Lifecycle of Outsourcing Relationships: A Case Study Investigation

1 Preliminary findings of the same research topic by the same authors were presented in Fifth Annual International Smart-Sourcing Conference held in Los Angeles, CA from September 21-23, 2006 and Proceedings of the 5th International Business Information Management Association Conference, (Ed) Khalid S. Soliman, pp. 863-868.

Abstract

This case study investigates outsourcing relationships between vendors and client. The investigation is focused on issues arising between the vendor and the client after the contract is signed off in general and with the intensity of communication over time and during the outsourcing relationship, in particular. Using a semi-structured interview approach, three cases of multinational fortune-100 firms are studied to shed further light on the aforementioned issues. Our findings suggest that communication intensity decreases whereas the degree of social relationship increases over the lifecycle of a project. We also found that economic project type, whether the project is fixed-cost or time-and-materials, plays a role in project governance. In addition, the role of intermediary managing the outsourcing project appears to be critical to successfully managing the project.

Keywords:

• Outsourcing relationship
• semi-structured interviews
• case study
• communication intensity
• project life cycle
• outsourcing project governance

Notes

1 Preliminary findings of the same research topic by the same authors were presented in Fifth Annual International Smart-Sourcing Conference held in Los Angeles, CA from September 21-23, 2006 and Proceedings of the 5th International Business Information Management Association Conference, (Ed) Khalid S. Soliman, pp. 863-868.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Teuta Cata

Teuta Cata is an Assistant Professor of Business Informatics at Northern Kentucky University. She completed her PhD in MIS at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her teaching and research interests include e-commerce in the financial industry, global IT, outsourcing, and enterprise solutions. Her papers have been published in several journals, and many research papers have been presented at national conferences.

Vijay V. Raghavan

Vijay Raghavan is an Associate Professor of Business Informatics at the Northern Kentucky University. He received his PhD in Business Administration from the Kent State University. He has published in journals such as the Journal of Systems Management, Journal of Information Technology Management, and Managing Software Development. He has consulted with “Fortune-100” firms in the areas of database and intranet technologies. His current research interests are in the areas of project-management control, offshore vendor selection process, and security considerations during software development.