Four ‘domains’ of career success: how managers in Nigeria evaluate career outcomes

Using an exploratory qualitative approach based on in-depth interviews with 38 junior and middle managers, and informed by institutional theory, this article explores how Nigerian managers conceptualise career success. Results indicate that in contrast to some Western-based research, managers prioritise ‘objective’ (e.g. achieving financial stability) over ‘subjective’ (e.g. achieving work–life balance) career outcomes. Results also indicate that the well-applied dichotomy between objective and subjective measures is insufficient to capture the complexities and nuances observed in the Nigeria context. We thus propose four ‘domains’ of career success to include personal and relational dimensions in addition to the subjective/objective criteria. This we argue is a more comprehensive, integrative and contextually sensitive ‘frame’ for the analysis of career outcomes. Our findings suggest that scholars and multinational companies interested in expanding their operations to emerging economies need to incorporate these factors into their conceptualisations and management practices.     

Differences Between Clients’ and Vendors’ Perceptions of IT Outsourcing Risks: Project Partnering as the Mitigation Approach

Information technology (IT) outsourcing has been a business practice for more than two decades. Researchers have suggested successful risk management as a key factor in successful IT outsourcing projects implementation. The documented investigations, however, have mainly addressed risk management only from a single perspective of either clients or IT vendors. Considering only one perspective allows for an omission of possible risks considered critical by the other party, as suggested by agency theory. This study explored the potential perception inconsistency regarding the risks between the client and the vendor for IT outsourcing projects by using a quasi‐Delphi approach. The analysis results indicated some inconsistencies in the risks perceived by the two parties: (1) the clients regarded (a) lack of vendor commitment to the project and (b) poor vendor selection criteria and process as top critical risks but the vendors didn't; and (2) on the other hand, the vendors perceived (a) unclear requirements and (b) lack of experience and expertise with project activities as significant risks but the clients didn't. Insights into how the client and the vendor perceive risks may help both parties determine how to partner and manage project risks collaboratively to succeed in outsourcing.     

Analysis of interactions among core,transaction and relationship-specific investments: The case of offshoring

Through the use of core, transactional and relational specificity constructs, the paper studies how the emphasis of clients’ who move business processes offshore, changes over time to represent complex relationships between investments in core, transaction and relationship-specific assets. The complex combination of these investments helps clients attain evolving objectives in offshoring alliances. Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM) has been used to establish changing emphases of the specific elements in offshoring alliances.     

ERP systems success: an empirical analysis of how two organizational stakeholder groups prioritize and evaluate relevant measures

Organizations worldwide are adopting enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. A number of studies discuss the implementation and success of such systems, but our study of the literature indicates that discussions about ERP systems success from the perspectives of key organizational stakeholders are not easy to come across. This study is designed to fill this gap in research. Using surveys in Finland and Estonia, we obtained empirical data from 66 respondents in 44 diverse, private, industrial organizations. Our objective was to determine whether differences exist between two organizational stakeholder groups, i.e. business managers and IT professionals, concerning how each group believe ERP success measures and dimensions are prioritized and evaluated in their respective organizations. Prior literature suggests that differences exist between the two groups with regard to how each perceives organizational information technology (IT) issues. Our study indicates that no significant statistical differences exist between the two groups with the exception of one dimension of ERP success, i.e. vendor/consultant quality. The implications of our findings for both practice and research are discussed.     

Heterogeneity in Professional Service Firms

Research on professional service firms emphasizes similarities in their organization and management and distinctiveness from other types of organization. In this paper we take a different tack and focus on the differences between professional service firms, that is, on heterogeneity across different professional sectors. We argue that differences between professions on a number of dimensions affect the nature of professionals' work and, in turn, the organization and management of firms across different professional sectors. Drawing on the sociology of professions literature we focus on three key dimensions of knowledge, jurisdictional control and client relationships to compare legal, auditing and engineering consulting firms. We consider how differences in these dimensions across the three professional services sectors impact upon the way firms are organized. We offer a number of propositions explicating how differences in the nature of knowledge, jurisdictional control and client relationships have implications for organizational form, team-working and pricing systems.     

