Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Global services outsourcing overview
- 3 Making the services outsourcing decision
- 4 Location and sourcing model choice in global services outsourcing
- 5 Managing global services outsourcing arrangements
- 6 Creating shared services arrangements
- 7 Services outsourcing and performance management
- 8 Services outsourcing and the spin-off arrangement
- 9 Learning from failure and strategies for recovery in business process outsourcing
- 10 Conclusion
- Glossary
- Index
- References
2 - Global services outsourcing overview
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Global services outsourcing overview
- 3 Making the services outsourcing decision
- 4 Location and sourcing model choice in global services outsourcing
- 5 Managing global services outsourcing arrangements
- 6 Creating shared services arrangements
- 7 Services outsourcing and performance management
- 8 Services outsourcing and the spin-off arrangement
- 9 Learning from failure and strategies for recovery in business process outsourcing
- 10 Conclusion
- Glossary
- Index
- References
Summary
Introduction
Services outsourcing has become an important feature of the global economy. Globalisation and advances in technology have allowed companies to transfer information technology, human resource, legal and accounting services to local and foreign vendors. Services outsourcing poses considerable challenges, and is more complex than manufacturing outsourcing. The unique features of services, such as the involvement of the customer in service delivery, service customisation and the need for physical contact, make services outsourcing extremely challenging. However, organisations have been pursuing a range of strategies to reduce the risks, and achieve the benefits that services outsourcing offers. Organisations have been redesigning business processes to retain customer contact services locally and to outsource routine, labour-intensive back-office services. This has involved adopting sourcing models with vendors to maintain control over critical outsourced processes, whilst leveraging the lower costs of vendors in emerging economies. Moreover, organisations have been increasingly looking beyond labour cost advantages and using global services outsourcing to access highly qualified staff in knowledge-intensive services.
This chapter provides an overview of the global services outsourcing phenomenon. A background to the growth in business services is outlined. An overview of services outsourcing is presented, which includes the types of outsourcing arrangement being adopted by organisations, stages in the outsourcing process, drivers of services outsourcing and the arguments for and against services outsourcing. The influence of service design principles on services outsourcing is examined.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Global Services Outsourcing , pp. 7 - 44Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010
References
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and (1992). Diffusion of Information Technology Outsourcing: Influence Sources and the Kodak Effect, Information Systems Research, 3(4), 334–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(2005). Offshoring in the New Political Economy, Journal of Management Studies, 42(3), 685–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(2006). Outsourcing and Offshoring: Implications for Productivity of Business Services, Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 22(4), 499–512CrossRefGoogle Scholar
and (2007). International Outsourcing of Services: Expanding the Research Agenda, Journal of International Management, 13, 22–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
and (2008). History of Offshoring Knowledge Services, Journal of Operations Management, 26(2), 141–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
and (2005). Offshore Outsourcing: Business Models, ROI and Best Practices, 2nd edn, Alpharetta, Ga.: Mivar Press.Google Scholar
and (2004). Proven Practices for IT Offshore Outsourcing, Cutter Consortium, 5(12), 1–27.Google Scholar
and (2008). Offshoring Knowledge and Service Work: A Conceptual Model and Research Agenda, Journal of Operations Management, 26(2), 212–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
and (2007). Redefining the Paradigm of Global Competition: Offshoring of Service Firms, Business Strategy Series, 8(1), 35–42CrossRefGoogle Scholar
and (2006). Proven Practices for Effectively Offshoring IT Work, Sloan Management Review, 47(3), 56–63.Google Scholar
(2002). Process Management and the Future of Six Sigma, Sloan Management Review, 43(2), 26–32.Google Scholar
(2005). The Coming Commoditization of Processes, Harvard Business Review, 83(6), 100–8.Google Scholar
, and (2006). Successfully Governing Business Process Outsourcing Relationships, MIS Quarterly Executive, 5(1), 15–29.Google Scholar
, and (2008). Outsourcing, Performance, and the Role of E-Commerce: A Dynamic Perspective, Industrial Marketing Management, 37, 37–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(2004). Will You Survive the Services Revolution?Harvard Business Review, 82(6), 101–7.Google ScholarPubMed
and (1999a). Getting Real About Virtual Commerce, Harvard Business Review, 77(6), 85–94Google ScholarPubMed
and (1999b). Blown to Bits: How the New Economics of Information Transforms Strategy, Boston: Harvard Business School Press.Google Scholar
(2001). Globalisation: Its Defenders and Dissenters, Business and Society Review, 106(2), 170–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, and (2009). Outsourcing to Emerging Markets: Theoretical Perspectives and Policy Implications, Journal of International Management, 15, 156–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, and (2008). Restructuring through Spin-off or Sell-off: Transforming Information Asymmetries into Financial Gain, Strategic Management Journal, 29, 133–48CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(2007). Today's Solution and Tomorrow's Problem: The Business Process Outsourcing Risk and Management Puzzle, California Management Review, 49(3), 27–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
and (1995). Global Disaggregation of Information-Intensive Services, Management Science, 41(7), 1250–62CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1986). How can Service Business Survive and Prosper? Sloan Management Review, 27(3), 21–32Google Scholar
(1981). The Customer Contact Approach to Services: Theoretical Bases and Practical Extensions, Operations Research, 21(4), 698–705.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(2006). Offshoring: The Next Industrial Revolution? Foreign Affairs, 85(2), 113–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
and (2005). Another Look at Offshoring: Which Jobs are at Risk and Why? Business Horizons, 48, 513–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
and (2007). The Impact of Offshore Outsourcing on IT Workers in Developed Countries, Communications of the ACM, 50(2), 89–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, and (2008). Invisible Costs in Offshoring Services Work, Journal of Operations Management, 26(2), 164–79CrossRefGoogle Scholar
and (2000). Outsourcing Services: The Contract is Just the Beginning, Business Horizons, 43(2), 25–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, and (1985). A Conceptual Model of Service Quality and Implications for Further Research, Journal of Marketing, 49, Fall, 45–50CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, and (1988). Servqual: A Multiple-Item Scale for Measuring Consumer Perceptions of Service Quality, Journal of Retailing, 64, Spring, 12–40Google Scholar
(1996). Servqual: Review, Critique, Research Agenda, European Journal of Marketing, 30(1), 8–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar