A case study of national culture and offshoring services

New work practices and their drivers in FIREB firms: evidence from Hong Kong

Purpose

Most global business organisations have begun to explore and embrace new work practices (NWPs) in reorganising their workplace strategies to enhance performance and face intense competition in the global market. This study aims to examine whether or not NWPs are being implemented in office occupying firms in Hong Kong and explore the drivers of the NWPs.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 16 NWPs and 20 drivers were identified through the extant literature review and assessed through a questionnaire survey conducted in the finance, insurance, real estate and business (FIREB) service firms. Based on a comprehensive questionnaire survey, a quantitative approach was used to discover the occurrence of the NWPs in those firms and the driving factors. Based on the questionnaires retrieved, descriptive and inferential statistical analysis was conducted. The relationships between the NWPs occurrence and the driving factors were also investigated to draw necessary inferences.

Findings

The results showed that all of the 16 NWPs identified from the literature are happening in Hong Kong FIREB firms. The results of the analysis also indicated that virtual collaboration positively drive the occurrence of NWPs in FIREB firms. Interestingly, innovation in business was shown as such that does not necessarily necessitate stringent hiring strategy.

Practical implications

This research may be of practical value for workplace strategists to make better, more careful forecasts of future workplace trends to ensure resource utilisation and improve space usage patterns and employee productivity.

Originality/value

This paper presents comprehensive overview of drivers that designers, developers, investors, facility managers and planners can use to provide sustainable NWPs. The study will enrich the growing body of international literature on implementing NWPs in global business organisations.

IT services offshoring from Japan: a multi-dimensional comparative analysis between India and China

Purpose

This paper aims to carry out a qualitative analysis to compare India and China as a choice of service-provider from the perspective of Japanese MNEs for information technology (IT)-IT enabled services (ITeS) offshoring destination, using the four dimensions of the cultural-administrative-geographic-economic (CAGE) distance framework by Ghemawat (2001).

Design/methodology/approach

This exploratory study used a mix of primary and secondary evidence to carry out a comparative evaluation of the challenges and synergies existent between India and Japan relative to China and Japan, in the context of IT-ITeS offshoring industry. Fourteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with multiple stakeholders and the findings were classified using the CAGE framework.

Findings

The paper discusses that for IT-ITeS industry, owing to its characteristics and the changing global order in the post-pandemic world, the “distances” that matter the most for business engagement between countries are – cultural, administrative and economic. Based on the comparative analysis, it was seen that China fares better than India, from a Japanese perspective, for the case of cultural and geographic distances while India had an advantage in the case of administrative and economic distances. Thus, India and Japan seem to have higher synergies and potential mutual gains by expanding engagement in the IT-ITeS industry in future.

Research limitations/implications

One of the limitations of this paper was the lack of comparable secondary data source concerning the size, growth rates, exports, employment figures for China that could have helped establish the contrast in the structure of IT-ITeS industry of India and China.

Originality/value

This study provides a framework for a comparative analysis of multiple facets of “distance” between competing service providing nations at bilateral, as well as unilateral level, in a holistic manner for the IT-ITeS offshoring industry. The results thus provide the gaps that shall be bridged by the policymakers for realizing mutual benefits.

Understanding Knowledge Re-integration in Backsourcing

Backsourcing is the process where a client firm brings previously outsourced services from a supplier back in-house. Traditionally, the existing literature on backsourcing has focused on how firms reach the decision to bring back previously outsourced services. In this paper, we move beyond focusing on IT backsourcing decision to explore the process of backsourcing from a knowledge perspective. The predominant view in the relevant literature argues that the re-acquisition of knowledge by a client firm during backsourcing takes place similarly to knowledge acquisition by a supplier in a typical outsourcing process. In this paper, we argue that knowledge re-integration in backsourcing occurs differently from outsourcing projects mainly because of the existence of knowledge asymmetries between the client and the supplier. By examining seven backsourcing events, we reveal that knowledge transfer and re-integration in backsourcing emerges as a coordinative activity, complementing knowledge transfer mechanisms reported in the IS outsourcing literature.

Value supply chains at the base of the pyramid: studies of past and present textile networks

Purpose

Billions of entrepreneurs at the Base of the Pyramid (BoP) operate as small-scale producers within multi-tiered supply chain networks. Unfortunately, a majority of these entrepreneurs are simply unable to derive sufficient value from the network and are vulnerable to disasters and poverty. The purpose of this paper is to develop a typology that examines dynamic and triadic power relationships in order to create value chains for BoP producers.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper builds upon the available literature and a relevant historical case study to develop a typology. The validity of the typology is ascertained by examining and comparing two current BoP silk weaver communities in India.

Findings

The typology captures essential environmental variables and relates them to mediated and non-mediated forms of power which, in turn, shape the value derived from the supply chain network.

