The persistence and transfer of learning in industrial settings
Management Science
Organizational learning curve in software installation: an empirical investigation
Information and Management
Determinants of information technology outsourcing: a cross-sectional analysis
Journal of Management Information Systems
A descriptive study on the outsourcing of information systems functions
Information and Management
Productivity and information technology: the elusive connection
Management Science
A transaction cost approach to outsourcing behavior: some empirical evidence
Information and Management
Employment outsourcing in information systems
Communications of the ACM
How the Learning Curve Affects CASE Tool Adoption
IEEE Software
A transaction cost model of IT outsourcing
Information and Management
Information systems outsourcing: a survey and analysis of the literature
ACM SIGMIS Database
Information systems outsourcing: a study of pre-event firm characteristics
Journal of Management Information Systems
A US Client's learning from outsourcing IT work offshore
Information Systems Frontiers
HICSS '09 Proceedings of the 42nd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences
The strategic value of IT insourcing: An IT-enabled business process perspective
The Journal of Strategic Information Systems
Organizational Learning and Capabilities for Onshore and Offshore Business Process Outsourcing
Journal of Management Information Systems
Influence of Industry Characteristics on Information Technology Outsourcing
Journal of Management Information Systems
Organizational Learning and Capabilities for Onshore and Offshore Business Process Outsourcing
Journal of Management Information Systems
Hi-index | 0.00 |
We use an economic learning model to examine how knowledge parameters characterizing a sourcing relationship between a vendor and a client interact with production costs and coordination costs to affect the business value of alternative outsourcing strategies. This information is then used to determine a firm's optimal rate of information technology (IT) outsourcing. We find that the optimal outsourcing rate is dependent on the ability of the outsourcing client to acquire production knowledge from its outsourcing vendor and to retain its internal coordination knowledge despite losses of fundamental production skills due to outsourcing. Specifically, when the client is unable to acquire sufficient production knowledge from the external vendor, the client's optimal outsourcing decision is to engage in either one of two extreme strategies-total insourcing or total outsourcing-depending on the rate at which the client's coordination knowledge depreciates. On the other hand, when the client is able to acquire a substantial amount of production knowledge from the external vendor, the firm's optimal decision is to outsource only a portion of its IT services, where the proportion depends on the rate at which the client's coordination knowledge depreciates.