Outsourcing Information Systems (SAGE Library in Business and Management)

Product Description Domestic and global outsourcing is prescribed for everything from back office services like information technology development, human resource transactions, and indirect procurement to core services such as innovation, research and development, marketing and customer care. While the vision of global sourcing using multiple suppliers that are agile, effective, and cost efficient is certainly achievable, it requires an immense amount of detailed management to make it work. Not surprisingly, outsourcing IT and back office functions, especially, has received immense attention in trade journals, the media and in supplier and consulting marketing outlets. This has led to a cacophony of opinions on what works and what does not, and what the record actually is on outsourcing strategy and implementation. Outsourcing Information Systems brings together the papers that combined contribute a detailed understanding of how outsourcing of IS and back office functions has developed, and is likely to develop, the theories that can be applied to this field of study, the mistakes committed and learning achieved, and insights into what really does work. Leslie Willcocks and Mary Lacity have carefully selected in-depth analyses of the major forms of sourcing and related managerial practices from rigorously researched and objective sources based in the academic literature to provide a comprehensive and up-to-date resource for researchers and practioners both. About the Author Leslie Willcocks is Professor in Technology Work and Globalization and Director of the Outsourcing Unit at London School of Economics and Political Science. He is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Information Technology. He has a global reputation for his work in outsourcing, global strategy, organizational change and managing digital business. He has researched, educated and advised major corporations and governments globally on these issues for 25 years, and is co-author of 43 books and over 230 refereed journal papers on these subjects. He has recently published Outsourcing – All You Need To Know (White Plume). Forthcoming books include Nine Keys to World Class BPO (Bloomsbury, forthcoming) and South Africa’s BPO Service Advantage: Becoming Strategic in the Global Marketplace (Palgrave, forthcoming). Mary Lacity is Curators’ Distinguished Professor at the University of Missouri-Saint Louis. She has held visiting positions at the London School of Economics, Washington University, and Oxford University. She has co-authored 24 books, most recently Willcocks, L. and Lacity, M. (2016), Service Automation: Robots and the Future of Work, Brooks Publishing, UK.