Everywhere and nowhere: Nearshore software development in the context of globalisation

Offshore software outsourcing, a major contributor to globally distributed work (GDW), has been identified as one of the most striking manifestations of contemporary globalisation. In particular, offshoring resonates with influential views that suggest that ICTs have rendered location irrelevant. Some research, however, has questioned this “placeless logic” and suggested that location may be significant to the success of offshoring ventures. In this paper, we draw on evidence from two nearshore software development ventures in the Caribbean to identify a number of locational characteristics relating to the physical, economic and cultural setting, local resources and government policy that may be important in influencing the suitability of offshore outsourcing venues. Some of these are recognised, even by companies pursuing placeless location strategies, while others were unanticipated. The cases also suggest that companies may be able to actively shape certain characteristics to their advantage. Implications for vendors and clients of nearshore information services, and potentially also for companies considering offshore ventures in non-traditional locations, are identified

Ethics and taxation : a cross-national comparison of UK and Turkish firms

This paper investigates responses to tax related ethical issues facing busines

Innovation Offshoring:Asia's Emerging Role in Global Innovation Networks

Most analysts agree that critical ingredients for economic growth, competitiveness, and welfare in the United States have been policies that encourage strong investment in research and development (R&D) and innovation. In addition, there is a general perception that technological innovation must be based in the United States to remain a pillar of the American economy. Over the past decade, however, the rise of Asia as an important location for "innovation offshoring" has begun to challenge these familiar notions. Based on original research, this report demonstrates that innovation offshoring is driven by profound changes in corporate innovation management as well as by the globalization of markets for technology and knowledge workers. U.S. companies are at the forefront of this trend, but Asian governments and firms are playing an increasingly active role as promoters and new sources of innovation. Innovation offshoring has created a competitive challenge of historic proportions for the United States, requiring the nation to respond with a new national strategy. This report recommends that such a strategy include the following elements: output forecasting techniques ... Improve access to and collection of innovation-related data to inform the national policy debate; Address "home-made" causes of innovation offshoring by sustaining and building upon existing strengths of the U.S. innovation system; Support corporate innovation by (1) providing tax incentives to spur early-state investments in innovation start-ups and (2) reforming the U.S. patent system so it is more accessible to smaller inventors and innovators; and Upgrade the U.S. talent pool of knowledge workers by (1) providing incentives to study science and engineering, (2) encouraging the development of management, interpretive, cross-cultural, and other "soft" capabilities, and (3) encouraging immigration of highly skilled workers.Innovation Networks, Innovation Offshoring, Asia

India's National Innovation System: Key elements and corporate perspectives

In recent years India has emerged as a major destination for corporate research and development (R&D), especially for multinational corporations. India's domestic institutions like Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), and the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) have set prestigious milestones of international standards. Not surprisingly, at Governmental levels a number of international cooperation agreements in the field of science and technology have been signed with India. After years of self-imposed seclusion, principally motivated by post-colonial India's insistence on the development of indigenous technology, India finally seems to have joined the global mainstream of innovation. India is in the process of emerging as a major R&D hub for both large and medium-sized multinational companies in various industries. This development is mainly owing to the availability of skilled labor produced in world-class elite institutions. Cost advantages, e.g. in the form of low wages are still present but receding due to substantial wage hikes often ranging between 15 and 25% per annum. The striking finding is however about market-driven factors. Of late, India's market potential, in the meantime ranked as 3rd largest worldwide by the Global Competitiveness Report 2007-08, has emerged as a crucial driver. Rising income levels of India's billion-plus population are creating unique market opportunities for firms, both domestic and foreign. In India the Government has historically played a major and in most cases a singularly positive role in the formation of its innovation system. India, ever since its independence from British rule, has invested much time, resources and efforts in creating a knowledge society and building institutions of research and higher institutions. Despite explosive population growth literacy rate in India grew from 18.3% in 1950-51 to 64.8% in 2001 thanks to concerted Government efforts; female literacy rose from a mere 8.9% to 53.7% in the same period. Moreover the quality of education in India is generally ranked as very good. According to the Global Competitiveness Report 2007-08 the quality of mathematics and science education in India is ranked as 11th best in the world, much ahead of 29th placed Japan, 36th placed Germany, 45th placed United States and 46th placed United Kingdom. Nevertheless, India is faced with major challenges related to infrastructure and bureaucratic hurdles. The quality of education, notwithstanding such excellent rankings as stated above, in many institutions does not reach the standards required for (cutting-edge) R&D efforts. Moreover, a booming economy is leading to shortage of qualified and experienced skilled labor - which result in inflationary wage growth and high attrition rates, which generally lay in a double-digit range. With the Government maintaining a pro-active role many of these problems may however be expected to get resolved to a manageable extent. In its Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-12) the Government has announced massive investments in infrastructure and education sectors to enhance both the quantity and the quality. Industrial firms in India have recognized their chances and are investing heavily in R&D capacities. India is also a beneficiary of global mobility and exchange of talents, technology and resources as much as the world, especially the developed Western countries, have profited from India's export of brain power. In sum all these developments raise hopes for a further improvement in the conditions of Indi's National Innovation System. --National Innovation System,India,Offshoring,Globalization,Research and Development

