“…As business practices evolved over the past two decades, to a situation where markets have now become truly globalised (Cohen & Russel, 2013;Willcocks, 2010), supply chain management and outsourcing emerged as key components of many globally-focussed business strategies (Christopher, 2016, Miah, Ahsan & Msimangira, (2014; Pettersson & Segerstedt, 2013;Willcocks, 2011). Outsourcing refers to the delegation of non-core business operations from inside production to outside specialists (Lysons & Farrington, 2012;Quinn, 2000), and is defined as the practice of contracting out a process, such as manufacturing and development, to a third-party organisation Oshri, Kotlarsky & Willcocks, 2015), and a key characteristic of outsourcing is the practice of off-shoring, outsourcing that process to a different country, which has long been recognised as an efficient strategic process for organisations wishing to remain competitive (Jones, 2009;Kang, Wu & Hong, 2009;Mishra & Mahanty, 2014).…”