Global Outsourcing Strategies: An International Reference on Effective Outsourcing Relationships

ISBN-13: 9780566086243 / Angielski / Twarda / 2006 / 346 str.

Gervais, Roxane

Opis

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.

Spis treści

Contents: About the editors; About the contributors. Part One The Nature of Outsourcing and Its Present State: 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 Two The Impact of Outsourcing on Organizational Structures: 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 Three The Long-term Effects of Outsourcing as an Organization-Driven Process: Outsourcing activities in the world economy; SMEs' ability to go global: The relevance of aggregation and critical e-applications in outsourcing; The economic rationale and labour market effects of outsourcing: A survey; Transforming organizations: An analysis of outsourcing and its effects on trade unions; The materiality of outsourcing. Part Four Outsourcing - Legal Issues, Control and Relationships: 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: Service level agreements and limitations of liability; Critical requirements for building and sustaining a successful outsourcing relationship; Outsourcing: Ethical supply chain issues. Part Five The Practical Side of Outsourcing - The Case Study Approach: Clean skin at the Kinleith Mill; Key questions to ask when contracting out government services: An application to orderly services; Offshoring and the SME. Index.

O autorze

Peter Barrar is Emeritus Professor at the University of Manchester, UK. Until recently, he held the Chair of Operations Management at Manchester Business School, where he was Associate Dean of Faculty for academic affairs and latterly, Deputy Director. He has also held appointments as Director of the full-time MBA, Director of the Postgraduate Centre and Director of the Centre for Business Research at MBS. Dr Roxane Gervais has many years' experience working in diverse teams, in both public and private sectors, and in international environments. Her previous roles include working for corporations such as IBM and British Airways, as well as working with different consultancy firms to organize and execute research programmes.