunication industry

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Introduction
Over the last few years, the rise in mobile customers has necessitated massive potential in the mobile telecommunication infrastructure business. Because of the high competition characterising mobile telecom business, all operators are looking for ways to save costs while improving revenue and productivity by outsourcing tower infrastructure management activities, which require significant construction and operational expenditures through creating new opportunities by maximising internal and external resources (Ge et al., 2021;Kulembayeva et al., 2021;Zhu et al., 2017). The contracting out of manufacturing, services and other economic operations is a common occurrence in most industries and is a widespread phenomenon in the modern business, including the mobile telecommunications industry (Laureani & Antony, 2019;Motiani & Kulkarni, 2021).
As companies attempt to save expenses and specialize in limited core activities, business process outsourcing becomes a strategic priority (Drzewiecki, 2021;Hanafizadeh & Zare Ravasan, 2018;Mbanje & Lunga, 2015). Corporate reorganizations, more demanding customers, improvements in ICTs and offshoring, have all fuelled the growth of outsourcing of IT (Information technology) (Gerbl et al., 2016). 124 evident by various studies by Espino- Rodríguez et al. (2017) in Spain; Kulembayeva et al. (2021) in Russia; Patil and Wongsurawat (2015) in India; Jahansson, Lilja &Tarland (2021) in Swede ; Lahiri (2016) in USA as examples. Most of these studies are from developed countries therefore it becomes necessary to also establish whether these drivers are relevant in Southern Africa. Developing countries particularly Southern Africa and special reference to South Africa seem to be poorly represented in studies related to the field of drivers and risks of BPO implementation evident by the studies in developed countries like China, USA, Persian Gulf, Iran, Poland, Finland, Mexico, Romania, Iran, Germany, Turkey and India as examples (Prajapati et al., 2020). Some studies were conducted in Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria but few studies have been conducted in Southern Africa especially South Africa telecom operators on the actual drivers that triggers BPO implementation and the risks encountered after the implementation.
South Africa remains one of the prominent locations for outsourcing services owing to the rapidly growing cluster of mobile telecom companies. MTN, Vodacom, Cell C, and Telkom are the four licensed mobile operators in South Africa. The South African government views business process outsourcing (BPO) as critical to job creation. In 2012, the South African BPO business was expected to have made US$ 1.3 billion in sales (Anwar & Graham, 2019). In 2018, South African telecommunications operators saw positive, if modest, growth as total subscriptions, device ownership, Internet penetration, and data use all increased. In 2018, the South African telecoms sector grew by over 14% to R187 billion. Telkom, which leads fixed-line telephony, and Vodacom and MTN, which dominate the mobile arena, are among the 56 companies profiled in detail. Cell C and Virgin Mobile are among the companies profiled fiber providers such as Vumatel, Vox, and Dark Fibre (Anwar & Graham, 2019).
The South Africa business process outsourcing market size was valued at USD 1.4 billion in 2019 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.2% from 2020 to 2027. The market growth is characterized by advances in technology, continued innovation, and intensifying competition, a trend that is expected to continue over the forecast period (ICASA, 2020). It was also ranked as one of the leading destinations for Global Business Services -or off shoring business processes. Eg Actuarial resources. Despite its growing emphasis little research has been conducted to establish the actual drivers and risks of BPO implementation in the Southern Africa as evident by the studies in China, USA, India, Persian Gulf, Iran, UK, Denmark, Mexico, Finland, Germany, Turkey, and Persian Gulf as the developed countries (Aswini, 2018;Patil & Wongsurawat, 2015;Prajapati et al., 2020). While outsourcing motivations have been extensively studied, limited literature in Southern Africa dwelled on drivers and risks associated with decisions to outsource, and whether or not these results were aligned with the strategic purpose that prompted outsourcing in the first place ( Kar & Dutta ,2018;Lee , Lee, Malatesta & Fernandez, 2019).This discrepancy prompted the author to conduct research to establish the actual drivers that triggers companies to outsource and the risks encountered after BPO implementation to redress the existing knowledge gap. In addition, this research is expected to bridging the gap by identifying the drivers/motivators and risks for BPO implementation from the developing countries perspective, particularly Southern Africa and special reference to South African mobile telecom operators. Both academics and practitioners will benefit from the study in making decisions before deciding whether to in-source or outsource. The purpose of this research is to redress the existing knowledge gap and the limited body of literature by establishing the drivers and risks of BPO implementation in the South African mobile telecommunication industry. This also assisted the researcher to assess the knowledge acquired from the BPO implementation. With reference to this research the word company, organization, business and firm is used interchangeably.
The study is divided into five parts. The first part is the introduction or the rationale of the study that explains the background of the study. The second part is the literature review which explains the theoretical and conceptual frameworks that discuss the theories of the study. The third part is the research methodology which explains the research method and procedures for conducting the study. The fourth part is the data presentation and analysis then followed by the discussion of results and finally, the study concludes with recommendations, limitation and future research directions.

