Overview

Companies are increasingly asking which of their value chain activities are best performed within their own company and which may be outsourced. In addition, they are also considering which pieces of their value chain may be better performed abroad. These interrelated decisions concerning outsourcing and offshoring have not only changed entire industries, they have also transformed the lives of people across the world. Hundreds of millions of jobs in emerging nations have been the direct result of outsourcing and offshoring decisions. At the same time, many people in the developed world have lost their jobs because a company has been able to find a cheaper alternative. Featuring contributions from scholars in eleven different countries, this book was the first to examine the theory and practice of outsourcing and offshoring simultaneously. It includes studies of a variety of different industries, including pharmaceuticals, automobiles, medical records, appliances, human resource management and telecommunications.

Full Product Details

Author:   Farok J. Contractor (Rutgers University, New Jersey) ,  Vikas Kumar (University of Sydney) ,  Sumit K. Kundu (Florida International University) ,  Torben Pedersen (Copenhagen Business School)
Publisher:   Cambridge University Press
Imprint:   Cambridge University Press (Virtual Publishing)
ISBN:  

9780511761607

ISBN 10:   0511761600
Publication Date:   10 January 2011
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Undefined
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In stock  
We have confirmation that this item is in stock with the supplier. It will be ordered in for you and dispatched immediately.

Table of Contents

List of figures; List of tables; List of contributors; Preface; Part I. Conceptual Frameworks and Theories: 1. Global outsourcing and offshoring: in search of the optimal configuration for a company Farok J. Contractor, Vikas Kumar, Torben Pedersen and Sumit Kundu; 2. Globalization of R&D: offshoring innovative activity to emerging economies Ashok Bardhan and Dwight Jaffee; 3. A theory of the outsourcing firm Dave Luvison and Mike Bendixen; Part II. The Offshoring and Outsourcing of R&D and Innovative Activities: 4. Blurring firm R&D boundaries: integrating transaction costs and knowledge-based perspectives Andrea Martinez-Noya and Esteban Garcia-Canal; 5. Outsourcing, fragmentation and integration: the pharmaceutical industry Janis K. Kapler and Kimberly A. Puhala; 6. Towards a better understanding of multinational enterprises' R&D location choices Ana Colovic; 7. Does R&D offshoring displace or strengthen knowledge production at home? Evidence from OECD countries Lucia Piscitello and Grazia D. Santangelo; 8. Innovation across firm boundaries: a knowledge based view Salma Alguezaui and Raffaele Filieri; 9. Suitable organization forms for knowledge management at various R&D functions in decentralized and cooperative R&D networks Hsing Hung Chen; Part III. Management Issues in Offshoring and Virtual Teamwork: 10. Changing work practices: acceptance of virtual work among knowledge professionals engaged in offshoring activities Elisa Mattarelli and Maria Rita Tagliaventi; 11. Managing globally disaggregated teams: the role of organizational politics Shahzad M. Ansari, Jatinder S. Sidhu, Henk W. Volberda and Ilan Oshri; Part IV. Empirical Analyses and Case Studies of Outsourcing and Offshoring: 12. Offshoring of high-value functions: a case study of US-India trade in medical transcription services Nir Kshetri and Nikhilesh Dholakia; 13. Offshoring of IT and business, professional and technical services: the recent experience of the United States Thomas J. Norman and Mahmood A. Zaidi; 14. Outsourcing human resource activities Thomas J. Norman; 15. Managing core outsourcing to address fast market growth: a study of an Indian mobile telecom service provider Raghunath Subramanyam; 16. Imitative offshoring strategies: lessons learnt from Italian small domestic appliance industry Gabriella Lojacono and Olga Annushkina; Index.

