Humour: Outsourcing a core business process...

The risks of outsourcing a core business process.

(humour): Impact of BPO

Seriously though, if the organisation hasn't solved it's internal business processes how can it expect the outsourced business process to be any better when serviced from a remote location or automation?

Crowdsourcing news

The incredibly successful Pebble project organised through Kickstarter has reached two important milestones! Shipping the physical units and getting the complementary Apps into the Apple App Store and Google Play. (link).

In other news, consider the implications for new kinds of user generated data in services such as ESRI's Health Information Map (link).

And Crowdsourcing.org is currently running an industry survey of the crowdfunding phenomenon (link).

Exercise: What is Crowdsourcing?

Goal
Come up with a working definition of crowdsourcing.

Comments
Can be run in groups or as class exercise with someone writing up definitions and examples on blackboard. There are no wrong answers, just build up a list, tabulate and provide back to the class

Instructions
1. Ask members of the class to brainstorm the meaning of crowdsourcing. (3 minutes)
2. Write down and display this list of definitions and examples.

Definitions
Quotes below from (Howe, 2008).

"Crowdsourcing isn't a single strategy. It's an umbrella term for a highly varied group of approaches that share one obvious attribute in common: they all depend on some contribution from the crowd."

"A community that forms around a shared interest, shared passion, hobby, craft"
"When a company takes something that was once performed by employees and outsources in the form of an open call to a large group of undefined group of people, generally using the internet"

"Crowdsourcing is Wikipedia with 'everything'"

...
...

Examples
...
...
...
...

References:

• Howe, J. (2008) Crowdsourcing: Why the power of the crowd is driving the future of business.
• Crowd-sourced gamers advance AIDS research (link) By Ben Coxworth, 16:45 September 20, 2011

Background Readings

Books on Offshoring and Outsourcing:

Oshri, I. (2011). Offshoring Strategies: Evolving Captive Center Models (MIT Press)
Oshri, I., Kotlarsky, J. & Willcocks, L. P. (2009) The Handbook of Global Outsourcing and Offshoring, Palgrave Macmillan.
Carmel, E. and P. Tija (2005). Offshoring Information Technology: Sourcing and Outsourcing to a Global Workforce. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Lacity, M. C. and L. P. Willcocks (2001). Global Information Technology Outsourcing. Chichester, Wiley & Sons.
Sahay, S., B. Nicholson, et al. (2003). Global IT Outsourcing: Software Development Across Borders. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Trauth, E.M.(2000). The Culture of an Information Economy: Influences and Impacts in the Republic of Ireland, Dordrecht, Netherlands, Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Academic Articles on Offshoring and Outsourcing:

• Lewin, A. Y. & Peeters, C. (2006) Offshoring work: Business hype or the onset of fundamental transformation? Long Range Planning, 39, 221-239.
• Willcocks, L., Lacity, M. & Cullen, S. (2007) Information Technology Sourcing Research: Critique, Lessons and Prospects. Americas' Conference on Information Systems 2007. Keystone, Colorado, Paper 359.
• O'Riain S. (1997). "The Birth of a Celtic Tiger" Communications of the ACM, 40(3): 11-16.
• Carme, E. & Abbott, P. (2007) Why "Nearshore" Means that Distance Matters. Communications of the ACM, 50, 40-46.
• Levina, N. & Ross, J. W. (2003) From the Vendor's Perspective: Exploring the Value Proposition in Information Technology Outsourcing. MIS Quarterly, 27, 331-364.
• Feeny, D., Lacity, M. & Willcocks, L. P. (2005) Taking the Measure of Outsourcing Providers. Sloan Management Review, 46, 41-48.
• 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.
• Cullen, S., Seddon, P. & Willcocks, L. P. (2005) Managing Outsourcing: The Life Cycle Imperative. MIS Quarterly Executive, 4, 229-246.
• Lacity, M. C., Willcocks, L. P. & Rottman, J. W. (2008) Global outsourcing of back office services: lessons, trends, and enduring challenges. Strategic Outsourcing, 1, 13-34.
• Walsham, G. (2002) Cross-Cultural Software Production and Use: A structurational Analysis. MIS Quarterly, 26, 359-380.
• Oshri, I., Kotlarsky, J. & Willcocks, L. P. (2007) Managing Dispersed Expertise in IT Offshore Outsourcing: Lessons from Tata Consultancy Services. MIS Quarterly Executive, 6.
• Ågerfalk, P. R. J. & Fitzgerald, B. (2008) Outsourcing to an Unknown Workforce: Exploring opensourcing as a global sourcing strategy. MIS Quarterly, 32, 385-409.
• Gefen, D. & Carmel, E. (2008) Is the World Really Flat? A Look at Offshoring at an Online Programming Marketplace. MIS Quarterly, 32, 367-384.

