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Syllabus 2025

  

Course Title: Outsourcing and Offshoring (MIS41010)

Lecturer, Allen Higgins, UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business

Unless otherwise notified, classes are held weekly on Tuesdays from 10:00-11:50 in E102, Blackrock.
NOTE: There is no lecture scheduled for Tuesday January 28th.

Notice:

Some lectures, practical work and field trip may take place outside the classroom; dates and times to be determined. Slides and files are accessed from the module in UCD Brightspace https://brightspace.ucd.ie/ (login required). The organisation of this material is subject to on-going revision.

Decorum and Teaching Materials

All communication and interaction with each other should be respectful, professional, and comply with university protocols. You must abide by the provisions of the "UCD Student Code" and all of your work, whether individual or group, must comply with UCD policies on "Academic Integrity" and "Plagiarism". 

The course slides and files are accessed from the module in UCD Brightspace https://brightspace.ucd.ie/ (login required). And please be advised that the organisation of this course, the readings, exercises and other aspects are reviewed continuously and may change.

Module Description

Digital infrastructure, distributed organisations and increasing global reach are driving a growing array of options around the sourcing of key product components and services. Business and organizations face strategic decisions around which specific products/services are better provided in-house, and which may be better outsourced to an increasingly global and competitive marketplace of delivery specialists. Moreover, this new ecology of complex inter-organisational arrangements introduces a range of difficult management challenges. This module will exercise the language and knowledge needed to better understand the diverse range of global sourcing options, the attendant opportunities and challenges, and approaches to addressing these in practice. Themes covered include: on-going relationship development; the formulation of sourcing contracts and service level agreements; relationship governance structures and practices; risk management and resilience; balancing in-house and outsourced capabilities; the facilitation of effective communication and learning in the context of cultural diversity and distributed work; the use of ICT; and identifying and addressing emerging relationship problems.

Learning Outcomes

On completing this module students should be able to:
  • Context/history of sourcing: Demonstrate a sound understanding of how the outsourcing market has developed over time, and of the types of processes/services that should be considered for sourcing. 
  • Sourcing modes: Describe the common modes of sourcing (e.g. in-sourcing, outsourcing, offshoring, nearshoring) and their associated advantages and disadvantages. 
  • Management models: Describe how to approach strategic sourcing decisions and the choice of appropriate sourcing partners. 
  • Critical perspective: Demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of how sourcing relationships may be better managed and how this might vary according to the sourcing mode. 
  • Emerging trends: Critically assess emerging trends in sourcing that are likely to be important in the future.

Assessment & Involvement

Marks, if given during term are only provisional.
  1. 65% Combined Term-Paper + Presentation (video up to 4 minutes max) + 1-page Personal Learning Reflection included as an appendix. 
    • Presentation video. End of week 10.
    • The final Term Paper. End of week 12. 
  2. 10% Group Activity. Culminating in a poster presentation event in week 13.
  3. 25% Homework assignments. Individual homework plus a group presentation of case/chapter/readings during term. 

    Course Material:

    No required book purchase. There will be scholarly/journal articles accessed via the University system. The reading list and topic/themes will be refined during term.

    The course themes are organised around the chapters of the GOO book, "The Handbook of Global Outsourcing and Offshoring" by Ilan Oshri, Julia Kotlarsky and Leslie P. Willcocks. All editions are relevant although some content varies between them. Published by Palgrave Macmillan. 3rd Edition (ISBN 9781137437426), 2nd Edition (ISBN 9780230293526) 1st Edition (ISBN 9780230235502).

    Teaching methods: Discuss readings. Case analysis and discussion. Interview guests. Workshop research project. The readings, cases etc are available in Brightspace. You are expected to prepare before each class by commenting on the reading (Brightspace assignment), the case study (Brightspace assignment), and have read the relevant chapter from the GOO book.

    Related Podcast Episodes
    • 0062 - Designing Organisations - Why Ireland? with Rory Mullen (link)
    • 0069 - Partners Operations & Governance with John Sheahan (link)
    • 0063 - Dialogue before Outsourcing with Henric Malm (link)
    • 0188 - Symantec Software Localisation with Damian Scattergood (link)
    • 0159 - Global Africa with David Nyaluke (link)
    • 0234 - Offshore Entrepreneur with Shourjya Sanyal (link)
    • 0227 - An Outsourcing POV with Karan Bagla (link)
    • 0067 - Delivering from a Distance with Ajaya Singh (link)
    • 0153 - The Supplier Perspective with Suhas Pathak (link)
    • 0152 - The Word Game with Damian Scattergood (link)
    • 0195 - Starting “lets-viz” with Neetu Singla (link)
    • 0066 - Care for Knowledge with Lizzy McComish (link)
    • 0236 - Talking About Captive Centres with Dave Borowski (link)
    • 0064 - Supplier Partnership with Bernard Harris (link)
    • 0230 - Technology Strategy with Morgan Hammersley (link)
    • 0229 - Go To Market Operations with Neil O'Herlihy (link)
    • 0216 - Leverage managed services with Scott Bewley and Ryan Hayes from PwC (link)
    • 0222 - Talking about Global Talent, Diversity and Inclusion with Justin McCarthy (link)
    • 0221 - Local Impact, Global Reach with Joe Dowling (link)
    • 0156 - Managing Distributed Teams with Ciaran Treanor (link)
    • 0220 - The Extreme Digital Nomad (TEDN) - Roland Tritsch (link)
    • 0065 - Talking about Distributed Teams with Ciaran Treanor and Cormac Ó Foghlú (link)

