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By analyzing production with a continuum of tasks subject to common stochastic effects, the analysis shows that tension between business commonality and standardization is an important source of product cycles. The paper addresses the question of whether business commonality and standardization work in tandem or against each other in a general framework, when fragmentation of production is or is not possible due to contractual incompleteness or technology features. Unlike current literature, the analysis shows that a product cycle can be obtained even with complete contracts. This is so because retaining manufacturing within the firm enhances and exploits commonality in the early stages of production and, hence, reduces the moral hazard cost of providing incentives, which would be a hidden cost of outsourcing instead. Standardization later on can favor offshoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This research focuses on the analysis of political risk in the context of offshoring decisions. The study uses the Repertory Grid Technique, which entails a series of semi-structured interviews exploring key political risk experiences across offshoring engagements. The research extends the spectrum of political risk analysis in the context of offshoring engagements, and explores the varied impact of political risk across business activity types. The research identifies five key political risks affecting offshoring engagements and highlights the moderating effect of specific offshoring activity types Business Process Outsourcing, Information Technology Outsourcing or Knowledge Process Outsourcing on political risk implications. The research explores the conditioning effect of activity specific exposure to political risk and enhances the explanatory ability of the Transaction Cost Economics constructs, offering a novel operationalisation of the political risk component of external uncertainty. From a practical perspective, the research highlights the need for developing managerial tools to improve monitoring and identification of risks. The key practical contribution is the development of differentiated political risk typologies that can capture the nuances of external risks in offshoring, allowing for more accurate risk assessment of offshoring decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a novel framework to examine relationships among drivers of economic growth in Southeast Asia, a region poised to become a significant manufacturing destination. However, unbalanced economic growth among countries poses risks to multinational companies considering offshoring decisions. Our two-stage framework uses multi-way cointegration analysis and a vector error correction model (VECM) to investigate critical drivers of economic growth. We apply a QVAR model to evaluate dynamic connectedness and spillover effects of offshoring decisions. Using World Bank data, our results show that Southeast Asian countries are interconnected through complex relationships featuring multi-way cointegration and dynamic connectedness, informing evidence-based policy. • A conceptual framework to identify spillover effects on drivers of economic growth. • A multi-way co-integration, causality, and dynamic connectedness analysis. • A quantile vector autoregressive (QVAR) model to assess dynamic connectedness. • A subset of Southeast Asian countries have spillover effects on each other. • A sensitivity analysis of spillover effects across a sequel of quantiles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Users of Exhibit 21 cannot tell whether a tax haven subsidiary is actively operating or a dormant shell company. In this paper, we develop a new set of parsimonious measures to highlight the distinct mechanisms and tax effects of offshore sales to, as opposed to purchases from, tax haven countries, offering insights on the effects of certain types of offshoring activities on firms' tax burdens. Our main measure has about three times the effect of the mere existence of a haven subsidiary in explaining firms' effective tax rates. We detail the processes to predict the offshore activities in tax haven countries for firms without an Exhibit 21 and firms reporting no subsidiary operations in a tax haven country. Relative to the mere mention of a tax haven subsidiary in Exhibit 21, our new measures provide a richer information set to capture different types of economic activities in tax haven countries. JEL Classifications: G30; H25; H26; M41. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although using a single vendor when outsourcing information technology (IT) services (i.e., single‐sourcing) is commonplace, splitting the IT service package among multiple vendors (i.e., multisourcing) is an increasingly popular strategy. However, our understanding of the factors that contribute to this trend is limited. Guided by a thorough review of the extant literature and interviews with industry experts, we focus on the influence of emerging technologies (i.e., cloud‐based services and automation services), vendor location (i.e., offshore or domestic), and experiential learning (i.e., client and vendor experience) on the choice between single‐sourcing and multisourcing for IT services. The trend towards more multisourcing exemplifies a broader movement towards greater disaggregation and distribution of knowledge work. Thus, we utilize a knowledge‐based perspective to develop our hypotheses for how the aforementioned factors relate to the likelihood of multisourcing. Analyzing a large database of IT service contracts, we find that cloud‐based services are less likely to be multisourced, but automation services are not significantly associated with the likelihood of multisourcing. We also find that more experienced client firms are more likely to adopt multisourcing. Conversely, our results indicate that more experienced vendors and vendors located offshore are less likely to be part of multisourcing arrangements. Exploratory post hoc analyses yield additional interesting insights related to client and vendor location. These findings advance our understanding of the drivers of the single‐sourcing versus multisourcing decision in IT and more broadly contribute to the literature on technology sourcing. Our study has normative implications for both client and vendor management teams. Highlights: Cloud‐based IT services are less likely to be multisourced, whereas the relationship between automation services and the multisourcing decision is more context‐specific.Vendor and client