The U.S. market for geospatial services totaled US $2.2 billion in 2010, representing 50% of the global market. Data-processing firms subcontract labor-intensive portions of data services to offshore providers in South and East Asia and Eastern Europe. In general, half of all offshore contracts fail within the first 5 years because one or more parties consider the relationship unsuccessful. Despite the high failure rates, no study has examined the offshore vendor selection process in the geospatial industry. The purpose of this study was to determine the list of key offshore vendor selection criteria and the efficacy of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) for ranking the criteria that North American geospatial companies consider in the offshore vendor selection process. After the selection of the initial list of factors from the literature and their validation in a pilot study, a final survey instrument was developed and administered to 15 subject matter experts (SMEs) in North America. The SMEs expressed their preferences for one criterion over another by pairwise comparisons, which served as input to the AHP procedure. The results showed that the quality of deliverables was the top ranked (out of 26) factors, instead of the price, which ranked third. Similarly, SMEs considered social and environmental consciousness on the vendor side as irrelevant. More importantly, the findings indicated that the structured AHP process provides a useful and effective methodology whose application may considerably improve the quality of the overall vendor selection process. Last, improved and stabilized business relationships leading to predictable budgets might catalyze social change, supporting stable employment. Consumers could benefit from derivative improvements in product quality and pricing.

Made available in DSpace on 2009-11-18T19:01:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ACF399.pdf: 323989 bytes, checksum: db0225460dc1b40facb4bc6de9c2a200 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006 / The export of information technology software services, also known as ¿offshore outsourcing¿, has raised debates in the media as well as in the academy. A lot has been written about the success of India, Ireland and Israel, the ¿3Is¿, but empirical data about Brazil is still hard to find. This dissertation proposes to identify success factors for Brazil to be chosen as a preferred location for offshore outsourcing based on a case study of an American multinational corporation, with branches in Brazil, that is systematically choosing Brazil as a preferred location for its offshore outsourcing operations. Concepts of economic globalization, internationalization of services and success factors for offshore outsourcing will be presented in the literature review and based on available literature focused on Brazil, a model of eight success factors is proposed. The empirical research was grounded on multiple data sources but the analysis was focused on a database of 219 deals that were conducted from September 2005 to May 2006, out of which Brazil was selected 57 times. The results confirm the proposed model of eight success factors. The final conclusions suggest that the process of identifying a country to perform the offshore activities is complex and that not all factors will be present at the same time, and more than that, in some cases intangible factors, such as relationship networks and emotional links with the country, have a higher weight in the decision. The results can be used in the future for in depth researches that differentiate Brazil from other countries in the offshore outsourcing market. / A exportação de serviços de tecnologia de informação, também conhecida como ¿offshore outsourcing¿, é um assunto que tem gerado muita polêmica nos meios de comunicação, assim debate no âmbito acadêmico. Há ampla literatura a respeito do sucesso dos casos da Índia, Irlanda e Israel, os chamados ¿3 Is¿, mas dados empíricos de empresas realizando esse tipo de exportação no Brasil são escassos. A proposta do presente estudo é identificar os fatores que são determinantes na escolha do Brasil para prestação de serviços ou realização de atividades de ¿offshore outsourcing¿, a partir de um estudo de caso de uma empresa multinacional norte-americana (com filiais no Brasil) que vem sistematicamente escolhendo o Brasil como destino de ¿offshore outsourcing¿. Na revisão da literatura, são apresentados conceitos de globalização econômica, internacionalização de serviços e fatores determinantes já descritos na literatura. O pesquisador, com base na literatura disponível sobre o tema no Brasil, propõe como modelo de análise um conjunto de oito fatores relevantes. A pesquisa empírica utilizou múltiplas fontes de dados, mas teve como base de análise duzentos e dezenove negócios realizados pela empresa pesquisada no período de setembro de 2005 a maio de 2006, das quais cinqüenta e sete decisões apontam o Brasil como destino de ¿offshore outsouring¿, confirmando a validade do modelo de oito fatores. As reflexões finais indicam que o processo decisório não é simples, e nem sempre todos os fatores estão presentes na tomada de decisão, e mais do que isso, indicam que fatores intangíveis, tais como redes de relacionamentos e laços emocionais com o país, muitas vezes são decisivos no momento da escolha. O trabalho faz sugestões para pesquisas futuras, com um escopo mais amplo de análise, para diferenciar o Brasil dos demais países nesse segmento de mercado.

