IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/sol/wpaper/09-007.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Building the business case for diversity in offshoring

Author

Listed:
  • Carine Peeters
  • Patricia Garcia-Prieto Sol
  • Sébastien Point

Abstract

Offshoring inevitably leads to increased cultural diversity in work relations. Most companies perceive this increased diversity as a risk, a problem that needs to be minimized or remedied for offshoring to succeed. Building on the business case for diversity management literature we propose an alternative positive view of cultural diversity in the context of offshore relationships. We suggest that the increased cultural diversity that offshoring brings can actually be an opportunity companies should recognize and leverage in order to foster business performance. We specifically argue that under certain conditions related to the organizational context, type of project, teams, and tasks offshored, offshore projects driven by innovation might actually hold a unique competitive advantage through the utilization of their team cultural diversity.

Suggested Citation

  • Carine Peeters & Patricia Garcia-Prieto Sol & Sébastien Point, 2009. "Building the business case for diversity in offshoring," Working Papers CEB 09-007.RS, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    • Handle: RePEc:sol:wpaper:09-007
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://dipot.ulb.ac.be/dspace/bitstream/2013/14647/1/rou-0232.pdf
    File Function: rou-0232
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Arie Y Lewin & Silvia Massini & Carine Peeters, 2009. "Why are companies offshoring innovation? The emerging global race for talent," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 40(8), pages 1406-1406, October.
    2. Anil Gurung & Edmund Prater, 2006. "A Research Framework for the Impact of Cultural Differences on IT Outsourcing," Journal of Global Information Technology Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(1), pages 24-43, January.
    3. Arie Lewin & Silvia Massini & Carine Peeters, 2008. "Why are companies offshoring innovation ?the emerging global race for talent," Working Papers CEB 08-009, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    4. Sirkka L. Jarvenpaa & Dorothy E. Leidner, 1999. "Communication and Trust in Global Virtual Teams," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 10(6), pages 791-815, December.
    5. Jody Evans & Felix T Mavondo, 2002. "Psychic Distance and Organizational Performance: An Empirical Examination of International Retailing Operations," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 33(3), pages 515-532, September.
    6. Phillips, Katherine W. & Loyd, Denise Lewin, 2006. "When surface and deep-level diversity collide: The effects on dissenting group members," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 99(2), pages 143-160, March.
    7. Bruce Kogut & Harbir Singh, 1988. "The Effect of National Culture on the Choice of Entry Mode," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 19(3), pages 411-432, September.
    8. Patricia Garcia-Prieto Sol & Erwan Bellard & Susan Schneider, 2003. "Experiencing diversity, conflict and emotions in teams," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/14176, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    9. Kshetri, Nir, 2007. "Institutional factors affecting offshore business process and information technology outsourcing," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 38-56, March.
    10. Arie Lewin & Carine Peeters, 2006. "Offshoring administrative and technical work: business hype or the onset of fundamental strategic and organizational transformation ?," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/9039, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    11. Ikujiro Nonaka, 1994. "A Dynamic Theory of Organizational Knowledge Creation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 5(1), pages 14-37, February.
    12. Janet Fulk & Gerardine DeSanctis, 1995. "Electronic Communication and Changing Organizational Forms," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 6(4), pages 337-349, August.
    13. Karen A. Bantel & Susan E. Jackson, 1989. "Top management and innovations in banking: Does the composition of the top team make a difference?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(S1), pages 107-124, June.
    14. Arie Lewin & Silvia Massini & Carine Peeters, 2009. "Why are companies offshoring innovation the emerging global race for talent (Journal of International Business Studies (2009) 40 (901-925) DOI:10.1057/jibs.2008.92)," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/205625, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    15. Ian C. Macmillan, 1991. "The emerging forum for business policy scholars," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(2), pages 161-165, February.
