Global Outsourcing Discourse: Exploring Modes of IT Governance

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.

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, Journal of Strategic Information Systems and International Business Review. Her research interests revolve around IT outsourcing and offshoring, open innovation, governance and control as well as the Foucauldian approach to the study of management and ICTs.

Leslie P. Willcocks is Professor of Technology Work and Globalization at the Department of Management at the London School of Economics and Political Science, UK. His doctorate is from Cambridge University, and he is Associate Fellow at Green Templeton College, Oxford University, where he taught for nine years. He is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Information Technology and is internationally recognised for his work on global sourcing, digital business, service automation, IT and organizational change, and global business management. He has co-authored 55 books and over 230 refereed papers and regularly presents and advises on these areas globally.