---

Supplimentary Readings

• Dibbern, J., T. Goles, et al. (2004). "Information systems outsourcing: a survey and analysis of the literature." Communications of the ACM, SIGMIS, 35(4): 6-102.
• Rao, M. T. (2004). "Key issues for global IT sourcing: country and individual factors." Information Systems Management 21(3): 16-21.
• Lee, J., M. Q. Huynh, et al. (2003). "IT outsourcing evolution? past, present, and future." Communications of the ACM 46(5): 84-89.
• Loh, L. and Venkatraman, N. (1992). "Diffusion of Information Technology Outsourcing: Influence Sources and the Kodak Effect." Information Systems Research 3(4): 334-358.
• Applegate, L. M., and Montealegre, R.(1991). "Eastman Kodak: Managing Information Systems Through Strategic Alliances." Harvard Business School, Boston, MA, Case 9-192-030.
• Lacity, M.C. and Hirshheim, R. (1993). "The Information Systems Outsourcing Bandwagon." Sloan Management Review 35(1): 73-86.
• Willcocks, L. and Choi C.J. (1995) "Cooperative partnership and 'total' IT Outsourcing: from contractual obligation to strategic alliance." European Management Journal 13(1): 67-78.
• Willcocks, L.P. and Kern, T. (1998) "IT outsourcing as strategic partnering: the case of the UK Inland Revenue." European Journal of Information Systems 7: 29-45.
• Heeks, R. and Nicholson, B. (2004). "Software export success factors and strategies in 'follower' nations". Competition and Change 8(3): 267-303.
• Heeks R. (1999) "Software strategies in developing countries" Communications of the ACM 42(6): 15-20.
• Willcocks, L. &; Choi, C. (1995). "Coopreative partnership and 'total' outsourcing: from contractual obligation to strategic alliance?" European Management Journal, 13(1): 67-78.
• Carmel, E. (2006) "Building your Information Systems from the Other Side of the World: How Infosys manages time differences." MIS Quarterly - Executive 5(1): 43-53.
• Carmel, E. and Agarwal, R. (2001) "Tactical approaches for alleviating distance in global software development". IEEE Software, 18(2): 22-29.
• Kumar K. and Willcocks L. (1996) "Offshore outsourcing: a country too far?" Proceedings of the 4th European Conference on Information Systems, Lisbon, Portugal, July 2-4, pp. 1309-1325.
• Krishna, S., Sahay, S. and Walsham G. (2004) "Managing cross-cultural issues." Communications of the ACM 47(4): 62-66.
• Nicholson, B. and Sahay, S. (2004) "Embedded knowledge and offshore software development." Information and Organisation 14(2004): 329-365.
• Handy C. (1995) "Trust and the virtual organization" Harvard Business Review, 73(3): 40-50.
• van Welsum, D., and Vickery, G. (2004) "Potential Offshoring of ICT-Intensive Using Occupations", DSTI/ICCP/IE(2004)19/FINAL, OECD, Paris, 2005
• van Welsum, D., and Vickery, G. (2004b) "New Perspectives on ICT Skills and Employment," DSTI/ICCP/IE(2004)10FINAL, OECD, Paris, 2005
• Hirschheim, R., Loebbecke, C., Newman, M. and Valor J. (2005). "Offshoring and Its Implications for the Information Systems Discipline." Proceedings of the 26th International Conference on Information Systems, Las Vegas, Nevada, pp. 1003-1018.
• Davis, G., Ein-Dor, P., King, W., and Torkzadeh, R. "IT Offshoring: History, Prospects and Challenges." Proceedings of the 25th International Conference on Information Systems, R. Agarwal, L. Kirsch, and J. I. DeGross (Eds.), Washington, DC, December 2004, pp. 1027-1038.
• Stack, M. and Downing, R. "Another look at Offshoring. Which jobs are at risk and why?" Business Horizons 48(6): 513-523.
• Soliman, K.S., Chen, L. and Frolick, M. N. (2003) "ASP's: do they work?" Information Systems Management, 20(4): 50-57.
• Hirschheim R. and Lacity M. (2000) "The Myths and Realities of Information Technology Insourcing." Communications of the ACM, 43(2): 99-107.
• NeoIT (2005) "Research Summary: Mapping Offshore Markets Update 2005." Offshore Insights Market Report Series 3(8)
• Carmel, E. and Abbott, P. (2006) "Configurations of Global Software Development: Offshore versus Nearshore". In Proceedings of the International Workshop on Global Software Development for the Practitioner (GSD '06). 20-28 May, Shanghai, China.

Exercise: Sourcing Concepts - Word Association

Sourcing Concepts - Word Association

What is sourcing?

Consider the following words and concepts associated with sourcing activities and outsourcing industry:

Outsourcing & Economic Development
Managing Distance/Time
Managing Cross-cultural Issues
Managing Knowledge Transfer
The Politics of Outsourcing
Sourcing Models
Offshoring
Offshore Outsourcing
Near Shoring
Crowd Sourcing
Open Source
Captive Centres
Supplier/Customer/Client
Life Cycle
Multi-Sourcing
Service Providers
Cloud Sourcing
In-Sourcing
Trust
Commodity
Capability
Communication
ASP's (Application Service Providers)
Backsourcing (insourcing)
BPO & Nearshoring
Sea sourcing
Farm sourcing

Outsourcing Modes: Deciding: Interrelated: Managing the Relationship: Outsourcing and Economic Development: Managing Distance and Time: Managing Across Cultures: Managing Knowledge Transfer: The Politics of Outsourcing: Outsourcing and Offshoring Trends.