This research investigates political risk in the context of service offshoring and the corresponding impact on risk management decisions. The first stage of the study uses the Repertory Grid Technique (RGT), to explore key post-contract political risks experiences within offshore outsourcing activities. Twelve key political risks affecting offshore outsourcing decisions are identified, and the moderating effect of offshoring activity types (BPO, ITO or KPO) on political risk exposure and impact perceptions is highlighted. The research also explores the conditioning effect of industry specific exposure to political risk and enhances the explanatory ability of the Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) constructs, offering a re-operationalization of the political risk component of external uncertainty. The second stage of the research introduces a series of hypotheses between offshoring flows and political risk profiles, and applies multiple regression to analyse political risk affecting offshore activities in low cost countries across contract-based offshoring engagements and FDI. The findings highlight that political risk is a genuine business concern for offshore contract-based outsourcing modalities, and identify concerns with Intellectual Property protection, Quality of Bureaucracy and Corruption as key considerations affecting location decisions in low-cost countries. The research further suggests a positive relationship between strong country level institutional and regulatory systems and high knowledge content in offshoring engagements. From a practical perspective, the research highlights the need for managerial tools to determine diversified firm and industry specific political risk impact on global service outsourcing engagements. The key practical contribution is the development of differentiated political risk typologies that can capture the nuances of external risks in offshoring, allowing for more accurate risk assessment of offshoring decisions.

This thesis deals with the problems of using outsourcing in software development for financial institutions. The thesis is divided into two parts -- theoretical issues and practical issues. The theoretical section is comprised of the first three chapters with the first describing the process of software development -- the life cycle of software, the prominent disciplines and roles involved in software development, the methods of software development and IT Governance. The second chapter defines the specifics which influence the method which is used in software development for financial institutions. The last chapter of the theoretical section deals with the concept of outsourcing - here is the definition of the term, its history, the reasons the financial sector uses outsourcing for software development and the risks thereby incurred. In addition to this, the advantages and limitations of individual models of outsourcing are also described namely regarding geography and the service o be provided. The practical section is comprised of the survey the aim of which was to acquire an insight into the issues of using outsourcing both from the point of view of the domestic financial sector as the client and from the point of view of the IT service provider. The surveys are included with this thesis.

In the global business environment, outsourcing and offshore outsourcing are strategies forfirms to handle the increasing competition in their specific market segments by utilizing the capabilities of other firms in order to gain competitive advantages. China has become animportant player on the global market and is an attractive country for Western firms’ offshore outsourcing initiatives. Even though outsourcing and offshore outsourcing havebeen discussed in the literature for a long period of time, firms are still not able to reach andfulfill their strategic goals and many offshore outsourcing projects fail. The purpose of this thesis is to deepen the existing literature regarding offshore outsourcing to China by considering the Chinese suppliers’ perspective on competitive priorities, which are thepriorities that firms organize the production by, in order to understand how the buying firmscan be more successful in the Chinese context and reach their strategic goals.

Univ., Diss.--Göteborg, 2008. / Enth. 4 Beitr. Zsfassung in engl. Sprache. Trade liberalization and wage inequality--empirical evidence from Bangladesh / by Dick Durevall and Farzana Munshi -- Does openness reduce wage inequality in developing countries? Panel data evidence from Bangladesh / by Farzana Munshi -- Globalization and inter-occupational inequality in a panel of countries, 1983-2003 / by Farzana Munshi -- Offshoring and occupational wages--some empirical evidence / by Arne Bigsten, Dick Durevall, and Farzana Munshi.

Context. Tacit knowledge preservation (TKP) is a critical activity in outsourcing business since there is a high possibility of losing business if the personnel turnover rate is high. Objective: This study investigates TKP techniques from both knowledge management (KM) and software engineer (SE) perspectives followed by a discussion on the practicability of these techniques in software industries. The main aim of this research study is to provide a set of recommendations that assists preserving tacit knowledge in offshore outsourcing vendor organizations. Methods: This research combines a systematic literature review with an industrial survey. A systematic literature review (SLR) was employed to identify the TKP techniques in both KM and SE literature. Quasi-gold standard approach was employed as search strategy in SLR. Further, a survey was conducted with industrial practitioners working in offshore outsourcing software development (OOSD) to validate the findings from SLR and to know the additional TKP techniques. Results: A total of 51 TKP techniques were extracted from SLR and no additional techniques were identified from the survey. These 51 techniques were grouped and categorized into two subgroups namely Socialization and Externalization. A recommendation system and model was proposed to make the TKP process mandatory for every software project in an organization. Conclusions: The research provided a wide set of techniques for preserving tacit knowledge but the major contribution is from KM field whereas a little from SE field. The results of SLR and industrial survey revealed that though a sufficient amount of TKP techniques are available the practicability of these techniques in SE organizations is limited in nature. Therefore, we recommend a Software Engineers Rating (SER) system and model to make the TKP process mandatory in every software project that benefits the organization and also to an employee.

