The offshore services value chain : developing countries and the crisis

This paper analyzes the recent evolution and impact of the global economic crisis on the offshore services industry. Using a global value chains framework, the authors classify the offshore services sector in a comprehensive set of general and industry-specific activities that correspond to different segments and stages in the value-adding process for services. Through an analysis of the impact of the economic crisis on the industry, a small decline in demand was found; however this did not cause any structural changes in the market. The crisis has created two opposing effects: general contraction of demand by existing customers due to the recession; and, at the same time, a substitution effect by which new services are being moved from developed countries to emerging economies in search of cost reduction. The paper concludes that the offshore services industry will continue to offer growth opportunities for developing countries not only among existing market players, but also a range of new countries. The industry has the potential to become an important source for employment and economic growth around the globe.ICT Policy and Strategies,E-Business,Water and Industry,Housing&Human Habitats,Public Sector Corruption&Anticorruption Measures

Framework to address Organizational Gaps and Build Knowledge Management Capabilities in Offshore KPO

Many organizations are pursuing knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) to offshore locations. Successful KPO requires developing robust inter organizational knowledge management capabilities (KMC). However, “organizational gaps” that originate from (i) structural differences between the client and vendor’s operating procedures and (ii) cultural differences in the cultural proclivity of the individual workers can hinder building this KMC. To close these gaps and build robust KMC, effective organizational practices are needed that build social capital. Using a field study of a set of knowledge intensive support processes that were outsourced by an US based client to an Indian vendor, this research finds the benefits of building social capital in the form of norms, trust and identity among the workers in the organization through three types of organizational practices –bridging, bonding and linking. These practices helped reduce the organizational gaps and created social capital that was found to increase KMC

International Outsourcing and the Supply Side Productivity Determinants

A service provider firm in an outsourcing relationship is distinct from a typical firm because it is not a stand alone organization and fits somewhere in between the value chain of its client’s business. Thus, conventional factors like wages, capital, rent, energy consumption cannot appropriately determine a Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) firm’s productivity. Academic research is silent on the factors that influence the performance of a BPO firm even though the issue is pertinent from the perspective of the host country, the sourcing firm, the global outsourcing industry and of course the service provider firm. In this paper, we embark on to explore these factors.productivity, outsourcing, third party vendor

Outsourcing the Business Services

The nowadays international market of outsourcing services is relatively mature and with age comes wisdom ... Thus, on a grown market, choosing to outsource services can not only be justified by the strive to reduce costs but it aims to meeting more advanced objectives as accurate alignment with business strategies of the enterprise. As a result, outsourcing has reached new forms of expression that can help the enterprises to gain competitive advantage. In the context of a grown market, a new concept appears, namely the multisourcing which it refers to the outsourcing model of the future [1] that businesses must prepare to accept and use. This concept or model of the future refers to working with several suppliers, which are competitors in a spirit of trust and teamwork, in a collaborative process to maximize the benefits associated with outsourcing process.Business Outsourcing, Audit, Economic and Financial Analysis, Information Technology Outsourcing

Examining political risk in service offshoring strategies

This research investigates political risk in the context of service offshoring and the corresponding impact on risk management decisions. The first stage of the study uses the Repertory Grid Technique (RGT), to explore key post-contract political risks experiences within offshore outsourcing activities. Twelve key political risks affecting offshore outsourcing decisions are identified, and the moderating effect of offshoring activity types (BPO, ITO or KPO) on political risk exposure and impact perceptions is highlighted. The research also explores the conditioning effect of industry specific exposure to political risk and enhances the explanatory ability of the Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) constructs, offering a re-operationalization of the political risk component of external uncertainty. The second stage of the research introduces a series of hypotheses between offshoring flows and political risk profiles, and applies multiple regression to analyse political risk affecting offshore activities in low cost countries across contract-based offshoring engagements and FDI. The findings highlight that political risk is a genuine business concern for offshore contract-based outsourcing modalities, and identify concerns with Intellectual Property protection, Quality of Bureaucracy and Corruption as key considerations affecting location decisions in low-cost countries. The research further suggests a positive relationship between strong country level institutional and regulatory systems and high knowledge content in offshoring engagements. From a practical perspective, the research highlights the need for managerial tools to determine diversified firm and industry specific political risk impact on global service outsourcing engagements. The key practical contribution is the development of differentiated political risk typologies that can capture the nuances of external risks in offshoring, allowing for more accurate risk assessment of offshoring decisions

ENTERPRISE OUTSOURCING STRATEGIES AND MARKETING PERFORMANCE OF FAST FOOD INDUSTRY IN LAGOS STATE, NIGERIA

There is now more pressure on business practioners to justify that marketing function contributes to shareholders value by the firms. Management of firms are interested in assessing the extent to which cost of business can be minimized and how that could help in reducing marketing expenditure and ultimately increase return on marketing investment (ROMI). The study attempted to ascertain the link between outsourcing and marketing performance. Copies of questionnaire were distributed purposively to ten fast food outlets in Lagos, Nigeria. Two hypotheses were developed and were subjected to descriptive and regression analysis. It was discovered that outsourcing contributed to increase in marketing performance. The study makes useful policy recommendations for marketing professionals, entrepreneurs and top executives of fast food outlets in Nigeria

Sustainable Incubator Management—A Case Study for Pakistan.

Information technology (IT) is impacting all spheres of human activity at an unprecedented rate. Parallel to this development, there is also an intense debate on the contribution of this technology towards productivity and growth on the one hand, and human welfare on the other, in developed and developing countries. The “Technology Based Industrial Vision and Strategy for Pakistan’s Socio Economic Development” commissioned by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) lays out guidelines on how to make Pakistan an economically stable and technologically advanced ‘knowledge economy’. Based on recommendations from this document, the Government of Pakistan (GoP) has made investments in infrastructure and human resource development. Sites have been allocated for IT campuses and human resources sent abroad for training. With these trained IT and engineering personnel now returning to the country, plans are underway to develop what USAID1 calls “centres of excellence, commercial research centres…or to be more concise, incubator centres.” In order to fully utilise the potential of these centres and to establish stronger networking with the universities from where these trained personnel are returning, the concept of “incubator programmes” has been floated to facilitate technology commercialisation. Although the incubator phenomenon was conceived in the 1950s, it only mushroomed rapidly in North America in the 1980s. Today, even though America has the largest number of incubator facilities in the world, most have failed to produce desired results, primarily due to poor management and lack of clear vision. This paper focuses on the development of a sustainable blue print for incubator programmes in Pakistan through proactive management and enterprise development. This model would integrate faculty, students, laboratory resources, research facilities and strategically align the objectives of these entities with the industry. Such programmes have the potential to make Pakistani students globally competitive and also diversify the income resources of incubators, hence making them less dependent upon subsidies and acting as true platforms of technological entrepreneurship, small and medium enterprises, which are considered the drivers of knowledge based economies. JEL classification: O32, H42, L15, I23 Keywords: Innovation, Technology, Public Economic

The Mechanism and Empirical Test on the Effect of Technological Innovation on International Service Outsourcing in China

Technological innovation can promote the growth of international service outsourcing in China by advancing enterprise ability to undertake international service outsourcing, human resource quality, upgrading of international service outsourcing industry and base building of international service outsourcing. Based on the relative data from 10 areas where the international service outsourcing is developed best in China, this article builds the regression model to study the effect of technological innovation on international service outsourcing. The result indicates that technological innovation can promote obviously the development of international service outsourcing. Some suggestion should be taken to accelerate the technology innovation ability of china, such as adding the input to technological innovation, encouraging talent engaged in the international service outsourcing industry, optimizing environment of technological innovation