LAUSR

Purpose The Contingency Outsourcing Relationship Model (CORE) originated from the Four Outsourcing Relationship Types (FORT) model; the CORE model is used in the globalized Facility Management (FM) industry while the FORT model is originally used in the global Information Technology (IT) industry. The aim of this paper is to analyse the CORE model through the rankings of relationship between a client and a globalized FM service provider from the perspective of the FM service provider in one of the four categories (i.e. in-house, technical expertise, commitment and common goals) with the aid of artificial neural networks (ANNs). Methodology A quantitative methodology using a survey is used to analyse the four types of outsourcing categories. Firstly, the background theory and a set of rules of the CORE model is introduced and discussed regarding the proper ways to identify the rankings collected from the survey. Findings The study reveals that an interesting understanding of the outsourcing categories can be systematically implemented into the FM outsourcing relationships through the scientific methodology of artificial intelligence. FM outsourcing categorization may help to define the appropriate relationship; as either not too aggressive or too passive. Originality/Value The outcome generated from the ANN can be considered a strong and solid reference to assess and define the existing outsourcing relationships between the stakeholders and the service providers with the goal to assign an outsourcing category to the service provider based on the learnt rules.