Separable but not equal: The location determinants of discrete services offshoring activities

Abstract

In this paper we explore the question of why firms offshore particular services to specific geographic locations. We draw on research related to the unique characteristics of services in trade and commerce, and more recent analyses of the transnational unbundling and spatial dispersion of business processes. We move beyond a simple assessment of the cost sensitivity or relative sophistication of offshoring services and develop a typology emphasizing the degree to which offshoring services activities are interactive, repetitive, or innovative. We suggest that the location of offshoring projects will depend on the particular mix of these attributes, and test this assertion using a data set of 595 export-oriented offshore services projects initiated from 2002 to 2005 by US and UK company parents in 45 developed and developing countries. We find that offshore location choices greatly depend on these services characteristics, and in sometimes surprising ways, and draw implications from our findings for international business theory, policy, and practice. Journal of International Business Studies (2009) 40, 926–943. doi:10.1057/jibs.2008.89

Internalisation Theory and Outward Direct Investment by Emerging Market Multinationals

“…A common language facilitates business by improving communication and bridging cultural and psychic distance (Bond and Yang 1982;Doh et al 2009). Recently, language has been found to be an important driver of foreign direct investment (Akkermans et al 2010;Doh et al 2009;Feely and Harzing 2002) as it can reduce transaction costs (Buckley and Casson 1976;Williamson 1981) and facilitate business exchange (Doh et al 2009).…”

“…Recently, language has been found to be an important driver of foreign direct investment (Akkermans et al 2010;Doh et al 2009;Feely and Harzing 2002) as it can reduce transaction costs (Buckley and Casson 1976;Williamson 1981) and facilitate business exchange (Doh et al 2009). We argue that proficiency in the English language by Indian youth is also a CSA on which many Indian firms can draw to create strong internal labour markets.…”

Englishization in offshore call centers: A postcolonial perspective

“…We encourage studies of this industry (e.g. Demirbag et al, 2012;Doh et al, 2009;Lewin et al, 2009;Manning, 2014) to look beyond strategic and operational issues and to work towards developing our understanding of the ways in which, and extent to which, offshore outsourcing arrangements are reproducing old patterns of imperial domination, and to what effect.…”

“…As relatively little was (and still is) known about work in this industry (Doh et al, 2009;Manning, 2014), we entered the field with an open mind and used a qualitative research methodology. Our aim was to capture the rarely heard voices of those working within an industry that is known to be exploitative (Levy, 2005) and typically requiring employees not only to work in a different (Western) language but also, curiously, to pose as Westerners and, in the case of call center work, to mimic their accents over the phone (see Das & Dharwadkar, 2009;Mirchandani, 2004;Poster, 2007).…”

Moderating effects of the relationship between offshore outsourcing and the export capability of firms

“…At the company level, many empirical studies have examined the factors that determine a firm's export performance (Doh, Bunyaratavej & Hahn, 2009), but few have researched offshore outsourcing as one of these factors (Mol et al, 2005;Di Gregorio, Musteen & Thomas, 2009). …”