    16. Tiedens, Larissa Z. & Linton, Susan, 2001. "Judgment under Emotional Uncertainty: The Effects of Specific Emotions and Their Associated Certainty Appraisals on Information Processing," Research Papers 1629, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Florence Duvivier & Carine Peeters, 2011. "The use of expatriates in the offshoring of services - Framework and research propositions," Working Papers CEB 11-059, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    2. Gooris, Julien & Peeters, Carine, 2014. "Home–Host Country Distance in Offshore Governance Choices," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 73-86.
    3. Roza, Marja & Van den Bosch, Frans A.J. & Volberda, Henk W., 2011. "Offshoring strategy: Motives, functions, locations, and governance modes of small, medium-sized and large firms," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 314-323, June.
    4. Elia, Stefano & Massini, Silvia & Narula, Rajneesh, 2019. "Disintegration, modularity and entry mode choice: Mirroring technical and organizational architectures in business functions offshoring," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 417-431.
    5. Lahiri, Somnath & Kedia, Ben L., 2011. "Co-evolution of institutional and organizational factors in explaining offshore outsourcing," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 252-263, June.
    6. Marina Papanastassiou & Robert Pearce & Antonello Zanfei, 2020. "Changing perspectives on the internationalization of R&D and innovation by multinational enterprises: A review of the literature," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 51(4), pages 623-664, June.
    7. Schmeisser, Bjoern, 2013. "A Systematic Review of Literature on Offshoring of Value Chain Activities," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 390-406.
    8. Julien Gooris, 2013. "The impact of host-country environment and home-host country distance on the configuration of international service activities," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/209404, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    9. Julien Gooris & Carine Peeters, 2012. "Home-Host Country Distance and Governance Choices in Service Offshoring," Working Papers ECARES ECARES 2012-007, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    10. Yi-Ju Lo & Tung Hung, 2015. "Structure offshoring and returns on offshoring," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 32(2), pages 443-479, June.
    11. Klaus E. Meyer & Chengguang Li & Andreas P. J. Schotter, 0. "Managing the MNE subsidiary: Advancing a multi-level and dynamic research agenda," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 0, pages 1-39.
    12. Jensen, Peter D. Ørberg, 2012. "A passage to India: A dual case study of activities, processes and resources in offshore outsourcing of advanced services," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 311-326.
    13. Dachs, Bernhard & Kinkel, Steffen & Jäger, Angela, 2019. "Bringing it all back home? Backshoring of manufacturing activities and the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 54(6), pages 1-1.
    14. Stefano Elia & Rajneesh Narula & Silvia Massini, 2015. "Disentangling the Role of Modularity and Bandwidth in Entry Mode Choice: The Case of Business Services Offshoring," John H Dunning Centre for International Business Discussion Papers jhd-dp2015-06, Henley Business School, University of Reading.
    15. Seok Jin Ko, 2019. "The Differing Foreign Entry Mode Choices for Sales and Production Subsidiaries of Multinational Corporations in the Manufacturing Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(15), pages 1-18, July.
    16. Athreye, Suma & Batsakis, Georgios & Singh, Satwinder, 2016. "Local, global, and internal knowledge sourcing: The trilemma of foreign-based R&D subsidiaries," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(12), pages 5694-5702.
    17. Torben Schubert & Elisabeth Baier & Christian Rammer, 2018. "Firm capabilities, technological dynamism and the internationalisation of innovation: A behavioural approach," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 49(1), pages 70-95, January.
    18. Luo, Yadong & Wang, Stephanie Lu & Jayaraman, Vaidyanathan & Zheng, Qinqin, 2013. "Governing business process offshoring: Properties, processes, and preferred modes," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 407-419.
    19. Buckley, Peter J. & Hashai, Niron, 2014. "The role of technological catch up and domestic market growth in the genesis of emerging country based multinationals," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 423-437.
    20. Lewin, Arie Y. & Volberda, Henk W., 2011. "Co-evolution of global sourcing: The need to understand the underlying mechanisms of firm-decisions to offshore," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 241-251, June.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sol:wpaper:09-007. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Benoit Pauwels (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cebulbe.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.