Offshore Information Technology Outsourcing Research Articles

Moving Toward an Integrated Framework of Offshore Information Technology Outsourcing Success

ABSTRACTOffshore information technology outsourcing is a popular strategic choice for businesses today. Firms are increasingly outsourcing their complex information technology-based projects, business processes, and services to offshore locations to achieve competitive advantage. Traditionally, offshore information technology outsourcing was a means to reduce costs and/or increase efficiencies by focusing on core activities. Recently, the emphasis has shifted to pursuing it as a strategy for cooperative advantage through resource sharing and building long-term relationships with the offshore partners. However, many such offshore outsourcing relationships fail due to a lack of understanding and proper operationalization of the critical success factors that influence global client–vendor partnerships. In the current study, the authors draw upon existing literature to identify popular theoretical perspectives and key operational, environmental, and relational factors influencing the success of offshore information technology outsourcing relationship. A framework of offshore information technology outsourcing success is then developed by integrating these theoretical perspectives and critical success factors. Exploratory data suggests that the proposed framework is valid for understanding offshore information technology outsourcing success and has important implications for theory and practice.

Third-World “Sloggers” or Elite Global Professionals? Using Organizational Toolkits to Redefine Work Identity in Information Technology Offshore Outsourcing

Organizations increasingly rely on teams that span national and organizational boundaries, yet team members in emerging countries and vendor firms are not treated as professional peers by their Western and client-based peers. To understand how they respond to this identity threat, we integrate two literatures that suggest two possible answers: an organizational response, based on the critical literature on top-down identity regulation, and an individual response, based on the positive literature on bottom-up identity construction. Drawing on in-depth interviews and archival data from three Indian information technology (IT) offshore outsourcing firms, we examine how organizational and individual identity processes work in tandem to address this threat. We find that firms do not resolve this threat by regulating employee identity directly as they claim, but instead provide workers with an organizational toolkit—a set of organizationally available cultural resources (e.g., frames and stories) and political resources (e.g., policies and procedures) that workers use selectively and strategically to construct positive identities. By bringing a toolkit perspective to identity processes, we contribute to theory and research on cross-level identity linkages, the strategic nature of identity processes, and the local context of global identity.

Review of IT Offshore Outsourcing issues

This paper attempts to take an objective look at offshore outsourcing within the information technology (IT) industry. Background material is provided to establish a clear definition and context for the discussion. Basic benefits, risks, and trends are identified and domestic market impacts are explored.

An empirical study on possible consequences of implementing offshore information technology outsourcing strategy

Offshore information technology outsourcing (ITO) is one of the crucial strategic decisions pertaining to both the service provider and the client organisations. In light of the recent political clamour against the offshore ITO, it is quite logical for the decision–makers to reconsider all the established perceptions relating to its positive and negative consequences on the various stakeholders. The key issue in this debate is the worthiness of offshore ITO from the perspectives of both the contractual parties involved. Therefore, the intention of this article is to explore some specific parameters with the help of an empirical study to assess the benefits and possible challenges of offshore ITO. Although the study is based on the provider side perspectives, it helps discover two sets of factors, which not only explain various facets of offshore ITO outcomes but may help enhance the long–term visibility of its benefits and negative consequences from decision–makers' standpoint.

Analysis of risks faced by information technology offshore outsourcing service providers

To gain competitive advantage, organisations are considering information technology (IT) outsourcing as a strategic option by concentrating on their core operations and by reducing their operating costs. Many organisations are offering outsourcing services from various parts of the world. There are certain risks factors which IT outsourcing service providers come across while managing their service operations. Risk-related data from 50 Indian IT outsourcing service providers about their risks and concerns have been collected and archived. This study identifies risks from the providers’ perspective in regard to offshore outsourcing and put forward some guidelines to mitigate such risks.

The Development of Model on Operational Capabilities of IT Vendor Serving Offshore Services: Case Study in an Indonesian IT Company

Offshore IT (information technology) outsourcing is an interesting business opportunity for Indonesian software vendors. However, Indonesian software vendors have not been able to enjoy the financial benefits since IT offshoring market are dominated by software vendors from India and China. This study tries to find out how to develop IT vendor's operational capabilities to serve offshore projects. A conceptual research model was developed using (Jarvenpaa, 2008) as a major literature together with (Guopeng & Bo, 2008) and (Wade & Hulland, 2004). Operational capabilities discussed in this study include process, HR, client-specific, and technology capabilities. For the part of the research reported in this paper, a case study was done using semi structured interviews in an Indonesian IT company has executed several offshore projects. This study collects some good practices that had been implemented to develop company's operational capabilities and enhance company's competitive advantage.

Survey results: are client organizations responding to anti‐offshoring pressures?