Offshoring: Value Creation through Economic Change

abstract    In this essay, I analyse the economic and managerial dimensions of offshoring, drawing from recent research by the McKinsey Global Institute. I argue that offshoring, like other forms of trade, creates enormous value for both companies and the economy as a whole. However, in the case of countries with less flexible labour markets such as Germany, findings are more nuanced. While the potential cost savings for companies from offshoring appear impressive, our research suggests that companies are leaving billions of dollars behind when they offshore. We propose several ways companies could make capital-labour trade-offs to create new markets and services. By maximizing gains from offshoring, companies can both cut costs and generate revenue. Given the benefits offshoring, the challenge is how to make the transition to a global economy less painful for workers and increase the participation in the wealth creation. Hence, I also identify options to help policymakers and companies manage the changes offshoring requires.     

Services cultural alignment in offshoring: The impact of cultural dimensions on offshoring location choices

Empirical research on the growing wave of services offshoring has examined the impact of several key factors such as wages and personnel quality on firm choices of offshore locations. However, examinations of culture in services offshoring to date have largely been confined to the relatively coarse concept of aggregate cultural differences between the home and host countries. We propose that specific cultural attributes are more closely aligned with successful service provision. We empirically examine our theoretical development of service cultural alignment and investigate the impact of cultural dimensions on the location of service offshoring projects. In addition, we examine whether Western and Asian firms have different cultural preferences in terms of the location of services offshoring projects. We find that host countries with lower levels of Hofstede's uncertainty avoidance as well as higher levels of individualism and power distance are able to attract greater numbers of service offshoring projects, even after controlling for macroeconomic, linguistic, and risk-related factors. We did not find that Western and Asian firms have different cultural preferences in this regard. We discuss implications of the findings with respect to theory, managerial practice, and governmental policy.     

Career success schemas and their contextual embeddedness: A comparative configurational perspective

We introduce career success schemas as critical for understanding how people in different contexts perceive and understand career success. Using a comparative configurational approach, we show, in a study of 13 countries, that two structural characteristics of career success schemas—complexity and convergence—differ across country contexts and are embedded in specific configurations of institutional factors. Adopting complexity and convergence as primary dimensions, we propose a taxonomy of career success schemas at the country level. Based on this taxonomy, we contribute to the understanding of subjective career success across countries, discuss the importance of schemas for organisational career systems in multinational enterprises, and propose specific guidelines for future comparative careers research.     

PLANNING AND TACTICAL FACTORS IN THE PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS

It has been a well-recognized axiom in project management research that the project implementation process can be greatly facilitated by addressing a variety of project critical success factors. It is argued here that critical factors often fall into two distinct sub-groups: those related to initial project planning and those concerned with subsequent tactical operationalization. A field study was conducted to explore changes in the perceived importance of project planning and tactical factors across four stages in the project life cycle. The sample consisted of 408 managers currently involved in projects. It was found that the relative importance of planning and tactical factors varies across the project life cycle. Further, the perceived importance of these factors is contingent upon the type of success measure employed. When an efficiency success measure is used, planning factors are initially perceived to be of high importance but are overtaken by tactical issues as the project progresses through its life cycle. When ‘external’ success measures (perceived value of the project and client satisfaction) are employed, project planning factors dominate tactics throughout the project's life cycle. Finally, implications for managers are developed and directions for future research are discussed.     

Offshoring versus backshoring: Empirically derived bundles of relocation drivers,and their relationship with benefits

This paper describes an empirically derived classification of the various factors that influence offshoring and backshoring decisions based on data from 275 offshoring and 160 backshoring projects. The study developed one set of factor bundles for offshoring and another set of such bundles for backshoring; these sets were then compared, and their relationships with post-relocation benefits were analyzed. These benefits were also grouped into bundles based on the empirical relationships. This research contributes an empirically derived classification scheme of decision factors for both offshoring and backshoring as well as an analysis of the relationships between decision factors and benefits for each type of relocation direction.     

