The objective of this literature review is to provide a background and a synthesis of existing studies conducted on IT outsourcing. The IT outsourcing trend has become increasingly popular and heavily documented and studied in Europe and the USA. It is therefore appropriate and timely to consider the value and incidence of IT outsourcing in Australian organisations. The literature review deals with the impetus for outsourcing and factors contributing to its success. It covers two useful theoretical frameworks, transactional cost theory, and resource‐based theory that facilitate research into outsourcing.
Using a sample of 563 Australian professionals currently working overseas, we investigate the relationships between intention to repatriate and national identity, demographic variables, quality of life, career advancement, personal networks, social context, and situational characteristics. Our findings show that national identity, length of time already spent overseas, quality of life available in the home country, employment in a multinational enterprise (MNE) and expatriate location were predictive of intention to repatriate to Australia. This research has implications for individuals, employers and government policy with regard to the management of talent flows of skilled workers.
Australia has a high level of cultural diversity, particularly within the manufacturing sector. Yet the management of cultural diversity in Australia has only been mediocre. The aim of this study was to examine whether human resource diversity management practices in the Australian manufacturing sector have improved since the previous study by D'Netto and Sohal (1999). The intervening period has been characterised by the progression of diversity management research and practice from nascency to acceptance as a mature sub‐field of management and human resource management. In addition, significant changes have occurred in the manufacturing sector. The results of our study of 119 manufacturing organisations indicated that positive changes in HR diversity management have occurred with the passage of time. The overall performance of manufacturing organisations in Australia, with respect to the use of human resource diversity management practices is no longer ‘mediocre’ and can now be classified as ‘above average’. While there is still considerable scope for improvement, especially in the area of recruitment, we found that employers in the Australian manufacturing sector value diversity and recognise the benefits of diversity. We explain the findings of our study and discuss the implications for future research.
In Australia, popular discussion of the growing market in outsourcing information technology (IT) has been spurred by decisions of several large companies and the Australian government to outsource IT operations, but there has been little academic research into outsourcing in Australia. This chapter reports research into Australian IT outsourcing based on data collected in 1999. The research objectives were to measure the incidence of outsourcing among Australian firms, identify the functions outsourced, the reasons why managers considered outsourcing, the costs and benefits of outsourcing, possible changes in modes of and motivations for outsourcing and factors that are associated with successful outsourcing arrangements. The nature of and motivations for outsourcing have evolved; for example, cost saving is not (if it ever was) the prime motivator. The three most important factors driving outsourcing in Australia are access to skills, improved service quality and increasing managers’ ability to focus on core business activities. Decisions to outsource are weakly correlated with company size, but are not related to industry sectors. The factors most associated with successful IT outsourcing were the cultural match between the vendor and client, and the nature of the contractual arrangements—partnerships are more fruitful than rigidly interpreted black letter contracts. Outsourcing (not just of IT) is becoming increasingly popular; we suggest reasons for this and propose further research. The research used quantitative and qualitative data. A survey was used to collect data from 277 informants, and six interviews were used to explore managers’ reasons for outsourcing and relate these to the success of outsourcing arrangements. Outsourcing of many business processes (not just IT) is becoming increasingly frequent in Australia. Where appropriate, themes are illustrated by outsourcing activities other than IT.
In Australia, popular discussion of the growing market in outsourcing information technology (IT) has been spurred by decisions of several large companies and the Australian government to outsource IT operations but there has been little academic research into IT outsourcing in Australia. This paper reports on research into Australian IT outsourcing based on data collected in 1999. The primary research objectives were to identify the IT functions that were outsourced and the reasons for outsourcing. Secondary research objectives were ascertaining the incidence of IT outsourcing amongst Australian organisations, the costs and benefits of IT outsourcing, possible changes in modes of and motivations for IT outsourcing and factors that are associated with successful IT outsourcing arrangements. The research used quantitative and qualitative methods. A survey was used to collect data from 277 informants. Six interviews were used to explore managers’ reasons for outsourcing and relate these to the success of outsourcing arrangements. The nature of and motivations for outsourcing have evolved; for example, cost saving is not (if it ever was) the prime motivator. The three most important factors driving outsourcing in Australia are access to skills, improved service quality and increasing managers’ ability to focus on core business activities. Decisions to outsource were weakly associated with company size but not with industry sectors. The factors most associated with successful IT outsourcing were the cultural match between the service provider and client, and the nature of the contractual arrangements–partnerships are more fruitful than rigidly interpreted black letter contracts. Outsourcing (not just of IT) is becoming increasingly popular; we suggest reasons for this and propose further research.
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