location are both consequential to the multisourcing decision as offshore vendors are less likely to be included in multisourcing arrangements and clients located in emerging economies are less likely to multisource automation services compared to clients located in more developed economies.Incumbent vendors working with experienced clients are at a greater risk of having their business disaggregated and contracted to multiple vendors, but, at the same time, this presents an opportunity for niche or specialty vendors to target experienced clients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using long panels of industry-specific offshoring information and subjectively reported well-being datasets mainly from Germany, which is also supported by datasets from the UK and Australia, this paper aims to investigate the relationship between offshoring and workers' subjective well-being in the source country. We employ panel data fixed-effects models with time-variant personality measures and industry-specific measures to alleviate the bias stemming from the non-random sorting of individuals in industries. Our findings suggest that offshoring negatively relates to workers' subjective well-being. The result is unexceptionally consistent across Germany, the UK, and Australia, and the effect is larger in business services and among high-skilled workers. We extensively discuss how contextual "fear-factors" prevailing in the source countries interact with the angst generated by the negative framing of offshoring. To single out such angst, we first show that objective and subjective job security concerns, job characteristics, and labor market conditions only marginally relate to the well-being effect of offshoring. Then, we investigate how the effect of offshoring on well-being is amplified by a larger set of contextual factors pertaining to temporary economic shocks, negative narratives about offshoring during electoral cycles, partisan political preferences, and high immigration rates. Finally, we show that a recent skill upgrade significantly diminishes the negative effect of offshoring on well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the link between offshoring and technical change measured by patent and total factor productivity in order to sort out the causality. It applies instrumental variable and matching approaches on a panel of more than 7000 Swedish manufacturing firms over the period 2001–2014, and identify offshoring‐related intermediate imports by the United Nations Broad Economic Categories system. Accounting for self‐selection and reverse causality, no impact of offshoring on TFP is found and only weak effect on patenting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes foreign investment in Buryatia based on the activity of foreign and joint economic ventures. Compared with other industrial regions in Eastern Siberia, Buryatia has less foreign investment, a prevalence of natural persons among business organizers, a lower concentration of production, and an outdated economic structure that is dominated by trade and construction. Direct foreign investment in the region is predominantly focused on the lumber industry and several mining enterprises. Such a sectoral structure hinders the inflow of new technology and the growth of human capital. To increase foreign investment, the republic must expand exports and integrate with the economic corridor of China–Mongolia–Russia. At the same time, investment policy should attract resources to the technological areas of communication and transport with more joint ventures to retain profits in the territory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Investigaciones Turisticas is the property of Investigaciones Turisticas and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The global manufacturing location is a dynamic result of competing relocation patterns (i.e. offshoring, re-shoring and re-offshoring). This paper proposes a systematic approach to simultaneously measuring the magnitude of those relocation patterns, overcoming the shortcomings of the existing measurements and establishing a data foundation for capturing the process-specific, industry-specific and country-specific features in different relocation patterns. The empirical evidence prior to 2014 confirms that: (i) re-shoring is more likely to be adopted in capital- or technology-intensive manufacturing; (ii) manufacturing production previously offshored to the high-income economies is much more locationally flexible and (iii) re-shoring, especially that in the labour-intensive industries, is more likely to happen with a higher degree of proximity between countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global value chains (GVCs) are both a product and a facilitator of the model of globalization that dominated for almost two decades following Soviet collapse in 1991. The North Atlantic Financial Crisis of 2007 onwards undermined that dominance, as did the subsequent economic stagnation and associated rising political and social discord. The reversion to more nationalist modes of discourse and policy marks the return of a more visibly geopolitical dimension to the global political economy. The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated and accentuated these trends. This paper charts the emergence and consolidation of the era of "one world, ready or not", and employs the work of various critical authors, most prominently William Greider. Greider's extensive critique of US-led globalization, offshoring, and what has since become known as "supply chain capitalism" not only appears prescient by comparison with the work of contemporaneous, high profile representatives of the economics discipline who were its champions, but helps us to locate the sources of its unravelling. The implications of this for GVCs are outlined in the final section, which foresees a fragmentation of the world into spheres of influence dominated by regional powers, each of varying strength and cohesion. This will most likely result in the reconfiguration of many GVCs along more regional lines, as the dictates of efficiency clash with the requirements of supply chain resilience and the associated prerogatives of national security, as defined by those states at the centre of the new regional power blocs. Common to all phases of development discussed in this paper is the subordination of the peoples of the Global South, as the mechanisms of imperialism are adjusted and adapted to the changing conditions arising from the irreconcilable contradictions of global capitalism.

