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CALL FOR PAPERS
Journal of Business Research
*Outsourcing and Offshoring Decision Making and its Implications for the
firm*
LINK FOR CALL HERE-
http://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-business-research/call-for-papers/outsourcing-and-offshoring-decision-making/
Fierce competition and globalisation have driven businesses to encompass
greater economic cross-border transfers and exchange of goods and services,
knowledge and people, and various intermediate activities forming global
value chains (GVCs). Over the last few decades scholars (see Hätönen and
Eriksson, 2009; Oshri, Kotlarsky, Willcocks, 2015; Lahiri, 2016 etc.) have
examined, the complex phenomenon of outsourcing and offshoring at country,
industry, firm and managerial levels, revealing the nexus between
locations, motivation and business strategies of disintegration, dispersion
and dexterity. More recently, advances in technology and new economic
realities have added to the multi-faceted and complex nature of the
subject, highlighting further avenues for research.
Emerging research increasingly suggests that firms are outsourcing and
offshoring knowledge intensive activities to enhance their competitive
advantages by exploiting local talent and expertise in host economies. Over
time, the theoretical scrutiny has expanded from the traditional
transaction cost economics and resource-based analysis to the
knowledge-based theories of the firm. To add to this growing scope of
theoretical inquiry, scholars (e.g. Peng, Sun, Pinkham, & Chen, 2009) have
also proposed to explore the role of institutions as it strongly influences
the endowment of resources, knowledge, skills and talent. Moreover,
institutional development and government policies affect several other
factors, such as the quality of infrastructure and industrial clusters that
are critical to the outsourcing firm. More visible examples of these
effects can be found in the context of emerging economies, such as India,
Philippines, and China, and also in advanced economies, such as Ireland,
Poland, and Canada. These country contexts provide unique opportunities to
widen the scope of theoretical inquiry while providing good backgrounds for
testing propositions relating to outsourcing and offshoring. Conceptual and
empirical contributions that explore the relationship between location and
the firm’s decision for outsourcing and offshoring from different
theoretical lenses are hence invited for this special issue. This will help
in extending the academic understanding of outsourcing and offshoring
decisions of the firm and will benefit in theoretical development.
Previous research has attempted to reconceptualise the role of the firm and
managers when it comes to the process of outsourcing and offshoring
(Contractor, Kumar, Kundu & Pedersen, 2010). Increasingly, the scope of
outsourcing and offshoring has evolved from transactional work to that of
more core activities which has led to firms having porous boundaries (Dess,
Rasheed, McLaughlin & Priem, 2005). Buckley (2009, 2011, and 2016) has
proposed the ‘Global Factory’ model which portrays the architecture of the
firm seeking to achieve a balance between: *first*, internalisation of core
activities and externalisation of non-core activities; and *second*,
contrast between global and local strategy, which makes the firm more
flexible, agile and resilient to external shocks. The outsourcing and
offshoring literature thus suggests several benefits for the firm but it
also identifies many challenges, such as dealing with the geographic,
physic and administrative distance between home and host countries, and
differences in the time zones (Manning, Larsen and Bharati, 2015). These
challenges further highlight the role of managers, i.e. how do managers
deal with these differences when it comes to managing the global-local
contrast, controlling knowledge, and coordinating the network of
contractors and allies? Empirical research in this area is needed to
improve our understanding of these complex decisions. Qualitative and
quantitative research should hence investigate the decision making
processes and its influence on the outsourcing firm.
The discussion above suggests that the outsourcing and offshoring
phenomenon is at an interesting stage in its life-cycle and academic
theories and literature need to keep pace with several developments in this
global industry. With this background, we solicit conceptual, empirical and
methodological contributions from a variety of disciplines, including
international business and strategy, organization studies, management,
economics, marketing and others that advance our current understanding of
the theory and practice of outsourcing and offshoring that has changed the
face of modern business. Contributions may cover wider range of topics and
questions not just limited to the discussion above and the list below. We
welcome studies using mixed methods, qualitative data and case studies
approach that can shed rich light on this topic.
We further illustrate *five* important decision making questions (Hätönen
and Eriksson, 2009; Pereira and Malik, 2015) that can help in developing
more fine grained analysis to advance outsourcing and offshoring, at
deeper, sophisticated and critical levels (list below not exhaustive, but
only indicative). These are:
*Why* firms choose to ‘buy’ instead of ‘make’? (Examples could include: Why
is it that firms resort to outsourcing and offshoring [decisions on how
each business process should be allocated geographically (‘offshoring’) and
organizationally (‘outsourcing’)]? In term of ‘Why’, is it for factors (not
exhaustive) such as-
· Increasing competitive pressure?
