Global Multisourcing Strategy: Integrating Learning from Manufacturing into IT Service Outsourcing

IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, Volume: 58, Issue: 4, November 2011, Special Issue: The Impacts of Global Information Systems Sourcing on Engineering, Technology and Innovation Management, pp. 717-729.

38 Pages Posted: 28 Mar 2011 Last revised: 25 Jun 2014

See all articles by Ning Su

Ning Su

University of Western Ontario - Richard Ivey School of Business

Natalia Levina

New York University (NYU) - Department of Information, Operations, and Management Sciences

Date Written: March 24, 2011

Abstract

“Multisourcing” is emerging as an important strategy in today’s global information technology (IT) service outsourcing arena. The existing literature on IT services provides only limited understanding of this phenomenon. However, in the manufacturing domain, a similar concept, supply base management, has been extensively examined, especially in the operations management (OM) literature. In this study, we integrate related research in service and manufacturing to investigate how to successfully pursue IT service multisourcing. Specifically, we first conceptualize a firm’s multisourcing supply base along the dimensions of breadth and depth, and theorize about the impact of these two dimensions on outsourcing outcome. Second, based on this theoretical framework, we analyze four configurations of multisourcing supply base. Finally, we use case studies of two global financial services firms to illustrate the evolution of these configurations and identify patterns of multisourcing strategy in IT services.

Keywords: IT Outsourcing, Multisourcing Strategy, Supply Base, Service Supply Chain

Suggested Citation

Su, Ning and Levina, Natalia, Global Multisourcing Strategy: Integrating Learning from Manufacturing into IT Service Outsourcing (March 24, 2011). IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, Volume: 58, Issue: 4, November 2011, Special Issue: The Impacts of Global Information Systems Sourcing on Engineering, Technology and Innovation Management, pp. 717-729. , Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1794544

Ning Su (Contact Author)

University of Western Ontario - Richard Ivey School of Business ( email )

1151 Richmond Street North
London, Ontario N6A 3K7
Canada

Natalia Levina

New York University (NYU) - Department of Information, Operations, and Management Sciences ( email )

44 West Fourth Street
New York, NY 10012
United States

HOME PAGE: http://https://wp.nyu.edu/natalialevina/

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