This paper studies the implications of globalization for aggregate output and welfare when risk averse workers face the risk of unemployment. The impact of globalization on the welfare of workers and aggregate output depends on the degree of substitutability between domestic workers and imported inputs. When the degree of substitutability is high (low), then globalization reduces (increases) wages and increases (reduces) unemployment. Irrespective of the substitutability, free trade doesn’t maximize the aggregate output. A small tariff (import subsidy) increases aggregate output when the substitutability is low (high), however, it can exacerbate the distributional conflict. Domestic labor market policies such as unemployment benefits and severance payments can protect workers against labor income risk but the firing restrictions do not. Free trade is optimal when labor market policies provide insurance against unemployment.

Global Software Development (GSD) has been an emerging trend in the development of software globally, for the last two decades. Information Technology (IT) outsourcing includes application development, application maintenance, infrastructure management and business process outsourcing. Software maintenance aims to keep the IT system operational and to fulfill the client requirements. The maintenance is considered the longest phase of software life cycle that consumes about 60-70% of the total software budget. Maintenance of software is not only time consuming but also requires a significant human resources’ ratio. Mostly, software acquisition and maintenance consume a big portion of the total IT budget. The current study aims to evaluate the findings of the systematic literature review and to derive a list of critical success factors regarding offshore outsourcing decision of application maintenance. Thus, an empirical study is performed to validate the influencing factors that were identified by using systematic literature review. These factors are further validated by 93 outsourcing experts from 30 different countries. The collected data through online survey is analyzed based on variables such as respondents experience level, respondents’ locations (continents), experts’ positions. Similarly, the data is analysed based on Chi square test (linear by linear association) and Spearman Rank Correlation. Additionally, the identified factors through survey and systematic literature review are ranked by two different methods. Consequently, a project assessment model is proposed, based on the critical success factors for the sourcing decision of application maintenance.

In this paper, we revisit questions about the onshore employment effects of firms that conduct foreign direct investment (FDI) in countries with substantially lower average wages. Our results derive from the use of rich administrative records on the universe of employees in German multinational enterprises (MNEs) that were active in the Czech Republic in 2010. Compared with former studies, the unique data set in this study includes a much higher fraction of small‐ and medium‐sized firms and leads to strikingly different results for service MNEs. Applying coarsened exact matching for firms and an event‐study design, we show that the domestic employment growth of MNEs decreases relative to that of non‐MNEs and that the affected workers are those with low or medium educational attainment in the manufacturing sector and with medium or high educational attainment in the service sector. Regarding workers' tasks, our results do not show that FDI affects routine jobs beyond a worker's skill level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use plant-level evidence for Germany to explore the productivity effects of offshoring of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) and compare them to those derived for a sample of large German companies. SMEs usually face tighter resource constraints than larger companies, thus making it harder for them to reap the potential productivity gains associated with offshoring. We find evidence for the group of SMEs that plants that offshore business activities tend to be among the more productive ones, ex ante. However, offshoring plants lose this edge over their non-offshoring counterparts. The initial productivity gap is reversed, and the productivity of offshoring plants lags behind even several years after off-shoring has actually taken place. Neither observation can be confirmed for large companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Africa's manufacturing sector experiences declining growth and labour demand, and increased imports of intermediate goods. The paper investigates the influence of offshoring on employment and wages for capital‐ and labour‐intensive industries and skilled and unskilled workers, using firm‐ and employer–employee‐level data. Unlike findings in developed countries, offshoring generally lowers employment in manufacturing firms and increases and decreases the percentage of unskilled workers and lower skilled workers, respectively. Increased narrow offshoring seemingly grows the cohort of unskilled workers, particularly in ultra‐labour‐intensive industries. As offshoring gains momentum, worker‐level earnings increase in capital‐ and labour‐intensive industries but decrease in ultra‐labour‐intensive industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To save costs and build competitiveness, Norwegian shipyards usually offshore some of the processes required to produce a ship, especially steel-related tasks, i.e., they have them carried out in a country with lower factor costs. This study aims to provide some quantitative evidence of the relationship between the degree of offshoring and the production time of offshore support vessels (OSVs) delivered from Norwegian shipyards. It builds upon a recent article that introduced a typology of offshoring in ship production (Semini et al. 2018, Journal of Ship Production and Design, 34(1), 59-71). We take into account contextual factors that are also expected to affect the production time of OSVs, in particular ship size and complexity, repeat production, and the global market situation. We apply multiple regression analysis on a sample of 