PurposeGiven the global economic recession, anti‐offshoring political campaign platforms and proposed anti‐offshoring legislation in many developed countries, organizations face pressure to keep jobs in their home country. The purpose of this study is to determine the extent to which organizations are responding to anti‐offshoring pressures. It aims to ask whether client organizations are changing their buying patterns for information technology outsourcing (ITO) and business process outsourcing (BPO) services because of anti‐offshoring pressures.Design/methodology/approachA survey was administered to respondents representing 84 client organizations that purchase ITO and BPO services. Nine countries are represented, but the data primarily capture US client responses.FindingsOverall, it was found that client organizations are not changing their buying patterns because of anti‐offshoring pressures. Client respondents report strong satisfaction with offshore outsourcing of IT and business services. In particular, clients favorably reported on the costs savings and increased flexibility with offshore ITO and BPO. Consequently, the majority of respondents have not altered how they select service providers or service locations because of anti‐offshoring pressures.Practical implicationsThe economic recession is prompting at least two pressures on client organizations: reduce costs and keep jobs at home. Based on the authors' findings, the former is more influential. Even though respondents indicated a moderate to high level of uncertainty about possible anti‐offshoring legislation being passed, client organizations continue to source IT and BP services without much consideration to anti‐offshoring pressures.Originality/valueAcademic researchers have conducted very few studies that examine the effects of public pressure on sourcing strategies of client organizations. This research contributes to the body of knowledge by filling that gap. ITO and BPO clients and practitioners, as well as politicians, lobbyists, and labor advocates will find the results pertinent.

Information Technology Offshore Outsourcing Security Risks and Safeguards

AbstractInformation security is important when information technology (IT) moves to offshore outsourcing. This paper aims at discovering information security risk factors and providing safeguards for IT offshore outsourcing. Specifically, first, information security risks and safeguards are identified during IT offshore outsourcing based on literature review and interviewing with subject matter experts. And IT offshore outsourcing process (ITOOP) model was developed to logically link these information security risks based on flow and task analysis in the client and vendor environments. Safeguards are also developed to protect information security attacks by linking to these information security risks. The ITOOP model with information security risks and safeguard solutions from this research will help decision makers in offshore IT outsourcing identify possible occurrences of security risks in offshore processes; and thereby, incorporate wise decisions on safeguards to protect information and improve secur...

Risks in offshore IT outsourcing: A service provider perspective

Offshore outsourcing of Information Technology (IT) services is the prevalent practice in global businesses today. Despite the strategic advantages and cost benefits that offshore outsourcing offers, outsourcing relationships also involve risks, for both the client, as well as the service provider – a fact that is evidenced by the reported failures of such engagements. Some of the prior researches in this area have focused on identifying various types of client risks and their sources. However, the study of risks from a service provider’s perspective has not received due treatment in literature. This study analyses offshore IT outsourcing risks from the perspective of service providers. A case based approach using the principles of grounded theory was used for studying the risks. Theoretical sampling was used to collect data from 5 mid-tier offshore third party service providers based in Bangalore, India. From our coding and analysis three broad categories of service provider risks emerged, namely, macroeconomic, relationship specific and project specific. Relationship maturity, nature of contract, nature of service or project and nature of client were identified as contextual factors which influence the degree of risk.

Managing the Knowledge Supply Chain: An Organizational Learning Model of Information Technology Offshore Outsourcing

In this paper, we present an economic learning model that helps to formalize the complex relationships among an offshoring firm's knowledge levels, production costs, and coordination costs. Specifically, we model a domestic firm's use of a selective offshore strategy (i.e., offshoring only a portion of its information technology activities) to exploit, through IT investments or contractual provisions, the foreign vendor's large, scale-driven repository of production knowledge. We illustrate the conditions under which knowledge transfers during offshoring may reduce a domestic firm's in-house production costs, leading to total cost savings in both the short term and the long term. Alternatively, when knowledge transfers are not sufficiently large, some short-lived offshoring projects may generate substantial cost savings to the domestic firm; however, long-lived offshoring projects may cause a disruption in the knowledge supply chain, resulting in substantial losses in the later stages of the project. A firm that fails to realize the costs associated with such a disruption soon enough in the project life may find itself locked into a disadvantageous offshoring agreement without any recourse. However, a domestic firm may be able to overcome a disruption in its knowledge supply chain by exploiting the learning-by-doing production knowledge generated by the foreign vendor's economies of scale. The managerial implications derived from our learning model may help guide firms as they consider the impacts of offshore contracts and knowledge management investments on firm knowledge, production costs, and coordination costs.

Project Management Issues in IT Offshore Outsourcing

Global partnerships are forming to take advantage of the cost savings associated with offshoring as well as other strategic benefits. Not all information technology offshoring projects, however, are successful. Cost overruns, increased complexity and defective code cause organizations to rethink their offshoring strategy and their methods for managing these projects. In this paper, project management issues associated with offshore information technology outsourcing projects are identified and specific recommendations for addressing these issues are presented.