Navigating Competition in IT Offshoring Relationships
نویسنده
چکیده
The increased IT offshoring presents many benefits as well as challenges to today's organizations. One major challenge is the competition between the onshore and offshore sites or among the global sites in the offshoring relationship for job security, challenging projects, status and resources. The competition in offshoring relationships is complex and dynamic. Unmanaged or inappropriately managed competition seriously undermines IT offshoring efforts. However, very little research has been conducted in this important area. Organizations and managers urgently need guidance on managing competition in offshoring relationships to reap the benefits of offshoring. This paper analyzes the different drivers and strategies of offshoring, investigates into the reasons and affects of competition in different phases of offshoring and proposes a three-stage model on the evolution of the competition. It is proposed that, as offshoring furthers, competition in the offshoring relationship may evolve in three stages: individual competition, territorial competition and resource competition. At each stage the competition varies in intensity, focus and consequences. This model provides for managers a systematic means to analyze the state of competition in their offshoring relationships and also guidelines on coping with the competition.
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