156 OSVs delivered from nine Norwegian shipyards between 2010 and 2018. Each of these ships was, by plan and strategy, partly produced at a foreign yard, before one of the Norwegian yards took over, completed production, commissioned, tested, and finally delivered the ship. Results suggest that the higher the degree of offshoring is, the longer is the total ship production time. Only ship size explains even more of the production time variability in the sample than offshoring strategy. In addition to these two factors, evidence suggests that also repeat production and the global market situation have a significant impact on the production time. Our study contributes to the literature on the relationship between strategy and performance in shipbuilding. It provides new insights into how offshoring strategy and contextual, product- and market-related factors relate to ship production time based on quantitative, empirical evidence. From a methodological perspective, it illustrates how multiple regression analysis can be applied to ship-specific data as a benchmarking tool to measure and compare shipbuilding performance. Findings are first and foremost valid for the ships included in the study, which opens numerous opportunities for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a considerable amount of discussion over the effect of global value chain (GVC) participation on the increasing levels of income inequality in developed and developing countries. This paper aims to contribute to a better understanding of the interlink between income inequality and GVC participation. For this purpose, a panel data analysis is conducted with recent GVC data from the UNCTAD-Eora database. The results from panel data estimations for a sample of 39 countries over the period 1995–2016 suggest that offshoring has a significant inequality reducing effect for developing economies in the long run. Although the estimation results also indicate that some negative distributional effects of GVC related trade emerge in the short run, these seem to be mainly short run reactions of the economy, which might be offset in the long run through the adjustment of the labor market towards a new long run equilibrium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY: The offshoring of external audit work to so-called low-cost countries is prevalent among the Big 4 professional services firms. Despite this, our understanding of how this form of offshoring influences audit practitioners and the audit process is limited. This study examines how and why offshoring emerged as an organizational matter that changed the way audit work is organized in a Big 4 firm context. Our findings demonstrate how changes in the design of offshoring processes influence interactions between onshore and offshore auditors. We uncover how individual "boundary spanners" struggle to coordinate audit work across the multiple boundaries that separate onshore and offshore auditors. Furthermore, we show how the institutionalization of "boundary spanning" functions in organizational structures and processes can have the unintended consequence of widening the boundaries between onshore and offshore auditors. Finally, we offer evidence of the effect of offshoring on the learning process of onshore and offshore auditors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Product development outsourcing and off-shoring, especially in a high-technology industry such as Satellite Communications, is done by carefully considering the choice of the partner and the operating business model. From the satellite communications company's (Client's) perspective, outsourcing and off-shoring work is a strategic decision that involves considering whether to have a captive off-shore center for resource augmentation or outsource to a third-party partner organization. Furthermore, there are decisions regarding choosing a suitable trustworthy partner organization, pricing models, and the viability of a long-term relationship that involves in-life product management and protection of Intellectual Property ownership. From the partner's (Vendor's) viewpoint, there are several strategic and tactical decisions involving technical solution and engineering development strategy, selecting a mutually acceptable pricing model, and analyzing the risks involved in developing the high-tech product away from customer location. This case analyzes the outsourcing and off-shoring engagement between a leading provider of satellite communications and a product engineering services company in India. This case brings out the strategic perspectives of the client–vendor engagement in building a satellite communications product. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper exploits novel data on Italian manufacturing firms to investigate how mimetic isomorphism influences offshore outsourcing and backshoring decisions among micro and small enterprises (MSEs). The results show that offshore outsourcing by peers located in the same home region positively affects the likelihood that an MSE will engage in the same global sourcing strategy. When these dynamics emerge, firms are more likely to engage in long-lasting foreign subcontracting relationships. Mimetic isomorphism is only detected during the early stages of the internationalization process, while backshoring practices appear to be the result of more independent decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

