The Practice Of Outsourcing

A close look at the main developments in IT, business processes and offshore outsourcing. This book studies these topics in both theory and practice, exploring the rising prominence of outsourcing with a multi-dimensional, contextual perspective.

The challenges in the business world never stop escalating as today’s customer are more difficult to satisfy, company’s products are easily copied, and technology is changing rapidly. Outsourcing is becoming more popular in today’s business as companies have limited resource to become the best in every business process. However, not all outsourcing are successful. The initial intention to save costs may result in increasing of costs if outsourcing activities are not extensively planned. The intention of this monograph is simple as the writers intend to introduce a good practice of relational-oriented exchange that will lead to better outsourcing performance. It is hope to address issues surrounding customer demand and market competition which is found to affect the relational-oriented exchange and outsourcing success.

Guide book to analysing the major issues that arise in outsourcing agreements. Helps one deal with the basic question of when outsourcing is an appropriate solution to a situation, and what issues must be addressed when contracting with a supplier.

Global Outsourcing Strategies is a state-of-the-art guide to the best lessons to be learned for successfully implementing and outsourcing projects. The 22 chapters provide information on the different facets of the outsourcing process, such as contract negotiation, the risks involved in outsourcing, the need for service level agreements, the critical requirements needed to build and sustain outsourcing relationships, and ethical supply chain issues. There are also sections exploring the impact of outsourcing on organizational structures; the long term effects; legal issues; management control and inter-firm relationships; as well as case studies from both the public and private sector on the practical side of outsourcing. The book will appeal to practitioners and researchers alike.

This research study seeks to understand the nature of organisational change with respect to offshore outsourcing of information technology services in a multinational pharmaceutical company, and to examine the effectiveness of approaches used to manage this change so that lessons may be drawn from these experiences. Despite the abundant literature on effective organisational change management, the key factors that need to be managed properly at different stages of the offshore outsourcing process are not well understood. The research adopts a processual view to paint a broad picture of the issues involved in these different stages. A generic process model of change, based on the review of the change literature, was first developed to represent how change was intended to occur. This model focuses on the following four stages in the change process: context, diagnosis and planning, implementation, and institutionalisation. The research employs an interpretive case study approach and draws on fieldwork from three independent information systems departments (cases) of the company, where offshore outsourcing programmes were implemented. Qualitative data from semi-structured interviews, direct observation and document analysis are analysed by applying the generic process model to produce a detailed account of the way in which change was managed in the case organisations. The findings reveal that a combination of contextual factors, both external and internal to the company, influenced the adoption and use of offshore outsourcing in the case organisations. Externally, the economic forces were found to be the main catalyst for the change, while internally the role of the executive leadership and the lack of internal resources further explain the motivations behind the adoption of offshore outsourcing. The study illustrates that achieving successful outcomes from offshore outsourcing activities critically depends on the organisation adequately addressing a number of factors, such as conveying a sense of urgency, developing and communicating the vision, identifying the benefits of change and how they will be delivered, generating short-term wins, providing education and training, developing a fit between the change and organisational culture, etc., throughout the change process. The findings also highlight the effects of offshore outsourcing on the case organisations, including change in job roles and responsibilities and organisational learning activities that enable corrective actions to improve change management efforts. An important contribution of this research is the development of a model providing a more comprehensive understanding of the change process associated with the implementation of offshore IT outsourcing. Recommendations for policy makers and change managers to improve change management practice based on the research findings, as well as recommendations for further research, form a significant part of the conclusions.

Information Systems and Outsourcing covers nearly 20 years of leading theoretical and practical research on IT outsourcing by the two authors and their global network of 11 distinguished contributing authors. The book is organized chronologically to clearly show the evolution of theory and practice over time. The authors comment on which findings remain critically relevant versus which findings have considerably progressed. The book explores how good IT outsourcing theories shape practice and how effective IT outsourcing practices inform theory. The authors stress, through their own empirical work, the importance of critically examining theories borrowed from economics, strategy, and sociology to study IT outsourcing. The practice studies, based on over 500 case studies, explore the decision processes and management practices associated with domestic, offshore, and global sourcing of IT services from both client and supplier perspectives.

A rich database of over 2,200 outsourcing arrangements, studied across sectors and geographies, and over time, from inception, through contract signing, to outcomes. This book has unparalleled insight into the robust practices that have been proven effective time and again.

This book provides a new evolutionary perspective on outsourcing. The traditional prioritization of continuous outsourcing has resulted in increased hidden costs that have sabotaged business profits. As a result of undisciplined outsourcing, businesses have lost a defining characteristic of their success: decision control. In contrast, the ability to combine outsourcing with backsourcing is a winning strategy for business leaders across a broad range of industries. In this book, the author traces the essence of the outsourcing industry as it has evolved over the past two centuries. With compelling case studies from the pharmaceutical, aviation, insurance, and cookware industries, this book moves beyond theorizing. It highlights key insights from some of the leading outsourcing pioneers who helped to define the industry. The case studies demonstrate the evolution of outsourcing, from a past marked by a costly outsourcing approach to a future fueled by the diversification of sourcing for optimal business success. Through the provision of decision models and best practices, this book provides academics and practitioners with tangible steps to implement successful outsourcing and backsourcing strategies.