Abstract
PurposeThis paper analyzes how information systems (IS) can serve as tools of neo-colonial control in offshore outsourcing of research and development work. It draws on critical work examining business and knowledge process outsourcing.Design/methodology/approachThe paper reports an empirical study of how laboratory information management systems (LIMS) shape offshore outsourcing practices involving Western client firms and Indian contract research organizations (CROs) in the pharmaceutical industry. The study adopted a multi-actor perspective, involving interviews with representatives of Western clients, Indian CROs, system validation auditors, and software vendors. The analysis was iterative and interpretative, guided by postcolonial sensitivity to themes of power and control.FindingsThe study found that LIMS act as tools of neo-colonial control at three levels. As Western clients specify particular brands of LIMS, they create a hierarchy among local CROs and impact the development of the local LIMS industry. At inter-organizational level, LIMS shape relationships by allowing remote, real-time and retrospective surveillance of CROs’ work. At individual level, the ability of LIMS to support micro-modularizing of research leads to routinization of scientific discovery, negatively impacting scientists’ work satisfaction.Originality/valueBy examining multiple actors’ perceptions of IS, this paper looks beyond the rhetoric of system efficiency characteristic of most international business research. As it explores dynamics of power and control surrounding IS, it also questions the proposition that outsourcing of high-end work will move emerging economies upstream in the value chain.
Highlights
Offshore outsourcing to emerging markets is no longer restricted to low-end activities
Other than studies of pharmaceutical offshore outsourcing, we find some critical work that analyzes the neo-colonial implications of information technology (IT) offshore outsourcing (Mayasandra et al, 2006; Ravishankar et al, 2013; Phillip, 2016), uncovering the power asymmetries in client–vendor relationships
The economic value of raw materials and the value extracted from labouring subjects continue to flow from producing sites in the Global South to high-consumption sites in the Global North, with such neo-colonial forms of exploitation providing a foundation for continued unequal accumulation of wealth (Vora, 2013)
Summary
Offshore outsourcing to emerging markets is no longer restricted to low-end activities. Offshore outsourcing has come to include an array of knowledge-intensive. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
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