Literature Review
BPO refers to the practice of contracting the operations of a specific business process (e.g. IT, human resources, financial guidance, accounting and procurement) to an external service provider (Drzewiecki, 2021;Ge et al., 2021). This research adopted Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO), Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), and Information Technology Outsourcing (ITO), technology process outsourcing and MIS outsourcing as the types of contracting out of services for this investigation. These classifications are relevant in this study as it examines the nature of activity, work and process that should be outsourced as this has an influence of on the business especially in the telecommunications industry on mobile telephone operators.

Critical review of theories of business process outsourcing
This section highlighted the various theories that build the drivers or motivators of BPO. The guiding theories are beneficial and appropriate to the present research of mobile telecom operators as they examine some of the drivers of outsourcing. The researcher utilized the RBV, TCE, KBV and Agency theories as the theoretical models underpinning the study. These theories provide benchmarks and also do have relevant concepts that this present study can draw upon. The BPO theories adopted by the research are explained below.

Transaction cost economies (TCE) / (Transaction cost theory)
From a "transaction cost economics stand point, outsourcing certain activities in favour of external providers (i.e. buy) rather than internalizing those activities within the firm hierarchy (make) allows firms to lower transaction costs related to production" (Ge at al., 2021). Organizations endeavour to minimise costs (direct and indirect costs) by developing collaborations or providing structures or practices that lead to competitive advantage (Ge at al., 2021). Transaction costs economics (TCE), indicates that, "network operators can achieve production cost efficiencies through economies of scale and specialization, if they outsource" (Motiani&Kulkarni,2021).
According to Yuan, Chu, Lai & Wu,(2020) (Williamson, 1975(Williamson, , 1991 the transaction cost theory refers to "costs of acquiring and handling the information about the quality of inputs, the relevant prices and the supplier's reputation. Additional expenses such as search expenses, transaction expenses, contracting expenses and coordination expenses are widely used to evaluate whether to outsource or produce goods or services internally. This theory is relevant for the purposes of this research because it examines cost considerations as one of the drivers of outsourcing.

Resource-based view (RBV)
Resource-based view indicates that "firm as a bundle of assets and resources that if employed in distinctive ways can create competitive advantage" (Mojunder & Singh, 2021;(Lacity et al., 2016;Zhu et al., 2017), If resources are utilized efficiently to perform a function, activities like business processes, they can create a competitive edge in the mobile telecommunications industry. As a result, when enterprises lack the resources and capabilities to achieve the desired result, business tasks of mobile telecom companies should be outsourced to third parties (Yuan et al., 2020). RBV takes a more "internal" approach, arguing that "competitive advantage can be acquired by effectively exploiting precious, uncommon, imperfectly imitable, and non-substitutable physical, technological, and human resources" (Yap et al., 2016). "Activities in which the firm maintains a superior resource position or capabilities are likely to be retained in-house, whereas those for which resource position or capability is weak are candidates for outsourcing" (Yuan et al., 2020), hence this research utilized this theory in that the mobile telecom companies can adopt in its BPO endeavour. "Activities composed of resources that are valuable, rare, inimitable and non-substitutable will lead to obtaining the competitive advantage and make up the core competences" (Lacity et al., 2017).