· To become leaner by decreasing costs?
· By better asset utilization while maintaining high customer
service level?
· Through rapid technological developments?
· Strategizing by resorting to long-term financial implications?
· By being more strategic when it comes to the new product
development cycles and time-to-market?
· Lack of expertise?
· Limited production facilities or insufficient capacity?
Or is it a combination of the above? )
*2. **What* to outsource (what to keep in-house and what to
outsource)? (Examples could include: What ‘core’ segments of the value
chain are to be retained in-house? What could be optimally dispersed
geographically, to allies and contractors? What is the influence in terms
of advances in technology on the firm’s decision to outsource? What are the
factors that influence a firm’s decision to re-shore and back-source? What
are the various influences of outsourcing decisions on the local host
economies and the competitiveness of its local firms?)
*Where* to outsource (locational choices)? (Examples could include: In
terms of ‘where’, should these decisions be tactical, strategic and
transformational? In terms of ‘where’ (location), what are the factors that
influence the offshore-location decision when ownership of the activity is
transferred to the foreign vendor? Do internationalization strategies of
the firm affect the choice of outsourcing and off sourcing locations? When
it comes to locational choices made by the vendee for offshore vendors, are
they evaluated on: technical capability, experience, or offshore
capability? In terms of ‘where’, how do the new economic realities affect
decision making?)
*4. **How* is outsourcing undertaken? (Examples could include: How
does outsourcing/offshoring affect the firm’s behaviour, structure and
organisation within the integrating global economy?; How does and can the
relation between location, motivation and the firm’s business strategies be
best captured methodologically to produce a holistic picture of outsourcing
and offshoring decisions? How do new locations and the changing landscape
therein transform the firm’s strategies of outsourcing and its competitive
advantages? How does the formation of GVCs get influenced by the host
government policies and the local institutional attributes?)
And lastly a fifth area, that of…
*5. **When* to outsource or keep in-house? (Examples could include:
How do companies decide when to make, and when to outsource? When should a
firm continue to produce in-house? When does it start buying from a new
supplier? And when does it continue to maintain an on-going relationship
with a particular supplier? When it comes to choices, are factors
influencing the outsourcing decisions firm or context specific in terms of
what and where it is being outsourced? When it comes to timing are firms
primary strategic objective to minimize risk and maximize value? In terms
of ‘when’ do firms take into consideration increasing or decreasing levels
of core competencies, competitive advantages, temporal or permanency,
efficiency or inefficiency etc?)
*References *
Buckley, P. J. (2009). Internalisation thinking: From the multinational
enterprise to the global factory. *International Business Review*, 18(3),
224-235.
Buckley, P. J. (2011). *Globalization and the Global Factory*. Cheltenham:
Edward Elgar.
Buckley, P. J. (2016). The contribution of internalisation theory to
international business: New realities and unanswered questions. *Journal of
World Business*, 51(1), 74-82.
Contractor, F. J., Kumar, V., Kundu, S. K., & Pedersen, T. (2010).
Reconceptualizing the firm in a world of outsourcing and offshoring: The
organizational and geographical relocation of high-value company
functions. *Journal
of Management Studies*, 47 (8), 1417-1433.
Dess, G. G., Rasheed, A. M., McLaughlin, K. J., & Priem, R. L. (1995). The
new corporate architecture. *The Academy of Management Executive*, 9(3),
7-18.
Hätönen, J., & Eriksson, T. (2009). 30+ years of research and practice of
outsourcing – Exploring the past and anticipating the future. *Journal of
International Management*, 15 (2), 142-155.
Lahiri, S. (2016, forthcoming). Does Outsourcing Really Improve Firm
Performance? Empirical Evidence and Research Agenda. *International Journal
of Management Reviews*.
Manning, S., Larsen, M.M. and Bharati, P., (2015). Global delivery models:
The role of talent, speed and time zones in the global outsourcing
industry. *Journal of International Business Studies*, 46(7), pp.850-877.
Oshri, I, Kotlarsky, J, Willcocks, LP. (2015). *The Handbook of Global
Outsourcing and Offshoring*, Palgrave MacMillan, London.
Peng, M. W., Sun, S. L., Pinkham, B., & Chen, H. (2009). The
Institution-Based View as a Third Leg for a Strategy Tripod. *The Academy
of Management Perspectives*, 23(3), 63-81.
