The Office Farther Back: Business Services, Productivity, and the Offshore Back Office

Wilson, Mark

doi:10.1007/978-94-011-0073-1_8

Cited by 13 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…Increasingly, such movements have involved overseas destinations, motivated primarily by the prospect of accessing labour supplies which are both cheaper and frequently of higher quality (in terms of training, reliability and motivation) than those available in the home country. The availability of generous investment incentives has also been an important factor in the o shoring of back-o ce activities (Graham and Marvin, 1996;Wilson, 1995).…”

Section: The Internationalisation Of Back-o Ce Activitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As a result, the amount of o shoring of back-o ces from the USA has been limited: the total numbers involved have been put by Wilson (1995) at no more than 35,000 in the early 1990s. At the same time, Wilson suggests that these movements provide an important pointer to the future direction the global organisation of services production will take.…”

Section: The Internationalisation Of Back-o Ce Activitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In other words, their Irish location is not crucial to the parent companies of these operations; rather, it is contingent on the availability of certain attractions which may either be transient or reproducible elsewhere (Allen, 1999). As Wilson (1995) has noted, call centres are essentially a highly footloose sector, with few local economic linkages and little ®xed investment in machinery and equipment: they therefore can be relocated quite readily in the light of changing comparative factor conditions.…”

Section: Dublin In the International Division Of Labourmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Globalisation, information technology and the emergence of niche transnational cities: the growth of the call centre sector in Dublin

Breathnach

2000

Geoforum

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The development of information and communications technologies (ICT) has facilitated the emergence of a complex global urban system in which many formerly lower-order cities have been carving out``niche'' specialist functions serving urban ®elds of transnational dimension. This is illustrated in the case of Dublin, which in recent years has been transcending its traditional role as IrelandÕs national metropolis through the development of a range of functions servicing mainly European markets. One such function comprises pan-European telephone call centre operations. The development and characteristics of this newly-emerging sector are described. It is argued that the growth of the sector con®rms DublinÕs ± and IrelandÕs ± dependent position in the international division of labour, and that its long-term sustainability is open to question. Ó

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Section: The Internationalisation Of Back-o Ce Activitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Internationalisation Of Back-o Ce Activitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Dublin In the International Division Of Labourmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Globalisation, information technology and the emergence of niche transnational cities: the growth of the call centre sector in Dublin

Breathnach

2000

Geoforum

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“…A logical further step in the relocation of back of ce activities out of the major urban centres has been movement to overseas destinations (Castells 1989;Apte and Mason 1995;Wilson 1995). While the amount of such movement to date has been modest, it does, as Wilson (1995) suggests, provide an important pointer to future trends in the organization of globalized services production.…”

Section: O C a T I O N A L T R E N D S I N B A C K O F F I C E A C mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While the amount of such movement to date has been modest, it does, as Wilson (1995) suggests, provide an important pointer to future trends in the organization of globalized services production. The 'offshoring' of back of ces, while facilitated by falling international transport and communications costs, has been mainly motivated by the prospect of accessing labour supplies which are cheaper, more stable (in terms of turnover) and frequently of higher quality (in terms of training, reliability and motivation) than those available in the countries of origin of these overseas movements (Graham and Marvin 1996).…”

Section: O C a T I O N A L T R E N D S I N B A C K O F F I C E A C mentioning

confidence: 99%

Information Technology, Gender Segmentation and the Relocation of Back Office Employment: The Growth of the Teleservices Sector in Ireland

Breathnach¹

2002

Information, Communication & Society

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A b s t r a c tThe movement of routine back of ce activities from the central business districts of metropolitan regions in advanced economies to remote locations is leading to a distinctive global division of labour in of ce employment. While facilitated by the development of information and communication technologies, this process of relocation is primarily driven by the desire to reduce operating costs, mainly by moving to sources of cheap female workers. This reflects a classic gender segmentation process in patriarchal societies whereby back of ce work is mainly done by women and, accordingly, involves relatively low levels of remuneration. This provides direct parallels with the offshoring of routine manufacturing work associated with the new international division of labour. Ireland has been to the forefront in acting as a host for internationally-mobile routine of ce work, initially involving mainly data processing and, more recently, teleservices. As elsewhere, teleservices employment in Ireland is characterized by a combination of female predominance, low pay, difficult working conditions and high turnover rates. However, the Irish teleservices sector is unusual in its foreign language requirement, the high education levels of workers and its concentration in a prosperous metropolitan location. The resultant labour shortages, combined with growing use of Internet-based business-to-consumer transactions, are likely to place the sustainability of the sector under increasing pressure. Plans to upgrade the types of back of ce functions being located in Ireland may pose further challenges for women workers due to male dominance of the higher-level jobs involved.

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A typology of offshoring and outsourcing in electronically transmitted services

Metters

2007

J of Ops Management

102

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The offshoring and outsourcing of service work from high-wage to low-wage countries has received considerable exposure in the popular press. Some have claimed that virtually all services that can be electronically transmitted should be offshored due to the extreme labor rate differentials. Relatively little work has actually been offshored to date, making empirical assessment difficult.Here, a normative model of the appropriate role of offshoring is proposed. We present a strategic contingency model, to be viewed at the process level, intimating that firms with the same processes should come to different solutions regarding these decisions. #

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The Office Farther Back: Business Services, Productivity, and the Offshore Back Office

Cited by 13 publications

References 7 publications

Globalisation, information technology and the emergence of niche transnational cities: the growth of the call centre sector in Dublin

Globalisation, information technology and the emergence of niche transnational cities: the growth of the call centre sector in Dublin

Information Technology, Gender Segmentation and the Relocation of Back Office Employment: The Growth of the Teleservices Sector in Ireland

A typology of offshoring and outsourcing in electronically transmitted services

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