Knowledge Based View (KBV)
The KBV indicate that, "quality of a product or service is highest if the providing company integrates activities in which it has greater capabilities than external suppliers. Activities in which external suppliers have more production experience and higher organizational skills should be purchased on the market (Patel et al., 2019). Outsourcing has been proven to be beneficial and can actually "strengthen core competences by the means of cooperative learning, gaining best-in-class knowledge and reducing suppliers' opportunism by networking with high embedded suppliers" (Kengatharan, 2019). "Knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) include research and development (R&D), engineering, technical services, market research, legal processes, financial planning and risk management" (Lacity et al., 2016). The mobile telecom operators need to identify which of the activities can offer value to the company and can be outsourced.

Agency theory
An agency relationship, according to this notion, is borne as a result of the correlation between the supplier and the BPO customer enters into a contract. The organization buying services is ultimately accountable for the quality of its product/service, regardless of whether components of the services and/or products are contracted out from to suppliers (Lacity et al., 2016). The client firm hires an agent (e.g., an external IS vendor) to perform particular responsibilities (namely, IS functions), the result is an agency arrangement (Bendickson et al., 2016).
This theory focuses at the revenue consequences of outsourcing network services. Companies have utilized experienced suppliers in both international and domestic destinations for outsourcing business activities, which is likely to entail forming a partnership with the supplier. According to the logic of agency theory, network operators can outsource mobile network operation services to improve quality, reduce costs, and increase productivity and performance (Rehman,Tiwari,Turner & Williams, 2018 (Bendickson et al., 2016).The agency theory was adopted in this research as it focuses on contractual governance and relationship building as a means of lowering risks.

Drivers of Business Process Outsourcing
The Section below heighted the literature relating to drivers or motivators that triggers companies to venture into BPO including the mobile telecommunication industry. These studies provide benchmarks and also do have relevant concepts that the current study can utilise. The researcher adopted the four theoretical models namely TCE, RBV, KBV and Agency theory in identifying and explaining the drivers of BPO. Some of the major drivers are briefly discussed to provide an insight on BPO from an organizational point of view.

Organisational driver
The mobile telecom organization-led initiative's major aims are to improve flexibility to deal with dynamic company operations, need for services and products, exploit developing technology and increase shareholder value by focusing on core business (Patil & Wongsurawat, 2015). The mobile telecommunications corporation can also predict which current essential functions will become less important as market dynamics change. BPO allows resources to be redirected from non-core tasks to activities that yield a higher return on customer service (Christiansson & Rentzhog, 2020).
Knowledge transfer (access to talent) through outsourcing firms can assist mobile telecom companies. Outsourcing firms collect knowledge by transferring human resources from outsourced firms to outsourcing vendors (Sandhu et al., 2018). Outsourcing conveys vital information and experience from the offshore organizations to the contracting out firms so as to strengthen their reliability and confidence. As a result of these activities, employees have a career path that is stronger and more dedication and energy in core functions (Yuan et al., 2020).

Improvement driver
When a company internal skill set becomes insufficient as a result in dynamics in business, it may assign this activity to an experienced supplier who is extremely knowledgeable, employs skilled personnel and follows industry best practices (Ellimäki et al., 2021;Mbanje & Lunga, 2015). This also applies to the mobile telecommunications industry in which it wants to tape expertise from the outside suppliers). BPO has also become a significant corporate technique for gaining a competitive advantage, as external service providers can manufacture products and services more efficiently and competently (Austin-Egole & Iherioanma, 2020).
The important "objectives of this BPO initiative are to improve operating performance, obtain expertise, skills and technologies, improve management and control, improve risk management, acquire innovative ideas, improve credibility and image by associating with superior providers" (Fawcett et al., 2007).

