Date of Award

2014

Degree Type

Dissertation

Department

Monte Ahuja College of Business

First Advisor

Javalgi, Raj

Subject Headings

International business enterprises, Offshore outsourcing, Industrial management, Professional corporations, International business enterprises -- Employees, professional services offshore outsourcing collaboration capabilities success

Abstract

Professional services, such as accounting, finance, engineering and management consulting, are significant contributors to the U.S. economy accounting for the largest value added industry within the private sector. Knowledge-intensive professional services reached this level of economic prominence by responding to heightened competition, managing rising costs, utilizing key resources, and re-directing their focus to internal core competencies through the strategic decision to engage in offshore outsourcing relationships. By 2015, the Congressional Research Study report predicts 3.4 million, or 13.7 of professional service jobs will be offshore outsourced. Offshore outsourcing is a firm level strategic decision to relocate business activities to an offshore third party primarily to emerging markets. Based on existing theories of transaction cost economics, resource based view, and resource dependence theory, this dissertation empirically validates a comprehensive model evaluating the multi-dimensional relational governance mechanism of collaboration on the capabilities of the offshore service provider. In addition, the model examines the influence of the service capabilities on the success of the client firm. One of the key contributions of this study is the client perspective examination of the relationship between the U.S. client firm and offshore service provider thereby addressing a stated need for additional academic research. The importance of governance mechanisms established by professional service firms have evolved over time from minimizing transaction costs and opportunistic behavior, to maximizing access to complementary resources, to building long-term relationships based on communication, commitment and information sharing. These governance mechanisms are integral to a collaborative client-vendor relationship. This dissertation develops hypotheses, from existing outsourcing literature, evaluating the influence of collaboration on the client's perception of the learning capability, the ser

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