Practical implications

The typology provides specific recommendations for BoP producers, such as the formation of cooperatives, engaging in political unionization and ensuring that their social networks expand beyond local communities.

Originality/value

The typology brings together structuration theory and power and provides a framework for understanding supply value. This typology is generalizable to dynamic multi-tiered supply chain networks.

Can you put too much on your plate? Uncertainty exposure in servitized triads

Purpose

Servitization increases the uncertainty exposure of provider firms due to the operational differences between services and production which is further increased when operations are set in triads. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the uncertainty exposure in servitized triads and explore suitable organisational responses.

Design/methodology/approach

A conceptual frame is defined detailing three uncertainty types (environmental, organisational and relational uncertainty) and suitable organisational responses to these. This frame guided the analysis of in-depth case evidence from a cross-national servitized triad in a European-North African set-up which was collected through 29 semi-structured interviews and secondary data.

Findings

The empirical study identified the existence of the three uncertainty types and directional knock-on effects between them. Specifically, environmental uncertainty created organisational uncertainty which in turn created relational uncertainty. The uncertainty types were reduced through targeted organisational responses where formal relational governance reduced environmental uncertainty, service capabilities reduced organisational uncertainty and informal relational governance reduced relational uncertainty. The knock-on effects were reduced through organisational and relational responses.

Originality/value

This paper makes two contributions. First, a structured analysis of the uncertainty exposure in servitized triads is presented which shows the existence of three individual uncertainty types and the knock-on effects between them. Second, organisational responses to reduce the three uncertainty types individually and the knock-on effects between them are presented.

The reconfiguration of service production systems in response to offshoring

Purpose

A service production system has a structure composed of task execution, agents performing tasks and a resulting service output. The purpose of this paper is to understand how such a service production system changes as a consequence of offshoring.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on practice theory, the paper investigates how offshoring leads to reconfiguration of the service production system. Through a multiple case methodology, the authors demonstrate how agents and structures interact during reconfiguration.

Findings

The paper analyses the reconfiguration of components of a service production system in response to change ignited by offshoring. The authors find recurring effects between structures that enable and constrain agents and agents who shape the structure of the production system.

Research limitations/implications

The paper offers a novel contribution to the service operations management literature by applying practice theory. Moreover, the authors propose a detailed, activity-driven view of service production systems and service offshoring. The authors contribute to practice theory by extending its domain to operations management.

Practical implications

Service production systems have the ability to self-correct any changes inflicted through offshoring of the systems, which helps firms that offshore.

Originality/value

The paper is aimed at service professionals and offshoring managers and proposes a novel presentation of the service production system with a description of how it responds to offshoring. The authors contribute to theory by applying practice theory to the fields of service operations management and offshoring.

Gender and operations management

Purpose

Work that is considered appropriate for only one gender by the indigenous culture is explored. The focus is on the operational issues that accrue due to the combination of what is deemed appropriate treatment to, and activities of, women. Global differences in the operational sub-categories of business location, layout, the implementation of process improvement programs, shift scheduling, operational compliance, the strategic capability of volume flexibility, and other issues are explored. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

The literature from the disparate fields of women’s studies, anthropology, law, developmental economics, and management are synthesized.

Findings

There are extreme differences internationally in the viability of operational practices involving shift work, facility location, and other production issues. Particularly, research involving the implementation of quality management programs may be compromised due to gender effects.

Practical implications

A large number of practical issues are discussed. The viability and wisdom of many operational practices being copied from different cultures is addressed.

Originality/value

This work is a synthesis of the same subjects from widely disparate intellectual domains. The author informs management scholars and managers from unusual sources in medicine, women’s studies, anthropology, developmental economics, and law.

Survival strategy of OEM companies: a case study of the Chinese toy industry

Purpose

Although there have been many discussions on the status and development of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), theory on how they survive is minimal. Little is known about how OEMs survive and upgrade to other business models, such as original design manufacturers (ODMs) and original brand manufacturers (OBMs), in emerging economies. The purpose of this paper is to extend the theory on the survival path of OEMs from the perspective of emerging countries by examining how OEMs survive cost pressures and upgrade to ODMs or OBMs.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a multi-case study method, this study analyzes the survival path employed by OEMs by examining eight firms in the Chinese toy industry.

Findings

This study shows that OEMs remain weak in the global toy industry chain due to labor costs. While some OEMs move to low-cost regions, others turn to OBM management, after transitioning through an ODM model, by investing in research and development and marketing.

Originality/value

This study explores the survival paths of OEM enterprises, showing that OEMs can first upgrade to ODMs and then to OBMs, or they can directly upgrade to OBMs. Shifting from OEM to ODM is an important step in the transition process, although the contract that OEMs have with their foreign partners does not change significantly.