Financial driver
The aims of business process outsourcing (BPO) are to minimise asset investment, avail resources for other usage and create income by moving resources to the supplier as a result, profitability is improved (Christiansson & Rentzhog, 2020). "Reducing capital investment in transportation, warehousing, manufacturing, IT and employees in order to release capital for core business and to improve return on assets and cost is an important part of their survival strategies in order to enhance competitiveness and flexibility" especially operators in the mobile telecommunications industry (Liu & Tyagi, 2017;Prajapati et al., 2020).Because the suppliers have experience and gain opportunities to new technologies and equipment, purchasing services rather than developing in-house is more cost effective hence need for BPO (Chopra et al., 2007).

Cost reduction driver
The objectives of outsourcing decisions would be to reduce cost (Ellimäki et al., 2021). "Outsourcing network-activities including order entry, provisioning, service rollout, and field maintenance, as well as base station maintenance, can result in significant cost savings and process efficiency" (Zhu et al., 2017). Cai et al. (2020) backed up the claim as well as (Liu & Tyagi, 2017).
Cost savings are the key incentive for network operations outsourcing, according to mobile telecom operators, who "anticipate operational expenses savings of 20 to 30 percent, especially in the mobile network". Outsourcing sub-assembly activities to competent vendors with lower wage structures than the corporation can help save money (Hanafizadeh & Zare Ravasan, 2018;Yap et al., 2016). Telecommunications companies must assess the operations and transaction costs of completing a transaction within their own organizations (in sourcing) and in the market (outsourcing). In-house production is favoured when transaction costs become too high (Cai et al., 2020).

Revenue driver
Outsourcing helps companies to profit from vendors (Monczka et al., 2016). An "outsourcing strategy can improve organizational performance, lower innovation costs and improves competitiveness" . The transferring of assets from the telecom operator to the supplier is one example of expanding revenue. "Equipment, facilities, vehicles and licenses used in current operations have a value and are, in effect, sold to the provider as part of the transaction, resulting in a cash infusion" (Kivijärvi & Toikkanen, 2015;Prajapati et al., 2020).
Outsourcing process skills enhances a mobile telecom company's financial efficiency by boosting the return on its invested capital. BPO allows businesses to expand their process capabilities without investing in new equipment or recruit new employees. When these procedures are operating effectively from offshore locations, the financial benefits increase. Furthermore, BPO arrangements eliminate the demand for capital assets, resulting in minimising uncontrollable costs and a lower break-even point (Liu & Tyagi, 2017).

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Various scholars (Austin-Egole & Iherioanma, 2020;Prajapati et al., 2020;Sandhu et al., 2018;Yang & Zhao, 2016;Yuan et al., 2020) included access to innovation and niche capabilities, partnership integration and building relationships, company can benefit from increase competitiveness through quality improvement and greater focus on core competencies as some of the drivers for BPO adoption.

Risk of Business Process Outsourcing
This section addresses the risk that companies are exposed to when they adopt BPO as a strategy in managing operational activities. Some of the major risks of BPO are briefly examined to understand BPO from organisational viewpoint.

Loss of supply chain visibility
Third-party participation reduces supply chain visibility, making it more challenging for the firm to respond swiftly to local customer and market demands. This invisibility can be damaging to extensive supply chains that are difficult to manage (Chopra et al., 2007), and telecom firms are no exception. The telecom operators should be mindful of a supply chain that isn't visible. By using an intermediary, a company stand a chance of losing contact with its clients. For companies that sell directly to consumers and have a large density of customers around their distribution centres, the loss of client interaction has a substantial impact (Somjai, 2017).

Lack of control of activities performed by the service provider
Current outsourcing operations are centred on providing continuous and systematic support and reorganizing firm departments, regardless of their industry. Many people, including executives and workers, are opposed to or sceptical of this new strategy (Fawcett et al., 2007).Their primary concerns are a lack of control and a fear of becoming dependent as a result of the outsourcing deal (Mbanje & Lunga, 2015). One of the most regularly mentioned obstacles to outsourcing in the literature is loss of control over the contractedout activity. This could also apply to the mobile telecom companies.

