More organizations are going global and depending on outsourcing and international supply chains to get projects completed on schedule and within budget, yet fewer than half of those buying or providing outsourced services effectively manage the associated risks, according to an industry survey.

In fact, managing product or service quality was identified as the top outsourcing risk to organizations by 70 percent of respondents, according to Arlington, Va.-based ESI International, the project management firm that conducted the survey on “Risky Business: Organizational Effectiveness at Managing Risk of Outsourced Projects.”

Survey respondents included contractor managers, subcontractor buyers, project managers, senior executives and key outsourcing decision-makers from a range of industries and government. They represented North and South America, the United Kingdom and Europe, the Asia/Pacific region, the Middle East and India.