隨著資訊技術之快速發展及受到金融交易全球化之影響，在營運模式及法令遵循之需求下，使得銀行業將客戶個人資料跨境傳輸至其他國家之公務或非公務機關所產生之資料保護或對資訊隱私權衝擊等議題漸增。為調和不同國家間對於個人資料保護文化及規範程度之差異，各國及各國際組織間均致力於如何在不影響商業交易需要、個人資料隱私安全及資訊自由流通之前提下，經由適當法律規範對於資料管理者國際傳輸個人資料之行為，予以適當控管。 隱私權之概念雖起源於美國，惟現行各國對於個人資料國際傳輸保護規範仍以歐盟委員會於1995年發布之個人資料隱私保護指令（Directive 95/46/EC）最為重要且影響層面較大。在歐盟指令仍須各會員國將其轉化為國內法，始得有效執行之前提下，本研究以金融服務產業發展較為領先之國家—英國，以英國銀行業適用之個人資料國際傳輸保護規範為研究主題，所涉法規包括：歐盟指令、英國1998年資料保護法（Data Protection Act, DPA）及英國金融服務業適用之相關規範等。 研究結果發現，英國1998年資料保護法在參照歐盟指令之相關規範下，對於資料管理者將個人資料國際傳輸已訂有相關限制規定及如何符合相關豁免規定之作業流程及評估程序，英國專責資料保護之監理機關（資訊自由及保護委員會），並已依據歐盟指令，發布規定授權英國企業得採用標準契約範本及經其個案核准採用共同約束條款，顯示英國對於國際傳輸之個人資料已有一定程度之保障。惟如同歐盟委員會之研究報告所述，英國相對於歐盟其他會員國，並未將國際傳輸規範明訂於資料保護法之本文，對於當事人資訊隱私權保護之法律位階，仍有待加強。 不同於我國係於銀行法明定銀行對客戶資料之保密義務，英國法院認為銀行對於客戶資料之保密責任，原始存在於銀行與客戶間之契約。惟英國與我國相同於金融相關法令中僅針對銀行境外委外所涉之國際傳輸訂有相關監理規範（包括境外委外事先申請核准、申請程序及應檢附之文件），以透過銀行與委外服務供應商之委外契約，確保金融監理機關能跨國有效行使其監理權限，保護當事人之權益，至於銀行因非委外事項，將客戶資料跨境傳輸至其他國家時，仍應回歸適用資料保護法有關國際傳輸之相關規定。 本研究最後就我國與英國對於個人資料國際傳輸相關保護規範之比較結果發現，我國個人資料保護法雖已於99年修正發布（新個資法），但對於國際傳輸之限制規定，修法後雖已明定國際傳輸之定義及加重非公務機關違反國際傳輸規定之罰則，惟未修正其實質規範內容，仍僅授權中央目的事業主管機關於非公務機關有第21條所列四項情形之一時，得限制其進行國際傳輸。在新個資法下，非公務機關對於個人資料之國際傳輸，已無須取得目的事業主管機關登記，並取得執照，雖有利於資料之國際流通，惟為保護當事人個人資料於傳輸後之安全，我國是否尚須其他配套措施，以落實個人資料於國際傳輸層面之保障，值得深思。 本研究對於我國銀行業國際傳輸個人資料保護規範之主要建議，包括（1）宜透過各中央目的事業主管機關對被監理機構之監理及其與相關公益團體間之合作，以強化各界對於個人資料保護之重視，（2）國際傳輸之限制規定應予細緻化，並透過產業自治逐步達成個人資料保護之目的，（3）金融監理機關宜配合個人資料保護法之修正，訂定銀行業國際傳輸之作業規範，（4）宜透過租稅合作協定，在不違反我國個人資料保護法及銀行法之原則下，協助我國金融機構解決美國「外國帳戶稅收遵從法」之實施，衍生對於個人財務資訊隱私權及跨境傳輸個人資料保護之問題。