Threat of future price increase by the service provider
According to Chopra et al. (2007), agreements between telecom operators and suppliers should include performance metrics with incentives so as to benefit from gains of contracting out. For instance, cost-plus pricing of external services brings incentive risks and this method of pricing removes incentive for external service provider to innovate further to minimise expenses .Potentially higher cost of services from the service provider due to contractor high profit margins can be expected. TCE implies that when contracting out particular and uncommon resources, the suppliers might threaten future price rises and contract termination by using the negotiating power it possesses after the contract is signed (Rahman et al., 2019).

Supplier develops unique hard-to-replicate expertise
Business process contracting out of non-core activities to a particular vendor may enable that service provider to develop core competency of its own at the expense of its customers in coming years when it begins to charge a price premium to the contracting out company. If a total loss of competence significantly increases the external service provider's position, it is better to keep part of the supply chain function internal (Chopra et al., 2007). As a result, telecom operators must monitor suppliers to avoid the practice.

Lack of current knowhow and firm's value-adding uniqueness
Firm losses knowledge and technology when they outsource (Fawcett et al., 2007). When companies wrongly outsource essential talents, they incur plenty of negative consequences. Telecom companies may lose touch with the know-how that allows them to innovate and adapt to changing market conditions. BPO's output has consequences, such as losing touch with emerging breakthrough technologies that provide chances for product and process innovation. Outsourcing may be detrimental to a company's long-term competitive advantage in such circumstances (Sandhu et al., 2018).
Various scholars like (Aswini, 2018;Chopra et al., 2007;Kivijärvi & Toikkanen, 2015;Sandhu et al., 2018;Singh & Gonsalves, 2019;Sobinska & Willcocks, 2016) included poor service quality, loss of skills ,Lack of competent supplier , Supplier dependency, Loss and leakage of confidential data and information as some of the risks of BPO adoption. The methodology adopted by the research is presented in the next section.

Research design
The study is informed by the positivism research paradigm which explains the cause and effect relationship leading to outcomes (Bryman & Bell, 2015). A deductive approach was used in measuring the study variables. Descriptive research was employed to help "to obtain information concerning the current status of the phenomena" (Babbie, 2020) and to describe the relationship between variables in a sample or population to summarize data in an organized manner (Kaur et al., 2018).
The researcher adopted a quantitative research strategy (empirical research) as it is associated with deductive approach in which data are collected and analyzed to test theory (Saunders et al., 2019) and also to yield an exact outcome that was translated into generalisable statistical findings.

Target population and sampling strategy
The total target population of this study was 1035 participants made up middle and senior employees of the two mobile telecommunication companies who included engineers, technicians, assembly operators, project managers, finance and accounting officials, sales and marketing executives and procurement executives who are not involved in decision making of business process outsourcing so as to offer an unbiased and fair assessment of the practice in place (Yin, 2016).
The sample approach was probability sampling, with stratified cluster sampling getting special attention. This study used a stratified sample, in which employees were divided into groups based on their profession inside the company and then randomly selected. Saunders et al. (2019).Stratified cluster sampling using the participants' profession as a stratum and the participants company as a cluster was adopted. The simplified formula for proportions provided by Yamane (1973)was used to calculate the sample sizes. The sample size of this study constituted 210 (selected with the sampling formula at 95% confidence) employees drawn from the two mobile communication companies randomly and proportionally specified.

Data collection process
A structured closed-ended questionnaire was used to collect raw data using the drop-off and collect method. The questionnaire was distributed to two hundred and ten (210) employees of the two mobile telecommunication firms. A five-point Likert scale was used in answering the questions that each respondent had to answer within the questionnaire. Respondents were asked to rank each variable on a five-point Likert scale. All these questions had a satisfaction range that starts from strongly agree, agree, don't know, disagree and strongly disagree, where the maximum score was strongly agree with a high score of 5, as contrasted to the minimum or low score of 1 for strongly disagree.

