Summary
Strategic decisions taken by the group head were the main motivations to carry out International Sourcing during 2001-2006, with EU15 Member States being the leading destination into which enterprises have sourced activities. More than 12% of Portuguese enterprises delocalized one or more of their functions abroad, being the majority part of an enterprise group (77.5%) and part of the Manufacturing sector (72.9%). International Sourcing of support business functions was predominant, mainly in Services sectors. Improvement of competitiveness, reinforcement of in-house Know-how and introduction of new products were the main positive impacts of International Sourcing. Taxation issues were identified as the principal barrier when considering, or carrying out, International Sourcing.