Entry modes in reshoring strategies: An empirical analysis

The Entry Mode (EM) choice is a fundamental issue in reshoring initiatives. Despite several authors have studied the determinants of offshoring EM, no study has investigated so far the factors affecting the reshoring EM and its relation with the offshoring EM. The purpose of this paper is to examine which factors influence entry mode choice in reshoring initiatives. We develop a conceptual framework that explains the reshoring EM in terms of country-, industry-, firm- and project-specific factors, in addition to the offshoring EM choice. Next, we test this model by using a sample of 677 cross-industry and cross-country reshoring projects. Based on the results, we find that offshoring EM significantly constrains the subsequent reshoring EM. More in detail, firms adopting offshore insourcing entry modes tend to retain these modes in reshoring. Furthermore, reshoring EM is explained by industry- and project-specific factors, while offshoring EM is influenced by a broader set of industry-, country-, and firm-specific factors. This study fills a gap in the reshoring literature by analysing influential factors in EM choice and by offering a comparison between the determinants of offshoring and reshoring EM.     

A processual analysis of the purchasing and supply organization in transition: the impact of offshoring

Many companies have resorted to offshoring in order to reduce costs and grow their global market presence. Yet it remains unclear what impact the offshoring strategy has on the purchasing and supply organization (PSO) of these companies. In this paper the nature and type of changes offshoring organizations make within the PSO are examined, i.e. how new purchasing and supply management (PSM) structures and practices emerge, are maintained or are discarded as production operations are relocated. The processual perspective is used to analyze empirical data from a rich, in-depth case study within a global engineering company. Results suggest that in line with the law of requisite variety the PSO changes thoroughly when the company relocates its production activities through the captive offshoring mode, but does so in a more disjointed and non-linear manner than the current stage models would suggest. The offshoring process provides momentum for PSO change and influences where and how the change happens. We present five propositions for further research and conclude that offshoring provides managers with opportunities to: (i) change and influence the strategic direction of PSM in their organizations, and (ii) build viable strategies of retaining and managing knowledge and PSM competencies in global operations.     

IS／IT项目关键成功因素的系统思考

在对项目关键成功因素的有关研究进行评述的基础上,提出一个IS/IT项目关键成功因素模型, 该模型包含三个部分:与项目干系人有关的因素、与项目生命周期有关的因素和项目支持因素。在项目实施 过程中,不同的关键成功因素相互作用并最终促成IS/IT项目的成功。     

Determinants of a Relational Exchange Orientation in the Marketing-Manufacturing Interface: an Empirical Investigation

During the last decade, both marketing managers and researchers have focused heavily on interorganizational exchange relationships. In this paper we apply the concept of relational exchange to the intra-organizational exchange relationship between the marketing and manufacturing functions. We apply a relational exchange instrument consisting of four dimensions (trust, bonding, empathy and reciprocity) to the marketing-manufacturing interface and conduct an empirical investigation in order to validate the use of such an instrument in this setting. We find that the relational exchange scale consists of four components of a relational exchange orientation that are both theoreticallymeaningful and empirically discrete. In addition, we identify five determinants(resource dependence, communication difficulties, procedural fairness,interfunctional rivalry and interfunctional distance) and explore how these determinants influence the individual dimensions of the relational exchange orientation. We report a number of differences between the marketing and manufacturing functions with regards to the impact of aforementioned determinants and relational exchange orientation dimensions.     

Relocation of second degree: Moving towards a new place or returning home?