Why Global Sourcing?

I argue that the sourcing phenomenon is an intrinsic feature of human societies that is amplified by scientific advance, manufacturing innovation, technology more generally, and accelerated in the modern era of computer based infrastructures, high-tech products and services.

What organizational activities and products are amenable to sourcing beyond the traditional boundaries of organizations? And if activities and products can be sourced beyond the boundaries of the organisation what models or modes can be used?

Outsourcing isn't a business fad, it is a fundamental part of modern industrial production. Capital based manufacturing and production of goods and services is predicated on the basic idea of a division of labour. Specialised stages of manufacture, in other words a supply or value chain exist when skilled work is applied to some material, goods or activity to add value until an end point when the good or service is consumed. All industrial and professional specialisation represents therefore a kind of outsoucing. No one organisation, firm or individual has within its power the totality of knowledge, skills, resources, effort and time to produce everything we need or desire. Sourcing has therefore been and remains an intrinsic aspect work (labour and production) in society, from the most rural to the most metropolitan.

What therefore is sourcing? Consider the following definition:

“Sourcing is the act through which work is contracted or delegated to an external or internal entity that could be physically located anywhere. Sourcing encompasses various in-sourcing and outsourcing arrangements such as offshore outsourcing, captive offshoring, nearshoring and onshorning.” (Oshri et. al, 2009)

In light of the prominence and pervasiveness of inter-firm sourcing what are the advantages and disadvantages of different sourcing modes and how are they justified and applied in historical and contemporary settings? The current situation is never completely estranged from its historical contexts. Historical trends in global sourcing lead in to current topics and help to explain how local conditions have evolved.

For one reason or another various sourcing modes have proved more successful in particular industries and in particular locations. The relationship between technology trends and the emergence of expanding arrays of options around sourcing of product components and services offer one set of explanations, explanations such as the irresistible imperative of technology driven change or particular organisational structures. Other ways of understanding the success of sourcing through uncertain contextual conditions and processes of emerging knowledge adapting to and taking advantage of unique situations and knowledge.

An interpretation of global sourcing discourse that managers can use effectively should be more than the straight application of technological recipes, formulas, methods, rules, and organisational templates. Reflective actors will always seek to identify the interests involved, to be aware of who benefits (or looses) in order to juxtapose and evaluate among the various strategic decisions between in-house and outsourced delivery. Sourcing initiatives may proceed smoothly but if not what remedial measures can be employed addressing the organizational and technological issues relating to global sourcing?

The reflective manager has a broad palette of concepts and frameworks for interpreting and deciding sourcing cases. However this area of organisational operations is constantly evolving and changing and so the manager must be adept at identifying emerging trends in sourcing relationships that are likely to be important in the future with implications for current situations. In this way involved actors can merge theory with context, against a historical backdrop, extrapolate and justify the implications of changing sourcing arrangements in complex inter-organizational relationships.

References
Oshri, I., Kotlarsky, J. & Willcocks, L. P. (2009) The Handbook of Global Outsourcing and Offshoring, Palgrave Macmillan.

Simplified Grade Descriptor

Simplified grade descriptor for grading standard.

A+/A
The report is complete and covers all important topics.
Appropriate significance is attached to the information presented.
There is a compelling logic to the report that reveals clear insight and understanding of the issues.
Analytical techniques used are appropriate and correctly deployed.
The analysis is convincing, complete and enables creative insight.
The report is written in a clear, lucid, thoughtful and integrated manner-with complete grammatical accuracy and appropriate transitions.

A-/B+
The report is complete and covers all important topics.
Appropriate significance is attached to the information presented.
There is a clear logic to the report that reveals insight.
Analytical techniques used are appropriate and correctly deployed.
The analysis is convincing, complete and enables clear insight.
The report is written in a clear, lucid, and thoughtful manner-with a high degree of grammatical.

B/B-
The report is substantially complete, but an important aspect of the topic is not addressed.
The report used information in a way that was inappropriate. There is a clear logic to the report.
Analytical techniques are deployed appropriately.
The analysis is clear and the authors draw clear, but not comprehensive conclusions for their analyses.
The report is written in a clear, lucid and thoughtful manner, with a good degree of grammatical accuracy.

C
The report is incomplete, with important aspects not addressed.
The report frequently used information that was substantially inappropriate or inappropriately deployed.
The report’s analysis is incomplete and authors fail to draw relevant conclusions.
The report is poorly written.

F
The report is substantially incomplete.
Whatever information provided is used inappropriately.
There is little analysis and the report is inconclusive.
The report is poorly written and presented.