Data analysis
The data was appropriately coded in STATA program. Analysis, using descriptive statistics commands, was also carried out in the same program. The study mainly employs univariate analysis. SPSS software Version 28.0 was used to analyze the data, which was based on deductive and descriptive statistics. The descriptive analysis was also done to gather the demographics of responses.

Reliability and validity
The researcher conducted a pre-test (pilot study) whereby 10 employees from the two (2) mobile networks were given the questionnaire so as to refine the questionnaire, eliminate ambiguities in the manner in which research questions are crafted and improve its validity. The questionnaire pretesting was done to ascertain whether the questionnaire is well designed and capable to get all the data gathering objectives of the main survey. Babbie (2020) supports this procedure, defining "validity" as "the degree to which a study effectively measures what it claims to measure."

Ethical considerations
The process of ethical clearance as prescribed by the Human and Social Sciences Research Ethics Committee (HSSREC) of University of Kwazulu-Natal was followed and approval granted before proceeding with the study. Measures were taken to ensure the protection of research participants from harm or exploitation as prescribed by the ethical clearance process. A consent form was made available to each participants of the interview. The participants were given the option to remain anonymous and assured that the confidentiality of their personal details will not be divulged to a third party. The findings of the study are presented in the next section.

Presentation and discussion of results
The data were appropriately coded in the STATA program. Analysis, using descriptive statistics commands, was also carried out in the same program. The study mainly employed univariate analysis. A results presentation technique used were tables.

Activities outsourced by the organization
A range of activities or services were listed upfront and the subjects have to confirm whether the organization is involved in the outsourcing of such a service. The list of the services was informed by the literature review. Table provide the percentage of subjects who confirmed the outsourcing of the service.

Source: Author, (2022)
As is shown in Table, outsourcing is very common in these mobile telecom operators (organization) with a substantial number of subjects confirming the outsourcing of the service. All the 210 subjects from the two mobile telecom companies responded to the question. Those highly outsourced services include building and managing network infrastructure (100%), network roll-out and management (100%), spare parts management (97%), monitoring mobile network on capacity overload and breakdowns (96%), manufacturing of mobile network equipment (95%) and assembly operations and maintenance of the base stations of mobile network (92%). Services such as manufacturing of hard software components and resolving software problems (84%) and fleet management (84%) are also highly reported as being outsourced. Just above half of the subjects (56%) reported that property/facility management is also outsourced while a mere 36% reported the outsourcing of sales or marketing.

Subjects' perceptions on the primary drivers of Business process outsourcing in the organization
One of the Research objectives of the study is to identify the drivers of BPO in the mobile telecom companies. Using a 5-point Likert scale ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree, 210 subjects from the two mobile telecom operators were asked to indicate the extent to which they agree with the fifteen identified possible primary reasons or drivers of BPO. In three of the fifteen identified possible reasons, all or almost all subjects strongly agreed with the assertion that they are the reasons for BPO. These reasons are that the company can gain access to newer or latest technology or access to world class capabilities (99.52%); the company can have access to unique resources, skills and talents (99.52%), and the company can improve productivity through operational efficiency (100%). In nine of the fifteen identified possible reasons, subjects perceived that they at least agree that such are reasons. The reasons perceived as such are that BPO leads to reduction in capital investment thereby freeing up limited capital funds more available for core areas (financial driver) (strongly agree = 14.76% and agree = 85.24%); due to BPO, company can benefit from increase competitiveness (strongly agree = 85.24% and agree = 14.76%); BPO leads to company focusing on core competencies or business (Organisational driver) (strongly agree = 85.24% and agree =14.76%); as a result of BPO, the company can develop a relationship with the outsourced service provider (Relationship driver) (strongly agree = 19.05% and agree =80.95%); BPO leads to company improving operating efficiency through handling varying demand due to economies of scale (strongly agree = 0.95% and agree =99.05%); with BPO, company can provide an alternative to building the capability inside (strongly agree = 56.19% and agree =43.81%); BPO is aimed to improve profitability (Revenue driver) (strongly agree = 55.71% and agree =44.29%); BPO leaves company to focus on enablers of business growth (Revenue driver) (agree = 100%), and BPO helps company to achieve competitive advantage by quality improvement (Improvement driver) (strongly agree = 8.10% and agree = 91.90%). Among these reasons are financial drivers, organisational drivers, relationship drivers, revenue drivers and improvement drivers.
It is clear to see that almost all the fifteen identified possible reasons or drivers of BPO are perceived positively by the subjects. In only one case is a situation where some subjects have negative perception about the identified reason of BPO (i.e. cost saving/reduction).

