Global Outsourcing Discourse: Exploring Modes of IT Governance [Hardcover]

The aim of this book is to investigate the discursive power of two original, theoretical lenses when applied to real outsourcing arrangements and phenomena. The Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) and Foucauldian perspectives are brought to bear on five outsourcing relationships in order to test the application of these discourses to rich qualitative data over the outsourcing contractual life-cycle. This will be the first study illustrating the relevance of Foucauldian concepts of governmentality, discourse and power relations to the study of outsourcing arrangements, and will also incorporate the perspectives of both client and supplier organizations. Using discourse analysis, the objective is to critically deconstruct and provide fresh insight into the normative outsourcing discourse that has grown up around global sourcing practices over the last 30 years.

Exploring Outsourcing, Governance and Discourse.- The Study of  Information Technology Outsourcing.- Inside Global Offshore Outsourcing in Insurance.- Inside Global Outsourcing in Banking and Finance.- Inside Domestic Outsourcing with Multiple Suppliers.- The Transaction Costs Economics Discourse.- A Foucauldian  Discourse Perspective.- Conclusion: The Global  Outsourcing Discourse.

Eleni Lioliou is a Lecturer in International Business and Strategy at Queen Mary, University of London, UK. She holds a PhD from the London School of Economics and she is a Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy. Her research has been published in leading journals such as the Journal of World Business, Journal of Information Technology, Information Systems Journal, Jol.