Outsourcing Research: Towards More Informed Practice

This book, with its companion volume The Practice of Outsourcing: From Information Systems To BPO and Offshoring (Palgrave, 2009), draws upon rich case and survey research conducted between 1988 and 2008, a period that saw the rise of outsourcing to a global phenomenon. We, along with our co-authors, have examined every aspect of information technology outsourcing and most twists and turns in the market and practice, from both client and supplier perspectives. Academic research methods are extremely well equipped to explore and diagnose contemporary organizations. One fundamental aim we have shared has been to improve practice by disseminating the behaviors, arrangements and lessons that differentiated successful from failed sourcing outcomes. Our research base comprises literally hundreds of organizations from around the world across both private and public sectors. Our initial research projects focused on IT outsourcing. Since 1988, we have interviewed over 1,000 client and supplier stakeholders in over 500 organizations in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific and conducted five large-scale sample surveys. Our primary co-authors have been Sara Cullen, Wendy Currie, David Feeny, Guy Fitzgerald, Eric Van Heck, John Hindle, Rudy Hirschheim, Thomas Kern, Julia Kotlarsky, Ilan Oshri, Peter Reynolds, Joseph Rottman and Peter Seddon.