Global Outsourcing Strategies

An International Reference on Effective Outsourcing Relationships

Publication Date	January 2007
Publisher	Ashgate Publishing
Product Type	Book
Pages	346
ISBN Number	9780566086243
Product Code	ASH00332

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Summary

One of the most significant techniques to which companies and organizations have turned to improve service delivery and reduce costs has been outsourcing. Over the last 10 years, almost any process has been successfully outsourced. But during that period there have been failures too; projects that never realised their objectives or that had unforeseen impact on business.

Global Outsourcing Strategies is a state-of-the-art guide to the best lessons to be learned for successfully implementing and outsourcing projects, or for revisiting existing operations. The 22 chapters explore some of the new areas for outsourcing, after traditional targets such as IT and finance. Information is provided on the different facets of the outsourcing process, such as contract negotiation, the risks involved in outsourcing, the need for service level agreements, the critical requirements needed to build and sustain outsourcing relationships, and ethical supply chain issues. There are also sections exploring the impact of outsourcing on organizational structures; the long term effects; legal issues; management control and inter-firm relationships; as well as case studies from both the public and private sector on the practical side of outsourcing. The book will appeal to practitioners and researchers alike.

This is a must-have guide for any organization approaching outsourcing as a global (or local) strategy and for those organizations now reviewing or developing their outsourcing partnerships.

Content

About the editors
About the contributors
Part I The Nature of Outsourcing and Its Present State: Introduction
The outsourcing decision: A strategic framework
Research on outsourcing: Theoretical perspectives and empirical evidence
Outsourcing: Drivers and future developments
The evolution of outsourcing
Global IT sourcing: Analysis, developments and best practice considerations
Part II The Impact of Outsourcing on Organisational Structures: Introduction
Global technology transfer: Personal experience from GM and the private sector
The relationship between corporate competitiveness strategy, innovation, increased efficiency, productivity growth and outsourcing
Outsourcing: The employee perspective
Outsourcing for a competitive advantage: The human resource dimensions
Part III The Long-term Effects of Outsourcing as an Organisational Driven Process: Introduction
Outsourcing activities in the world economy
SMEs ability to go global - relevance of aggregation and critical e-applications in outsourcing
The economic rationale and labour market effects of outsourcing: A survey
Transforming organisations: An analysis of outsourcing and its effects on trade unions
The materiality of outsourcing
Part IV Outsourcing: Legal Issues, Control and Relationships: Introduction
Legal aspects of outsourcing: An overall perspective
Risk mitigation and outsourcing: Alternative models for managing supply risk
Use of service credits to mediate performance in an outsourcing agreement
Critical requirements for building and sustaining a successful outsourcing relationship
Outsourcing: Ethical supply chain issues
Part V The Practical Side of Outsourcing - The Case Study Approach: Introduction
Clean skin at Kinleith Mill
Key questions to ask when contracting out government services: An application to orderly services
Offshoring and the SME
Index.