The Library
Global multisourcing strategy : the emergence of a supplier portfolio in services offshoring
Tools
Levina, Natalia and Su, Ning (2008) Global multisourcing strategy : the emergence of a supplier portfolio in services offshoring. Decision Sciences, Volume 39 (Number 4). pp. 541-570. doi:10.1111/j.1540-5915.2008.00202.x ISSN 0011-7315.
Research output not available from this repository.
Request-a-Copy directly from author or use local Library Get it For Me service.
Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5915.2008.00202.x
Abstract
In today's global services outsourcing arena, increasing numbers of companies adopt “multisourcing,” that is, they select and combine information technology (IT) and business services from multiple providers. The literature on IT outsourcing and supply chain management has identified critical tradeoffs involved in increasing the number of suppliers and has strongly recommended focusing on a handful of strategic partners to balance these tradeoffs. Committing to a few strategic partners, however, may prevent a firm from discovering new suppliers, or even supply regions. Such missed opportunities may be particularly limiting in the context of offshoring professional services, which has exhibited rapid changes in supplier markets in the last decade. Thus, firms may want to engage in a more intensive multisourcing in services. If they do so, their success will depend on a global sourcing process that effectively addresses the critical tradeoffs involved. To explore how a global sourcing process can support multisourcing, we conducted a qualitative longitudinal case study of a large financial services institution that developed a varied global supply base to obtain offshore professional services. Our analysis results in a theory that emphasizes (i) advantages of a multiple provider strategy in rapidly changing global supply markets; (ii) the critical role of middle managers in enabling continuous innovation in the supplier structure; and (iii) the importance of the global sourcing process combining top–down and bottom–up decision making in multisourcing.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor H Social Sciences > HG Finance |
||||||||||||
Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School > Information Systems & Management Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School |
||||||||||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Offshore outsourcing , Contracting out, Financial services industry -- Contracting out, Strategic planning -- Data processing, Decision making -- Data processing | ||||||||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Decision Sciences | ||||||||||||
Publisher: | Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd. | ||||||||||||
ISSN: | 0011-7315 | ||||||||||||
Official Date: | 11 December 2008 | ||||||||||||
Dates: |
|
||||||||||||
Volume: | Volume 39 | ||||||||||||
Number: | Number 4 | ||||||||||||
Number of Pages: | 29 | ||||||||||||
Page Range: | pp. 541-570 | ||||||||||||
DOI: | 10.1111/j.1540-5915.2008.00202.x | ||||||||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access |
Request changes or add full text files to a record
Repository staff actions (login required)
View Item |