23,151 research outputs found

    The development of service provider's BPO-IT framework

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    Purpose The decision to operate BPO-IT organisational model by a business process outsourcing (BPO) service provider has far reaching benefits. The purpose of this paper is to develop a service provider’s BPO-IT framework that provides in-house IT function (software) required to process client services. Design/methodology/approach The multi-case study adopted an exploratory sequential mixed method research approach. In the first instance, seven BPO service provider organisations were investigated in the qualitative phase and 156 in the quantitative phase, respectively. Findings The adoption of the developed framework indicates that it could reduce failures in BPO relationships through reduced turnaround time in processing client services, improved quality of service, reduced cost, improved client and provider’s competitiveness, and confidentiality of client operations. Outsourcing clients could lay the foundation for a successful relationship by adopting a selection process that could choose the right provider. Originality/value The paper reveals BPO-IT organisation’s operation towards in-house provision of software required to process client services. A research exploring BPO service providers from a top outsourcing destination like India could provide offshore outsourcing clients the information to move towards onshore outsourcing. </jats:sec

    Outsourcing, Supplier Relations, and the External Span of Control

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    The outsourcing and supplier relations literature focuses primarily on initial designs while ignoring how superior implementation skills can drive competitive advantage. The concept of external span of control, defined as a firm’s overall capability to manage multiple and varying relations with outside suppliers, is put forward to capture implementation differences. Its antecedents are described and strategies are provided for improving it involving growth, alignment, internal development, and inter-firm learning.

    The Role of Application Portfolio Management in Application Services Outsourcing: Explicating Variations in Application Portfolio Management among Outsourcing Gestalts

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    Prior research has identified different outsourcing strategy types most likely to succeed, described by the outsourcing extent, the contract type, and duration. Each of the strategy types serves a particular outsourcing outcome. Since application portfolio management pursues improvement and optimization in the application landscape, it supports and enables decisions in the field of application services outsourcing. The aim of our research is to investigate the varying role of application portfolio management (APM) for different application services outsourcing strategies. Therefore, we conducted case study research with eleven large German and Swiss companies. In order to identify the varying role of APM, we compared the behaviors of the companies successfully applying particular strategy types, analyzing the differences in APM capabilities, application portfolio structure, and the influence of application characteristics. The results reveal that the companies applying different strategies vary in the extent to which APM is implemented in an organization

    Make-or-Buy Decisions in Patent Related Services

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    Among the most prominent theoretical frameworks dealing with the economic underlyings of firms’ make-or-buy decisions are Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) and the Resourced Based View (RBV). Relying on panel data covering 107 European firms over eight years I test predictions from both TCE and RBV with regard to the outsourcing of patent related services simultaneously. Modelling the share of outsourced patent applications in a Negative Binomial Panel Regression Model I find joint explanatory power of both approaches. My findings support previous literature arguing for an integration of TCE and RBV to a comprehensive theoretical framework of firms make-or-buy decisions

    Comparing Chinese and the Indian Software MNCs: Domestic and Export Market Strategies and Their Interplay

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    China and India are emerging as major new entrants in the international software industry. Both are rapidly learning through outsourcing with multinational enterprises from advanced nations. Yet, their paths to this dynamic sector are very different. Chinese software firms have focused on their domestic market by working with foreign MNCs, while they move cautiously abroad. Indian firms, despite already being large, continue to expand overseas as well as to climb the value chain. We show that a macro perspective on the global movement of work can be gained by utilizing concepts from different approaches to the MNC. At the same time, the innovation systems perspective is necessary to explain the foundations of the industry. The paper provides hypotheses and performs an initial validation of them. It concludes that the internationalization and learning processes are somewhat different in the Chinese and Indian MNCs, and provides explanations for the different patterns.outsourcing, software industry, industrial development, MNCs, MNEs, multinational enterprise, China, India

    Control, Process Facilitation, and Requirements Change in Offshore Requirements Analysis: The Provider Perspective

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    Process, technology, and project factors have been increasingly driving organizations to offshore early software development phases, such as requirements analysis. This emerging trend necessitates greater control and process facilitation between client and vendor sites. The effectiveness of control and facilitation has, however, not been examined within the context of requirements analysis and change. In this study, we examine the role of control and facilitation in managing changing requirements and on success of requirements gathering in the Indian offshore software development environment. Firms found that control by client-site coordinators had a positive impact on requirements analysis success while vender site-coordinators did not have similar influence. Process facilitation by client site-coordinators affected requirements phase success indirectly through control. The study concludes with recommendations for research and practice

    Strategic factor markets: Bargaining, scarcity, and resource complementarity

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    Strategic factor market theory suggests that without luck or asymmetric expectations, firms can't appropriate gains from acquired resources. Adopting the bargaining perspective on resource advantage, we hold that this is only true in the absence of resource complementarity. We extend factor market theory to account for resource complementarity, and we show that firms can profit when they exhibit superior complementarity to target resources, even in the absence of asymmetric expectations. Thus we provide an alternative interpretation of managers' recent emphasis on externally acquired resources.Complementarity; bargain perspective; value appropriation; resource acquisition; asymmetric expectation;
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