Service offshoring: Is Europe different?

The discussion on the international relocation of jobs in the services sector is not as advanced in Europe as in the USA, where a broad consensus has emerged in recent years that offshoring has very modest effects on the US labour market. One of the key challenges in the European discussion remains the determination of the magnitude and the patterns of offshoring, as the necessary data are often unavailable at the European level. The following article offers a tentative comparison of the effects of offshoring in Europe with those in the USA

WTO-Dienstleistungsverhandlungen: Stärkung des plurilateralen Ansatzes

Die Verhandlungen über das Dienstleistungsabkommen (GATS) im Rahmen der Welthandelsorganisation (WTO) haben bisher nur geringe Fortschritte im Sinne einer Marktöffnung gebracht. Der in Hongkong vereinbarte Ansatz zusätzlicher plurilateraler Verhandlungen zwischen Ländergruppen mit ähnlich gelagerten Interessen bietet jetzt die Chance, bei den weiteren Verhandlungsrunden im Mai und Juni in Genf größere Fortschritte zu erzielen. Wie verliefen die bisherigen GATS-Verhandlungen? Was beinhaltet der neue Verhandlungsansatz? Kann auf diese Weise ein Durchbruch bei den GATS-Verhandlungen erzielt werden

WTO-Dienstleistungsverhandlungen: Stärkung des plurilateralen Ansatzes

Die Verhandlungen über das Dienstleistungsabkommen (GATS) im Rahmen der Welthandelsorganisation (WTO) haben bisher nur geringe Fortschritte im Sinne einer Marktöffnung gebracht. Der in Hongkong vereinbarte Ansatz zusätzlicher plurilateraler Verhandlungen zwischen Ländergruppen mit ähnlich gelagerten Interessen bietet jetzt die Chance, bei den weiteren Verhandlungsrunden im Mai und Juni in Genf größere Fortschritte zu erzielen. Wie verliefen die bisherigen GATS-Verhandlungen? Was beinhaltet der neue Verhandlungsansatz? Kann auf diese Weise ein Durchbruch bei den GATS-Verhandlungen erzielt werden? --

The ugly twins: failed global sourcing projects and their substitutes

Purpose of the paper and literature addressed:\ud Analyzing the impact of failed global sourcing projects on the entire commodity group and exploring isomorphism as potential antecedent to the observed phenomenon. The paper is embedded in the global sourcing literature, as well as isomorphism and total cost analysis. \ud \ud Research method:\ud Secondary data analysis.\ud \ud Research findings:\ud 1) Each failed global sourcing project had an “ugly twin”, i.e. the material which was not delivered by the new supplier had to be purchased from another supplier, usually the old supplier which was meant to be replaced. This re-sourcing was associated with poorer commercial conditions.\ud 2) Higher savings expectations corresponded with lower realization rate. We interpret this finding as an expression of the presence of mimetic isomorphism.\ud \ud Main contribution:\ud Exposing the “ugly twins” and empirically testing the isomorphism assumption. Findings ask to expand total cost calculations by including the costs of failed projects. Global sourcing benefits may be over-estimated by previous studies, as they do not seem to deduce the costs of failed projects from overall savings. Firms are alerted that unrealistically high savings expectations are very likely to result in disappointment. Thus projects should preferably be avoided