Building the business case for diversity in offshoring
Abstract
Offshoring inevitably leads to increased cultural diversity in work relations. Most companies perceive this increased diversity as a risk, a problem that needs to be minimized or remedied for offshoring to succeed. Building on the business case for diversity management literature we propose an alternative positive view of cultural diversity in the context of offshore relationships. We suggest that the increased cultural diversity that offshoring brings can actually be an opportunity companies should recognize and leverage in order to foster business performance. We specifically argue that under certain conditions related to the organizational context, type of project, teams, and tasks offshored, offshore projects driven by innovation might actually hold a unique competitive advantage through the utilization of their team cultural diversity.Download Info
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Paper provided by ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles in its series Working Papers CEB with number 09-007.RS.Length: 35 p.
Date of creation: Feb 2009
Date of revision:
Publication status: Published by: Université Libre de Bruxelles, Solvay Business School, Centre Emile Bernheim (CEB)
Handle: RePEc:sol:wpaper:09-007
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Keywords:This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:
- NEP-ALL-2009-02-14 (All new papers)
- NEP-BEC-2009-02-14 (Business Economics)
- NEP-CUL-2009-02-14 (Cultural Economics)
- NEP-PPM-2009-02-14 (Project, Program & Portfolio Management)
References
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- Bruce Kogut & Harbir Singh, 1988. "The Effect of National Culture on the Choice of Entry Mode," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(3), pages 411-432, September.
- Kshetri, Nir, 2007. "Institutional factors affecting offshore business process and information technology outsourcing," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 38-56, March.
- Arie Lewin & Silvia Massini & Carine Peeters, 2009.
"Why are companies offshoring innovation ?The emerging global race for talent,"
ULB Institutional Repository
2013/9073, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
- Arie Lewin & Silvia Massini & Carine Peeters, 2008. "Why are companies offshoring innovation ?the emerging global race for talent," Working Papers CEB 08-009, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
- Arie Lewin & Carine Peeters, 2006. "Offshoring administrative and technical work: business hype or the onset of fundamental strategic and organizational transformation ?," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/9039, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
- Patricia Garcia-Prieto Sol & Erwan Bellard & Susan Schneider, 2003. "Experiencing diversity, conflict and emotions in teams," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/14176, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
- Jody Evans & Felix T Mavondo, 2002. "Psychic Distance and Organizational Performance: An Empirical Examination of International Retailing Operations," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 33(3), pages 515-532, September.
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