Companies are increasingly asking which of their value chain activities are best performed within their own company and which may be outsourced. In addition, they are also considering which pieces of their value chain may be better performed abroad. These interrelated decisions concerning outsourcing and offshoring have not only changed entire industries, they have also transformed the lives of people across the world. Hundreds of millions of jobs in emerging nations have been the direct result of outsourcing and offshoring decisions. At the same time, many people in the developed world have lost their jobs because a company has been able to find a cheaper alternative. Featuring contributions from scholars in eleven different countries, this book was the first to examine the theory and practice of outsourcing and offshoring simultaneously. It includes studies of a variety of different industries, including pharmaceuticals, automobiles, medical records, appliances, human resource management and telecommunications.

Review of the hardback:‘This is an intriguing book. We have all heard about the rise of offshoring and outsourcing. Here, Contractor, Kumar, Kundu and Pedersen provide detailed and systematic evidence of how pervasive and invasive these trends have become. They also shed light on the consequences of offshoring and outsourcing - for the strategies of multinational corporations, for the policymakers who seek to attract overseas investment, and for our academic theories that seek to understand the nature of foreign investment and the sources of competitive advantage. This book is thoroughly researched and well written. It presents a bold and thought-provoking set of ideas about the future shape and size of the multinational corporation.’

Julian Birkinshaw - London Business School

Review of the hardback:‘Global Outsourcing and Offshoring is a systematic and comprehensive volume on an increasingly important phenomenon. The editors have been able to assemble an impressive collection of studies ranging from theoretical to empirical contributions. The end result is a book that provides us with the state-of-the-art research on this subject, offering important hints and lessons for scholars, managers and policymakers worldwide.’

Alfonso Gambardella - Bocconi University, Milan

Review of the hardback:‘Globalization and technological revolution are the two most important factors transforming the world economy today. A direct result of these twin developments has been the organizational and spatial dispersion of activities in almost every company's value chain. This is and will remain a growing trend in terms of scale, scope, as well as the complexity of the activities that are now being outsourced and offshored. Scholars as well as managers must understand the factors that drive these trends and differentiate between those outsourcing and offshoring moves that enhance performance versus those which merely reflect the playing out of a herd mentality. This compilation of scholarly articles sheds much-needed light on this growing and extremely important phenomenon. The first chapter by the editors is a masterpiece and it alone is worth the price of admission.’

Anil K. Gupta - INSEAD Chaired Professor of Strategy, INSEAD

Review of the hardback:‘The contributors to this book explore how globalization has created the conditions for offshoring, which is found to be both efficient for firms and also welfare increasing for societies in both advanced and developing countries. The theoretical logic of the book is that the fine slicing of the value chain of the company provides the backbone for analysis of offshoring. Companies can improve their efficiency with an optimal allocation of its functions and operations across geographic space. This book will appeal to readers in the areas of international business, the legal environment of multinational enterprises, political economy and international economics.’

Alan M. Rugman - University of Reading