Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of boxes
- Notes on contributors
- Preface: the reconfiguration of the world economy
- Part I Conceptual frameworks and theories
- Part II The offshoring and outsourcing of R&D and innovative activities
- Part III Management issues in offshoring and virtual teamwork
- Part IV Empirical analyses and case studies of outsourcing and offshoring
- 12 Offshoring of high-value functions
- 13 Offshoring of IT and business, professional, and technical services
- 14 Outsourcing human resource activities
- 15 Managing core outsourcing to address fast market growth
- 16 Imitative offshoring strategies
- Index
- References
16 - Imitative offshoring strategies
Lessons learnt from the Italian small domestic appliance industry
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 January 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of boxes
- Notes on contributors
- Preface: the reconfiguration of the world economy
- Part I Conceptual frameworks and theories
- Part II The offshoring and outsourcing of R&D and innovative activities
- Part III Management issues in offshoring and virtual teamwork
- Part IV Empirical analyses and case studies of outsourcing and offshoring
- 12 Offshoring of high-value functions
- 13 Offshoring of IT and business, professional, and technical services
- 14 Outsourcing human resource activities
- 15 Managing core outsourcing to address fast market growth
- 16 Imitative offshoring strategies
- Index
- References
Summary
Introduction
Offshoring has been gaining momentum in the managerial and academic discussion of the activity of multinational enterprises (MNEs) and the organization of the value chain. There are several motivations to consider for the centrality of offshoring in the scientific debate. First, this phenomenon spread fast due to facilitating factors such as the diffusion of information and communication technologies (ICT) and the lowering of trade barriers. Second, the rapid diffusion of offshoring has radically changed the structure of many manufacturing and service industries (Davies, 2004).
In practice, the concept of offshoring is used to indicate various phenomena such as delocalization of firm's activities to remote and low-cost countries (Pfannenstein and Tsai, 2004; Robinson and Kalakota, 2004), foreign direct investment (FDI), international manufacturing and, more generally, relocation of value chain activities globally. Building on this broad definition, offshoring is simultaneously a cause and a consequence of international labor division and globalization (Jahns et al., 2006).
Vertical disintegration (Jacobides, 2005) is driven by the desire of firms to match the comparative advantage of foreign locations with their own resources and competencies, so as to maximize their competitive advantage (Kogut, 1985; Mudambi and Venzin, 2008). The definition of entire industries and their competitive dynamics are changing radically, even for those firms that do not modify their level of vertical integration in the home country. On one hand, offshoring modifies the industry structure through the emergence of new intermediaries (and new intermediate markets).
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- Information
- Global Outsourcing and OffshoringAn Integrated Approach to Theory and Corporate Strategy, pp. 411 - 448Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010