Reviews

Review of the hardback: 'This is an intriguing book. We have all heard about the rise of offshoring and outsourcing. Here, Contractor, Kumar, Kundu and Pedersen provide detailed and systematic evidence of how pervasive and invasive these trends have become. They also shed light on the consequences of offshoring and outsourcing - for the strategies of multinational corporations, for the policymakers who seek to attract overseas investment, and for our academic theories that seek to understand the nature of foreign investment and the sources of competitive advantage. This book is thoroughly researched and well written. It presents a bold and thought-provoking set of ideas about the future shape and size of the multinational corporation.' Julian Birkinshaw, London Business School Review of the hardback: 'Global Outsourcing and Offshoring is a systematic and comprehensive volume on an increasingly important phenomenon. The editors have been able to assemble an impressive collection of studies ranging from theoretical to empirical contributions. The end result is a book that provides us with the state-of-the-art research on this subject, offering important hints and lessons for scholars, managers and policymakers worldwide.' Alfonso Gambardella, Bocconi University, Milan Review of the hardback: 'Globalization and technological revolution are the two most important factors transforming the world economy today. A direct result of these twin developments has been the organizational and spatial dispersion of activities in almost every company's value chain. This is and will remain a growing trend in terms of scale, scope, as well as the complexity of the activities that are now being outsourced and offshored. Scholars as well as managers must understand the factors that drive these trends and differentiate between those outsourcing and offshoring moves that enhance performance versus those which merely reflect the playing out of a herd mentality. This compilation of scholarly articles sheds much-needed light on this growing and extremely important phenomenon. The first chapter by the editors is a masterpiece and it alone is worth the price of admission.' Anil K. Gupta, INSEAD Chaired Professor of Strategy, INSEAD Review of the hardback: 'The contributors to this book explore how globalization has created the conditions for offshoring, which is found to be both efficient for firms and also welfare increasing for societies in both advanced and developing countries. The theoretical logic of the book is that the fine slicing of the value chain of the company provides the backbone for analysis of offshoring. Companies can improve their efficiency with an optimal allocation of its functions and operations across geographic space. This book will appeal to readers in the areas of international business, the legal environment of multinational enterprises, political economy and international economics.' Alan M. Rugman, University of Reading

