International offshoring of services: A parity study

Upgrading Local Economies in Central and Eastern Europe? The Role of Business Service Foreign Direct Investment in the Knowledge Economy

“…For example, firms frequently offshore to improve processes and high quality work potentially results in improved services and products (Currie et al, 2008). Bunyaratavej et al (2007) and Stringfellow et al (2008) argue that visible costs are only part of the total costs. Therefore wage differentials may not be the only factor that firms use to consider where to offshore their services.…”

International R&D service outsourcing by technology-intensive firms: Whether and where?

“…First, they are increasing the range of activities along the value chain that are outsourced (Gilley & Rasheed, 2000;Hätonen & Eriksson, 2009;Hitt, Keats, & De Marie, 1998;Jacobides, 2005;Kotabe & Murray, 2004;Quinn & Hilmer, 1994) including areas that were traditionally vertically integrated, such as those related to the innovation process (Cesaroni, 2004;Gooroochurn & Hanley, 2007;Granstrand, Patel, & Pavitt, 1997;Howells, Gagliardi, & Malik, 2008;Leiblein, Reuer, & Dalsace, 2002;Manning, Massini, & Lewin, 2008;Narula, 2001;Quinn, 2000;Subramaniam & Venkatraman, 2001;Tsai & Wang, 2009;UNCTAD, 2005;Veugelers, 1997). Second, firms are increasingly outsourcing innovating activities offshore, not only to providers located in developed countries but also to those in developing ones (Bunyaratavej, Hahn, & Doh, 2007;Doh, 2005;Dossani & Kenney, 2007;Javalgi, Dixit, & Scherer, 2009;Jensen, 2009;Kedia & Mukherjee, 2009;Kotabe & Mudambi, 2009;Mol, Pauwels, Matthyssens, & Quintens, 2004;Mol, van Tulder, & Beije, 2005;Un, 2009). 3 As a consequence, the R&D function is being disintegrated into different technologically separable R&D services (Fosfuri & Roca, 2002;Gottfredson et al, 2005;Howells et al, 2008) that can be performed in different locations either by the firm or by an external contractor (Arora & Gambardella, 2005;Hirshfeld & Schmid, 2005;Levy, 2005;…”

“…On the one hand, empirical studies analyzing the R&D outsourcing decisions by technological firms tended to overlook the location dimension (Afuah, 2001;Hitt et al, 1998;Leiblein & Miller, 2003;Mayer & Salomon, 2006;Mol, 2005;Narula, 2001;Pisano, 1990;Veugelers & Cassiman, 1999). On the other, those studies more focused on the location decision either tended to analyze only FDI or internal modes of governance (captive offshoring) (Belderbos, 2001;Berry, 2006;Bunyaratavej et al, 2007;Cantwell, 1995;Demirbag & Glaister, 2010;Doh, Bunyaratavej, & Hahn, 2009;Kuemmerle, 1999;Odagiri & Yasuda, 1996;Piscitello & Santangelo, 2010;von Zedwitz & Gassmann, 2002) or to analyze the offshoring phenomenon in the aggregate without distinguishing between internal (captive offshoring) and external (outsource offshoring) modes of governance (Dossani & Kenney, 2003;Lewin & Couto, 2007;Lewin et al, 2009;Manning et al, 2008;Mudambi, 2008).…”

Offshoring of Information-Based Services: Structural Breaks in Industry Life Cycles

“…Consistent with product life-cycle theory, competition is intensified in the case where products are already standardized (Vernon, 1966). Hence, we would expect competitive pressures drive firms to offshore to locations where they are able to produce services with appropriately qualified personnel but at a discounted cost (Bunyaratavej et al 2007).…”

“…For example, Gefen and Carmel (2008) and Levina and Vaast (2008) find that cost containment is only one of several firm considerations and that cultural factors, language, and previous client/vendor relationship have important effects (see also Bunyaratavej et al 2007). Authors such as Murray and Kotabe (1999) and Wang (2002) examined the role of transaction costs associated with services, arguing that the intensity and nature of transaction costs drives what and how much is offshored or outsourced.…”