Pereira, V., and A. Malik. (2015). *Human Capital Management in the Indian
IT/BPO Industry*. London: Palgrave Macmillan, London.
*Track Chairs and Guest editor(s): *
*1. **Dr Vijay Pereira 2. Dr Surender Munjal 3. Prof Alessio Ishizaka*
Guest editor(s) email:
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*PLEASE NOTE THAT PAPERS WILL NEED TO BE SUBMITTED TO THE ABOVE GUEST
EDITORS THROUGH THE JBR EES SYSTEM.*
*Link here **http://ees.elsevier.com/jbr/default.asp
<http://ees.elsevier.com/jbr/default.asp> *
*Deadline for paper submission: 30th January 2017 *
*Date for final submissions after all revisions: 31st July 2017
*
*Date of delivering all accepted papers to Elsevier for production: 1st
October 2017 *
*Tentative time of publication: December 2017 *
*Bio: Vijay Pereira*
Dr Vijay Pereira is Senior Lecturer in Strategic and International HRM and
ex-Leader in Human Capital Development at Portsmouth Business School, UK.
His principle research interest lies in the outsourcing and offshoring
decision making strategies by multinational enterprises and its impact on
human capital, both from the vendor and vendee context. He has published on
this topic in highly ranked international journals, such as the Journal of
World Business, International Studies of Management and Organization,
Culture and Organisation, Journal of Organisational Change Management,
Thunderbird International Business Review, International Journal of
Manpower etc. He has also published three research books/monographs on this
topic, is the co-editor of the Palgrave Series in Global Human Capital
Management, and has also contributed to several book chapters in books
edited by globally renowned authors. He was recently awarded a Indo-United
Nations pin for his work. His previous experience has been in industry and
offshore outsourcing consultancy.
*Bio: Surender Munjal*
Dr Surender Munjal is Director for the James E. Lynch India and South-Asia
Business Centre and lecturer in International Business and Strategy at
Leeds University Business School. He is a Fellow of Higher Education
Academy. His research focuses on outsourcing and offshoring strategies of
multinational enterprises in India and internationalisation strategies of
Indian multinational enterprises. He has won various accolades for his
research and teaching. He is the chair of evolution of multinational
enterprise track in the Academy of International Business (AIB) Conference
2016. He earned his doctorate in International Business from the University
of Leeds and Master of Philosophy in Marketing from Delhi School of
Economics. He is also a qualified Chartered Accountant and Management
Accountant.
*Bio: Alessio Ishizaka*
Alessio Ishizaka is Professor in Decision Analysis, research lead and
Deputy Director of the Centre of Operations Research and Logistics (CORL)
at the Portsmouth Business School of the University of Portsmouth. He
received his PhD from the University of Basel (Switzerland). He worked
successively for the University of Exeter (UK), University of York (UK) and
Audencia Grande Ecole de Management Nantes (France). He has been visiting
professor at the Politecnico di Torino, Università degli Studi di Trento,
INSA Strasbourg, Université de Lorraine, Universität Mannheim, Università
degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Universität der Bundeswehr Hamburg,
Université d’Aix-Marseille, Università degli Studi di Torino, Università
degli Studi della Tuscia and Università degli Studi di Padova. His research
is in the area of decision analysis, where he has published more than 40
papers. He is regularly involved in large European funded projects. He has
been the chair, co-organiser and guest speaker of several conferences on
this topic. Alongside his academic activities, he acts as a consultant for
companies in helping them to take better decisions. He has written the key
textbook Multi-criteria Decision Analysis: methods and software.
-Dr Vijay Pereira
*Scopus Author ID: 37108422900, ORCID iD: orcid.org/0000-0001-6755-0793
<http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6755-0793>*
Senior Lecturer (International and Strategic HRM), Organisation Studies and
HRM group, Portsmouth Business School, University of Portsmouth, UK
http://www.port.ac.uk/organisation-studies-and-human-resource-management/staff/vijay-pereira.html
Co-author *'Investigating Cultural Aspects in Indian Organizations:
Empirical Evidence' *
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Investigating-Cultural-Aspects-Indian-Organizations/dp/3319160974
Co-author *Human Capital in the Indian IT / BPO Industry' *and Co-Series
Editor for *'Palgrave Studies in Global Human Capital Management'*
http://www.palgrave.com/page/detail/human-capital-in-the-indian-it-/-bpo-industry-vijay-pereira/?K=9781137481504
http://www.palgrave.com/us/series/14623
Co-author '*Indian Culture and Work Organisations in Transition' *
https://www.routledge.com/products/9781138650077
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