Information Systems Outsourcing

Three years have passed since the second edition of this book was published. The field of IT outsourcing continues to grow in practice as well as in academia and draws further attention in both domains. Aspects of traditional outsourcing (Part II) have remained pronounced but are becoming more mature. While o- sourcing determinants are still important, they are now of less interest to researchers. Relationship management (Chap. 1) and capability management (Chap. 2) continue to be of interest; so too are outsourcing outcomes (Chap. 3) and, as a new focus, innovation aspects (Chap. 4). These are motivating more and more research activities, complementing the lifecycle of traditional o- sourcing. We note significant growth in the field of IT offshoring (Part II). In our third edition, we offer research results on offshoring patterns and trends (Chap. 5), the crucial aspect of knowledge sharing (Chap. 6), vibrant examples for offshoring dynamics (Chap. 7), and some new contributions on the deter- nants of offshoring success (Chap. 8). The last part of our book investigates the field of business process outsourcing (Part III). In this section, issues such as standardization, process outsourcing to India and deinstitutionalization patterns in the health-care sector are presented. Given these new subjects, we believe that Enduring Themes, Global Challenges, and Process Opportunities is an appropriate subtitle for this third edition of the monograph. Again, we have thoughtfully compiled contem- rary outsourcing research as a primer and a platform for scientific discourse.