The main motivations of this thesis are to bring new insights into the different forms of international assignment in a non-multinational context. For this purpose, the dissertation provides new evidence on the roles of different forms of international assignees in offshore insourcing and outsourcing arrangements. The thesis is based on four research essays. The first chapter develops a conceptual framework that links the extent of international assignments to the characteristics of service offshoring strategies in terms of drivers, task complexity, governance mode, and host country location. We argue that offshoring strategies are associated with different needs for control, coordination and transfer of tacit knowledge. Those needs are in turn best served by using a different combination of international assignments. The model suggests that opting for extensive international transfers when the offshoring strategy does not require doing so, exposes firms to unnecessary extra costs. On the contrary, limiting the use of international transfers below the level required to guarantee cross-border control, coordination and knowledge transfer increases the risk of not being able to integrate the offshored services. Therefore, the adequate use of various forms of international assignments (such as expatriation, inpatriation and virtual assignments) constitutes an important capability for the offshoring organization to be able to integrate globally dispersed value chain activities whilst at the same time containing costs. The aim of Chapter 2 is to develop a comprehensive integrative framework that provides a deeper understanding of the use of expatriates and inpatriates to exert control in the specific context of offshore outsourcing. This study extends the agency theory by investigating different practices used by expatriates and inpatriates to exert control on third party providers in order to reduce the agency problems of the client-provider relationships. The research approach consists of an exploratory qualitative study of 32 offshore outsourcing initiatives from 32 companies located in Belgium. The model suggests that even though expatriates and inpatriates play a vital role in exerting control through different strategic control practices implemented in the client company or the third-party provider, they may differ in various matters. Companies prefer to use inpatriates than expatriates as the latter is difficult to find, costly, have an attitude of dominance, and have difficulties in adjusting to the new environment. The specific advantage of using inpatriates is that they provide unique understanding and insight into ‘why things are happening’, which is difficult for expatriates to decipher. This emphasises that the process of inpatriating offshore members into the client company appears to hold significant potential in exerting control in offshore outsourcing relations. Control is a role that has traditionally been attributed to expatriates. Our research shows that inpatriates offer valid alternative with several advantages in the context of offshoring.Chapter 3 develops a comprehensive framework of potential factors responsible for hindering the learning process of offshore team members that should be considered in an offshore insourcing context. This paper adopts a longitudinal case study approach for over a period of one year for studying a large firm in the financial services sector based in Belgium and offshoring its service in Poland. The study focuses on a firm that has set up its own service operations abroad using an offshore insourcing arrangement. Based on a longitudinal study, this research recognizes delayed barriers that still hinder the learning process of offshore team members. Unexpectedly, the study demonstrates that the role of expatriates and inpatriates is an influencing factor (positive or negative) in the learning process of offshore team members. In addition, the results highlighted the fact that short-term perspectives for companies to fully benefit from their actions may not be the solution to enable offshore team members to learn their tasks efficiently in the long-run. Even though offshoring provides access to lower costs and specialised resources, the primary challenge faced by companies is to be able to manage its knowledge efficiently across locations and facilitate the access of knowledge to its offshore team members. The purpose of chapter 4 is to explore how a large firm in the financial service sector transfers different types of knowledge, particularly through different forms of international assignees in an offshore insourcing arrangement. This study adopted a single in-depth case study of a firm based in Belgium where his offshore location is in Poland. The findings from 31 interviews concluded that different forms of international assignees are used in the form of complementary sequences to transfer various types of knowledge during the offshore insourcing arrangement. Therefore, all international assignments are not the same and should not be generalised into one category. Further, the findings offer qualitative evidence to support the roles of different forms of international assignees for creating and retaining new knowledge and avoiding knowledge loss for the organisation. / Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Context: Software transfer is one of the approaches to globalize software development that prescribes transferring a software product from an original development site to another site. This approach is challenged by transferring knowledge from experienced people to inexperienced people. Therefore, the identified challenges and recommendations related to software transfer are vital to a successful software transfer project. Objectives: The main aim of this study is to identify recommendations for transferring software products for further maintenance from receiving site’s perspective. This is achieved by an in-depth understanding of the staged model for the software life cycle, the differences of software transfer type, how software transfers impact software evolvability, and the challenges at the receiving sites after transfers. Methods: In order to fulfill the aim and objectives of the research, the author of this thesis collected data through a literature review and conducted interviews with 10 developers, who were involved in software transfer projects in three different international companies – 6 developers from Alpha company, 3 developers from Beta company, and 1 developer from Gamma company. Through the literature review, the author of this thesis found 35 primary studies relevant to research objectives. For analyzing the data, the author of this thesis used Strauss and Corbin’s open coding and axial coding techniques. Results: In total, 15 challenges for the receiving sites in maintaining transferred software products were identified and placed in 8 categories. Three factors that trigger changes from one product maintenance stage to another were identified. 19 recommendations for planning to transfer a software product were derived from challenges and factors found. These challenges, factors, and recommendations are elaborated in this report. Conclusions: The results of this study both validate and extend current knowledge of software product transfer. There should be more empirical research performed on after transfer period of software product transfer to identify the challenges and recommendations associated with transferring software products. However, the results of this study should be beneficial for companies when transferring software products to remote sites within company. / This thesis investigates the challenges in transferring software product by collecting data through a literature review and conducted interviews with 10 developers, who were involved in software transfer projects in three different international companies and contributes with recommendations to overcome these challenges. The result of the research both validates and extends current knowledge of software product transfer.