An exploratory case study of offshore outsourcing: Problems in multicultural settings

Abstract

Outsourcing means using factors which are external to an organization to perform its functions whereas offshore outsourcing relies on using foreign resources to perform those functions. We focus in this paper on offshore outsourcing of information systems (ISs). We have conducted an exploratory case study of outsourcing IS support services. The services have been outsourced by a supplier organization which has been based in Finland. Main parts of its customer support services have been allocated to so-called production centers, which have been located in three countries; Latvia, India, and the Philippines. We have gathered qualitative data from nine experts via theme-based interviews. The empirical data gathering has focused on revealing problems in the outsourcing practices. There were 74 mentions of different kinds of confronted problems. The differences between the studied countries in terms of the typical outsourcing problems have been noted and the results compared to the most important related works. The presented results on the studied thematic issues can be useful in their part for better understanding typical problems related to initiating and organizing similar IS-related offshore outsourcing activities.