We study the “Relocations of Second Degree” (RSDs), i.e., the location decisions that modify the country of destination of a previous offshoring investment. Specifically, we distinguish between two types of RSDs, i.e., “Relocation to the Home Country (RHC)”, also known as back-reshoring, and “Relocation to a Third Country (RTC)”, i.e., the choice to move to a second host country.Specifically, we explore how the location advantages underlying the previous offshoring decision affect the probability to undertake an RHC, rather than an RTC. Location advantages reflect the favourable conditions that a foreign country offers with respect to the home one, in terms of market-seeking, asset-seeking and efficiency-seeking (i.e., cost-saving and productivity-enhancing) opportunities. Using data from the European Restructuring Monitor, we focus on the RSDs regarding manufacturing activities, implemented across European countries between 2002 and 2015. We find that, on the one hand, when a previous offshoring investment is driven by market-seeking location advantage, firms undertaking the RSD are more likely to opt for an RHC, except during the economic crisis where market-seeking European firms seem to prefer RTCs. On the other hand, RTC is a preferred choice when the location advantage is of efficiency-seeking type. In addition to offering a broader characterization of RSDs, our study provides empirical evidence of the relationship between the offshoring and relocation decisions. Managers should be aware of this connection when designing their manufacturing internationalization strategies.     

Offshoring: Dimensions and diffusion of a new business concept

In order to leverage global cost differentials, companies are increasingly turning to offshoring. Nevertheless, discussions in research and practice on offshoring are characterized by the lack of a common definition as well as a theoretically grounded explanation for this phenomenon. This article presents an explicit definition in order to provide a stringent understanding of the term offshoring along the dimensions of contractual/legal arrangement and geographic location. Further, the driving forces of offshoring are analysed on the environmental and company levels. The article closes with a discussion of managerial implications and an outlook on aspects for further research.     

Project Success and Executive Sponsor Behaviors: Empirical Life Cycle Stage Investigations

The role of the executive sponsor in achieving project success is important, yet rarely addressed. Recent research identifies behaviors that constitute the role of the executive project sponsor and evaluates how such behavior affects project success during different project stages. This study answers two research questions: (1) Does the relative importance of executive sponsor behavior vary significantly at different project stages? And (2) Does the relative importance of project success dimensions vary significantly within and across the different stages of completion? Results provide knowledge that will help executive sponsors decide how to invest their limited time and resources.     

Is more IT offshoring better?: An exploratory study of western companies offshoring to South East Asia

We explore the link between a company's performance and the extent of its offshoring of IT-enabled services, focusing on large western companies. Our performance measures comprise sales, profit as percentage of sales, profit/employee and sales/employee over 1999–2004. To measure offshoring, we consider the extent to which these companies have offshored: (1) software development and other IT-related development and maintenance, (2) business processes such as payroll or claims processing, and (3) call centers. We performed cluster analysis using the three corresponding offshoring variables to obtain broad patterns of offshoring. Then we compared the average performance of the companies in different clusters using ANOVA; did a regression analysis of the performance measures against the three offshoring variables; and performed non-parametric correlations within industry sectors. None of these tests indicated any clear link between company performance and the extent of offshoring thus suggesting that further study is needed to understand when to offshore and how best to do it.     

Offshoring and backshoring: A multiple case study analysis

Motivations underscoring offshoring and backshoring are typically investigated as separate entities in the academic literature. This separation undermines a deeper comprehension of the two phenomena, and implicitly denies the conceptualization of backshoring as a possible step of the firm internationalization process. Our paper seeks to fill this gap by (1) understanding the relations (if any) among offshoring and backshoring motivations at firm level; (2) exploring whether backshoring is a “failure” of the offshoring initiative, or rather the evolution of the firm's competitive and location strategies. A content-based literature review provides the base for the identification of the key motives for offshoring and backshoring, which are then organised using a theory-grounded framework. Next, we conduct a multiple case study analysis based on four companies, searching for common patterns in offshoring and subsequent backshoring initiatives. Cases allow understanding how the motivations (Why) connect with the governance modes (How), and the location choice (Where). Building on the case findings, the paper presents some propositions for future empirical research.