Risk of Business Process outsourcing implementation.
Research objective of the study is to identify the risks encountered by the mobile telecom companies in adopting BPO. Business process outsourcing (BPO) can be a source of risks in the organization. Study subjects from the two mobile telecom companies were asked to indicate whether some selected risks were experienced in the organization as a result of BPO.

Sample size (n)
There is potential loss of control over key/critical functions e g to reputation, if ethical issues arise (loss of control)

210
Company may experience risk of "lock in" to underperforming service provider (risk of lock-in)

210
Difficulty of ensuring service quality and consistency from the service provider (service quality insurance difficulty)

210
There is potential loss of in-house expertise, knowledge in the service area which may be required in future (inhouse expertise potential loss)

210
Risk of loss of control over confidential data and intellectual property (confidential data control loss)

210
Added distance from the customer or end-user by having an intermediary service provider, may weaken external or internal customer communication and relationships with the company (loss of supply chain visibility)

210
Potentially higher cost of services from the service provider due to contractor high profit margins (contractor high profit margins)

210
Resistance from employee unions due to fear of job loss and change may lead to low morale and performance the remaining employees (employee unions resistance) 97.14 210 Company may be unable to realize expected deliverables/benefits due to poor choice or selection of service providers (unable to realize expected deliverables)

210
Company may experience the risk of over dependence on a supplier (over dependence risk) As Table and Figure 1 show, only the risk of lock-in (i.e. when company may experience risk of "lock in" to underperforming service provider) is uncommon (only 32% of the subjects agreed with the statement). All the other risks are considered to exist in the organisation by the subjects with percentages ranging from 75% for overdependence risk to 100% for four risks (i.e. loss of control, service quality insurance difficulty, in-house expertise potential loss, and contractor high profit margin). The next section provide the overview of the discussion of results.

Discussion of Results
Below are the discussions of the results from descriptive statistics of the quantitative study of the current research which answers the main questions on, what are drivers and risks of BPO implementation in the mobile telecommunication operators. The discussions are based on the research objectives/questions of the study.

Identifying the drivers of Business process outsourcing implementation
The current study suggests the key drivers included reduction in capital investment thereby freeing up limited capital funds available for the core areas, company can gain access to newer or latest technology or access to global competences, company can have opportunities for unique resources, skills and talents, there is cost saving ,company can benefit from increase competitiveness, company can focus on core competencies or business and lastly company can develop relationship with the outsourced suppliers. The above finding is aligned with the study by Prajapati et al. (2020)

Identifying the risks of Business process outsourcing implementation
The current study suggests that overall the key risks of BPO implementation by the mobile telecom operators include, potential loss of control over critical function, potentially higher cost of services from the service provider due to contractor high profit margins, having trouble assuring service quality and consistency from the service provider, and maybe losing in-house skills and knowledge of services necessary for the future, the challenge of losing control over data privacy and intellectual property, and loss of supply chain visibility as some of the risks (see figure) The

Conclusions
The quantitative study provided conclusions premised on the objectives set and the conclusions guided by the actual findings from the data analysis process. In this section, below are the major conclusions drawn from the findings of the study which answers the main questions on what are drivers and risks of BPO implementation in the mobile telecommunication operators and are briefly reviewed to understand their effects on BPO adoption.