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    Syllabus (subject to revision)

    [version dated 17/01/2025]

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    Session 1 : Overview - paradigms of outsourcing and offshoring (Tuesday 21st January)
    • [overview, introduction, student introduction and GOOS knowledge/experience, slides]
    • Chapter 1 Overview of the global sourcing marketplace
    • Reading: 
      • A.T. Kearney (2024). Resurgent in a world at risk - the 2024 Global Cities Report. Technical report, A.T. Kearney.
      • A.T. Kearney (2023). Regenerative talent pools - the 2023 A.T. Kearney global services location index. Technical report, A.T. Kearney.
    Session 2 : Sourcing models and decisions (Tuesday 4th February)
    • Case: "You've got email MAT" - case analysis and discussion - presented by Group 1.
    • Chapter 2 Sourcing models: What and when to outsource/offshore
    • Reading:  
      • Alkali et al. (2016) Offshore Business Process Outsourcing for Developing Countries: A South African Perspective. The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries. 74:1
      • Abbott, P. & Jones, M. (2012) Everywhere and Nowhere: Nearshore software development in the context of globalisation. European Journal of Information Systems 21, 529-551
    Session 3 : Country selection (Tuesday 11th February)
    • Case: "Symantec moves off-shore" - case analysis and discussion  - presented by Group 2
    • Chapter 3 Country attractiveness for sourcing
    • Reading: 
      • Higgins, A. and Saadatmandi, B. (2016). Country selection and impact it sourcing: Relationships between business factors and social inequality. In The 27th Australasian Conference on Information Systems. (view or download the article)
      • Abbott, P. (2013) "How can African Countries Advance their Outsourcing Industries: An overview of possible approaches," The African Journal of Information Systems, 5:1:2
    Session 4 : Supplier capabilities and strategies (    Tuesday 18th February)
    • Case: "Tata Consultancy Services" - case analysis and discussion - presented by Group 3
    • Chapter 4 Supplier’s core capabilities and strategies for sustainability and growth
    • Reading:  
      • Nath (2011) Aesthetic and emotional labour through stigma: national identity management and racial abuse in offshored Indian call centres. Work Employment Society. 25(4) 709–725   
      Session 5 : Leveraging knowledge (Tuesday 25th February)
      • Case: "We have a problem Heuston" - case analysis and discussion - presented by Group 4
      • Chapter 5 Leveraging knowledge and expertise 
      • Reading: 
        • Rottman, J. (2008) Successful knowledge transfer within offshore supplier networks: a case study exploring social capital in strategic alliances. Journal of Information Technology, 23, 31–43.
      Session 6 : The client perspective (Tuesday 4th March)
      • Case: "Happy Hollowing Customs" - case analysis and discussion - presented by Group 5
      • Chapter 6 The client perspective: Vendor selection strategy, retained management capabilities, and legal issues
      • Reading: 
        • Kelly, S. & Noonan, C. (2008) Anxiety and psychological security in offshoring relationships: the role and development of trust as emotional commitment. Journal of Information Technology, 23, 232–248. 
      ------------
      Mid-term
      ------------

      Session 7 : The IT outsourcing lifecycle (Tuesday 25th March)
      • Case: "Keeping Pace with the local" - case analysis and discussion - presented by Group 6
      • Chapter 7 The IT outsourcing lifecycle and the transition phase
      • Reading: 
        • Tiwari, V. (2009) Transition During Offshore Outsourcing: A Process Model. ICIS 2009. Phoenix, Arizona, USA., International Conference on Information Systems.
      Session 8 : Organisational governance (Tuesday 1st April)
      • Case: "Core banking source" - case analysis and discussion - presented by Group 7
      • Chapter 8 Governance of outsourcing projects
      • Reading: 
        • Vlaar et al. (2008) Cocreating Understanding and Value in Distributed Work: How members of onsite and offshore vendor teams Give, make, demand, and break sense. MIS Quarterly, 32/2, pp. 227-255
      Session 9 : Global, distributed, teams (Tuesday 8th April)
      • Case: "Managing Global Local" - case analysis and discussion - presented by Group 8
      • Chapter 9 Managing globally distributed teams
      • Reading: 
        • Malhotra, A., Majchrzak, A. & Rosen, B. (2007) Leading Virtual Teams. Academy of Management Perspectives, 21, 60-70.
      Session 10 : Emerging issues for sourcing (Tuesday 15th April)
      • Case: "Celtic Tiger, Chinese Dragon" - case analysis and discussion - presented by Group 9
      • Chapter 10 Emerging issues in sourcing strategy
      • Reading: 
        • Panteli, N., Rapti, A., and Scholarios, D. (2019). `if he just knew who we were': Microworkers’ emerging bonds of attachment in a fragmented employment relationship. Work, Employment and Society. 


      Session 11 Activities and class workshop on research projects (Tuesday 22nd April)

      Session 12 Poster presentation and participation in workshop "Why Ireland for EMEA and Operations HQ?" (E201 - Wednesday 30th April 8:30-13:00)
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