Managing Risk Areas in Software Development Offshoring: A CMMI Level 5 Case

Software companies are increasingly offshoring development to countries with high expertise at lower cost. Offshoring involves particular risk areas that, if ignored, increase the likelihood of failure. However, the offshoring client’s maturity level may influence the management of these risk areas. Against this backdrop, we present an interpretive case study on how managers perceive and mitigate the risk areas in software development offshoring with a mature capability maturity model integration (CMMI) level 5 software company as the client. We found that managers perceived and mitigated most of the offshoring risk areas in accordance with the findings of previous research. However, the risk area of task distribution was a notable exception. In this case, managers perceived high task uncertainty, equivocality, and coupling across sites as risk mitigation rather than risk taking. The paper discusses how and why managers perceived and mitigated the risk areas in this way and the implications for theory and practice in software development offshoring

The Evolution of Information Systems Offshoring Research: A Past, Present and Future Meta Analysis Review

This research article presents a past, present and future meta analysis of information systems offshoring (ISO) research over the 2000-2010 time period. ISO has emerged as a significant sourcing strategy adopted by many organizations to manage, support and deliver their information system needs. Across the selected academic articles our findings compare research methodologies applied, client vs. vendor perspectives studied and ISO topic areas investigated. Interesting results emerge in the range and evolution of ISO research. As a result of our analysis, our findings clearly indicate areas of need for future ISO researchers to consider when conducting future ISO research

Investigating the Information Systems Heterarchy

This article assesses how one IS organization is changing in response to the increased globalization of software development and posits the emergence of a new form of multi-national enterprise (MNE)—the heterarchy. Data from two projects create new insights into the structures and behaviors of ISMNEs as they adapt to global systems development. The article identifies four primary dimensions of impact—cultural, economic, operational, and organizational—and suggests how such organizations are evolvin

Information Systems Offshoring—A Literature Review and Analysis

IS offshoring has become one of the most discussed phenomena in IS research and practice. Particularly due to its rapid evolvement, current research on IS offshoring lacks a consolidated view on existing results. The article at hand seeks to meet this need by systematically reviewing and analyzing prior academic literature on IS offshoring. Based on a review of top-ranked IS and management journals as well as IS conference proceedings, we compile an exhaustive bibliography of ninety-six publications solely focusing on IS offshoring from a (project) management perspective. To adequately address the immense diversity of these publications, a multi-perspective research framework consisting of three perspectives, namely, research focus, research approach, and reference theory, is introduced and forms the basis for our literature analysis. The analysis results confirm the appropriateness of our framework and reveal directions for future research along the framework perspectives: Most importantly, in an effort to increase the significance and the trustworthiness of their results, researchers should apply a more theory-driven approach and provide a better description of their research context. Moreover, future research needs to pay particular attention to the pre-implementation stages of an IS offshoring initiative as well as the special nature of nearshoring and captive offshoring. Across all project stages, researchers should not only concentrate on the client point of view but incorporate multiple points of view

National Culture and Organizational Capabilities of IT Offshoring Services in Kenya

The concept of outsourcing is a central narrative employed by Friedman (2005) to underscore the fact that globalization is principally driven by the Internet which enables a level playing field for various economic activities. From an information management perspective, the pervasive adoption of Information Technology (IT) with close to 80% of IT services outsourced in one way or the other (Lacity & Willcocks, 2001), has made the multi-billion dollar Information Technology Outsourcing (ITO) industry become important not only to individual organizations, but to governments as well (Cullen, Seddon & Willcocks, 2005). The ITO market is thus continuing to mature, with an increasing number of suppliers of outsourced service providers and advancements in IT that are enabling the management, implementation and operations in IT-enabled services and relocation of firm value chains to other countries (Cullen et al, 2005; Hutzchenreuter, Lewin and Dresel, 2011).The global potential for offshoring remains huge, with estimates of the outsourcing market standing at $77 billion per year, with U.S. companies accounting for about$44 billion (Tucci, 2007). The concept of offshoring elevates the importance of country destinations where IT services are sent to or outsourced. India has been the leading Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) services provider for a number of years, but is being threatened by a myriad of challenges. Key among these challenges is the labor crunch with rising wages and costs, which are converging towards the client levels of organizations that the BPO firms serve (Jorek, Gott & Battat, 2009). The other two top countries (China & Malaysia) in the 2009 and 2011 Global Services Location Index (GSLI) also face similar changes as India (Jorek, Gott & Battat, 2009; Kearney, 2011). Other destinations enumerated in the report as emerging offshore outsourcing destinations include African countries such as Ghana, Mauritius, Egypt and Senegal