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The overall conclusion of the current study from the descriptive statistics indicated that some of the key drivers of implementing BPO by the telecom operators are reduction in capital investment thereby freeing up limited capital funds more available for core areas, company can gain access to newer or latest technology or gain international capabilities, company can have access to unique resources skills and talents. The overall conclusion of this current study reflects that majority of the participants alluded that there are different drivers that triggers the mobile telecom operators to adopt BPO. Managers should take into consideration the drivers and whether there are in line with the company mission and goals.
Overall the conclusions from the study also indicated that some of the key risks exposed to BPO implementation in mobile telecom operators include, potential loss of control over key/critical functions, difficulty of ensuring service quality and consistency from the service provider, potential loss of internal skills and expertise in the service area which may be mandatory in future and potentially higher cost of services from the service provider due to contractor high profit margins. The overall conclusion of the current study reflects that majority of the participants alluded that there are different risks that the mobile telecom operators are exposed to hence Supply Chain practitioners should conduct a risk assessment The final conclusion of the study bridged the knowledge gap by identifying the actual drivers and risks of implementation of BPO in the mobile telecommunication industry in South Africa hence answering the research objective/question of what are drivers and risks of BPO implementation. The results redressed the existing knowledge gap and the limited body of literature by identifying the drivers and risks of implementing BPO in the mobile telecom operators.

Implication
The current research has academic and business (practical) significance. In relation to the implications for theory, there is a limited body of knowledge available on literature relating to the drivers and risks of BPO implementation on mobile operators in southern Africa. Therefore, the findings of this study will be useful to mobile telecom operators in South Africa and other readers, especially students investigating similar topics as part of secondary data.
The study has redressed the existing knowledge gap by identifying the actual drivers and risks of BPO implementation particularly in South Africa mobile telecommunication industry. The study findings add to the body of knowledge of BPO through advising management on the actual drivers and risks of BPO implementation on the mobile telecom operators. The results will also assist management in developing the BPO policies.
From a business standpoint, this study has contributed to the body of knowledge by guiding policy makers to address the problem at the mobile telecommunications companies with a more comprehensive targeted approach through establishing the actual drivers and risks of implementing the BPO policy. For practitioners, the results will help the corporate management to make decisions of BPO based on quantifiable results instead of managerial estimates.

Recommendations
Professionals, researchers and management of the mobile telecom operators should understand the drivers which trigger the type of BPO to be implemented, which is aligned to its vision & goals of the organization e g Information Technology Outsourcing (ITO), Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO), Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and Technology Process Outsourcing (TPO). The mobile telecom operators need to identify which of the activities can add value to the business which they can outsource.
The supply chain practitioners should conduct a risk assessment to determine the impact of BPO implementation on the company's financial performance or operations and the likelihood the risk factor would probably occur.
Mobile telecom operators should invest in supplier development programmes to their service providers (suppliers) of outsourced services on how to avoid or mitigate risk, e g investment in technology, human development and training, on-going management of the relationship, open communication with service providers and supplier selection process or managing supply base.

Limitations and Suggestions for Further Research
The drivers and risk of BPO implementation on other countries was not examined in this study. A comparison study between South Africa and other African countries on the drivers and risk of BPO implementation on telecom operators should be one subject of future research. While the study confined itself to the mobile telecommunications companies, more research can be conducted in other South African industries, most notably banks, hospitals, car assembling and learning institutions that are also important BPO hubs worthy of further examination. Another area of inquiry is to investigate specific telecommunications sector companies in South Africa, because no country's industries or companies are at the same level of skill maturation or offer the same cost advantage. Hence, several South African mobile telecom providers might be investigated to determine how they can be promoted as a BPO industry. A research article like this is critical for BPO literature since it will fill a gap in the present knowledge base. Funding: This research was not funded by any institution Informed Consent Statement: Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study. Data Availability Statement: The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to restrictions.

Conflicts of Interest:
The authors declare no conflict of interest.