Review of the hardback: 'This is an intriguing book. We have all heard about the rise of offshoring and outsourcing. Here, Contractor, Kumar, Kundu and Pedersen provide detailed and systematic evidence of how pervasive and invasive these trends have become. They also shed light on the consequences of offshoring and outsourcing - for the strategies of multinational corporations, for the policymakers who seek to attract overseas investment, and for our academic theories that seek to understand the nature of foreign investment and the sources of competitive advantage. This book is thoroughly researched and well written. It presents a bold and thought-provoking set of ideas about the future shape and size of the multinational corporation.' Julian Birkinshaw, London Business School Review of the hardback: 'Global Outsourcing and Offshoring is a systematic and comprehensive volume on an increasingly important phenomenon. The editors have been able to assemble an impressive collection of studies ranging from theoretical to empirical contributions. The end result is a book that provides us with the state-of-the-art research on this subject, offering important hints and lessons for scholars, managers and policymakers worldwide.' Alfonso Gambardella, Bocconi University, Milan Review of the hardback: 'Globalization and technological revolution are the two most important factors transforming the world economy today. A direct result of these twin developments has been the organizational and spatial dispersion of activities in almost every company's value chain. This is and will remain a growing trend in terms of scale, scope, as well as the complexity of the activities that are now being outsourced and offshored. Scholars as well as managers must understand the factors that drive these trends and differentiate between those outsourcing and offshoring moves that enhance performance versus those which merely reflect the playing out of a herd mentality. This compilation of scholarly articles sheds much-needed light on this growing and extremely important phenomenon. The first chapter by the editors is a masterpiece and it alone is worth the price of admission.' Anil K. Gupta, INSEAD Chaired Professor of Strategy, INSEAD Review of the hardback: 'The contributors to this book explore how globalization has created the conditions for offshoring, which is found to be both efficient for firms and also welfare increasing for societies in both advanced and developing countries. The theoretical logic of the book is that the fine slicing of the value chain of the company provides the backbone for analysis of offshoring. Companies can improve their efficiency with an optimal allocation of its functions and operations across geographic space. This book will appeal to readers in the areas of international business, the legal environment of multinational enterprises, political economy and international economics.' Alan M. Rugman, University of Reading This is an intriguing book. We have all heard about the rise of offshoring and outsourcing. Here, Contractor, Kumar, Kundu and Pedersen provide detailed and systematic evidence of how pervasive and invasive these trends have become. They also shed light on the consequences of offshoring and outsourcing - for the strategies of multinational corporations, for the policymakers who seek to attract overseas investment, and for our academic theories that seek to understand the nature of foreign investment and the sources of competitive advantage. This book is thoroughly researched and well written. It presents a bold and thought-provoking set of ideas about the future shape and size of the multinational corporation. - Julian Birkinshaw, Professor of Strategic and International Management, London Business School Global Outsourcing and Offshoring is a systematic and comprehensive volume on an increasingly important phenomenon. The editors have been able to assemble an impressive collection of studies ranging from theoretical to empirical contributions. The end result is a book that provides us with the state-of-the-art research on this subject, offering important hints and lessons for scholars, managers and policymakers worldwide. - Alfonso Gambardella, Professor of Economics and Management, Department of Management and KITeS, Bocconi University, Milan Globalization and technological revolution are the two most important factors transforming the world economy today. A direct result of these twin developments has been the organizational and spatial dispersion of activities in almost every company's value chain. This is and will remain a growing trend in terms of scale, scope, as well as the complexity of the activities that are now being outsourced and offshored. Scholars as well as managers must understand the factors that drive these trends and differentiate between those outsourcing and offshoring moves that enhance performance versus those which merely reflect the playing out of a herd mentality. This compilation of scholarly articles sheds much-needed light on this growing and extremely important phenomenon. The first chapter by the editors is a masterpiece and it alone is worth the price of admission. - Anil K. Gupta, INSEAD Chaired Professor of Strategy, INSEAD The contributors to this book explore how globalization has created the conditions for offshoring, which is found to be both efficient for firms and also welfare increasing for societies in both advanced and developing countries. The theoretical logic of the book is that the fine slicing of the value chain of the company provides the backbone for analysis of offshoring. Companies can improve their efficiency with an optimal allocation of its functions and operations across geographic space. This book will appeal to readers in the areas of international business, the legal environment of multinational enterprises, political economy and international economics. - Alan M. Rugman, Professor of International Business, Henley Business School, University of Reading

Author Information

Farok J. Contractor is Professor of International Business in the Management and Global Business Department at Rutgers Business School. He has one of the highest citation counts amongst scholars in the field of international management and has previously taught at the Wharton School, Copenhagen Business School, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, Nanyang Technological University, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, XLRI (India), Lubin School of Business, Theseus, and EDHEC. Vikas Kumar is Senior Lecturer in the Department of International Business at the University of Sydney. From 2004 to 2009 he was Assistant Professor of International Business and Strategy in the Department of Management at Bocconi University in Milan, Italy. He was also a visiting scholar at the Collaboratory for Research on Global Projects (CRGP) at Stanford University from 2008 to 2009. Sumit K. Kundu is the Knight-Ridder Research Professor of International Business in the College of Business Administration at Florida International University, Miami. He has taught several international business courses at both the graduate and undergraduate levels at Florida International University, Saint Louis University, State University of New York, Northeastern University, and Rutgers University. Torben Pedersen is Professor of International Business in the Center for Strategic Management and Globalization at Copenhagen Business School, where he is also Head of the Department of International Economics and Management. He is a member of the executive board of European International Business Academy (EIBA) and is editor of the website of the Journal of International Business Studies.

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

No review item found!

Add your own review!

Countries Available

All regions