English Abstract: In the face of utopian discussions on global citizenship and cosmopolitan identities, this article argues that the concept of offshoring provides insights into rising realities in elite mobility and the formation of expat communities. I do this in the context of the proliferation of 'golden passport programmes', through which rich people are naturalised as citizens in the countries where they invest. Showing how the global citizenship utopia is materialised locally, I argue that golden passports are the continuation of offshoring by other means. Presenting an ethnographic portraiture of those enabling Russians to acquire the Cypriot passport, as well as how the Russophone community takes shape locally in Cyprus, the article shows how 'expat communities' can form as enclaves of safety that offer offshore convenience for certain elite community members. It also shows that golden passports exacerbate local inequality, undermining the egalitarian utopia of citizenship at large, with detrimental effects on the local sense of civitas. French Abstract: Face aux discussions utopiques sur la citoyenneté mondiale et les identités cosmopolites, cet article soutient que le concept de délocalisation permet de comprendre les réalités croissantes de la mobilité des élites et de la formation des communautés d'expatriés. Je le fais dans le contexte de la prolifération des « programmes de passeport doré », par lesquels les riches sont naturalisés citoyens dans les pays où ils investissent. En montrant comment l'utopie de la citoyenneté mondiale se matérialise localement, je soutiens que les passeports dorés sont la continuation des délocalisations par d'autres moyens. En présentant un portrait ethnographique de ceux qui permettent aux Russes d'acquérir le passeport chypriote, ainsi que la façon dont la communauté russophone prend forme localement à Chypre, l'article montre comment les « communautés d'expatriés » peuvent se former comme des enclaves de sécurité qui offrent une commodité de délocalisation pour certains membres de la communauté d'élite. Il montre également que les passeports dorés exacerbent les inégalités locales, sapant l'utopie égalitaire de la citoyenneté au sens large, avec des effets néfastes sur le sens local de la civitas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study how domestic firms adapt to increased import competition from China. Using a Danish employer‐employee matched dataset covering firms over the 1995–2007 period, we find that import competition significantly increases manufacturing firms' expansion of their business activities in the service industry (partial servitization); their probability of offshoring production activities abroad and of exiting the market. Import competition, however, does not induce firms to cease all of their involvement in manufacturing production by completely switching into service sector (complete servitization). These findings are confirmed using various robustness tests as well as an analogous analysis of a Portuguese employer‐employee matched dataset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How does globalization affect politics? One of the most controversial aspects of globalization is offshoring, when manufacturing operations and business functions move abroad. Although voters generally dislike offshoring, it remains unclear how moving jobs abroad impacts democratic elections. Using a difference-in-differences estimation strategy, the author finds that incumbent government parties lose more votes in municipalities where a local plant moved production abroad between elections than in municipalities that did not experience such an event. The result holds across various time periods, different incumbent parties and diverse types of elections. In both national and regional elections, voters punish incumbent government parties when a local firm moves production abroad. Incumbent parties' vote shares fall as the number of jobs lost due to offshoring increases. In multiparty governments, voters disproportionately punish the largest coalition party for offshoring. The results of an original survey administered in Spain verify the importance of offshoring for voters' retrospective evaluations of incumbents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the relationship between relative demands for skills, non‐routine, and non‐offshorable tasks in Swedish MNE parents (onshore) and their employment shares in affiliates abroad (offshore). Our estimations suggest that increased employment shares in affiliates abroad (offshore) result in higher relative demand for skills and larger shares of non‐routine tasks performed by employed that are highly educated in the parents at home (onshore). However, we do not find any evidence for that the share of non‐offshorable tasks rises in the parents of Swedish MNEs when employment shares increase in their affiliates overseas. Furthermore, we estimate the relationships between absolute employment onshore (skilled and less‐skilled labour) and employment in affiliates offshore (high‐ and low‐income countries). Increased employment in affiliates in low‐income countries relates negatively to the employment of less‐skilled workers in manufacturing MNE parents (substitute), whereas increased employment in affiliates in high‐income countries correlates positively with the employment of skilled workers in service MNE parents (complement). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of International Business Studies is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Retos, Revista de Ciencias Administrativas y Económicas is the property of Universidad Politecnica Salesiana and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article is aimed at researching the status of the Ukrainian accounting services market; allocating the features, advantages and disadvantages of the existing models of organization of providing accounting services with use of crowd technologies, as well as exploring the prospects for their introduction into activities of national enterprises. The most common models of providing accounting services with use of crowd technologies are analyzed: outsourcing, cosoursing, offshoring, insourcing, outstaffing. It is determined that accounting models, along with significant advantages, have a number of drawbacks. It is noted that the choice of a certain model, the ability and necessity of its use depends on the volumes and types of activities and is left to the owners of the enterprise, taking into account the advantages and presence of an economic effect. It is defined that Ukrainian market of accounting services is represented by a large number of enterprises and individual entrepreneurs, who are increasing the volume of services sold and are in the greatest demand among businesses and institutions in comparison with the ordinary population and other categories of consumers. It is substantiated that, provided the use of services of outsourcers by business owners, it is advisable to focus on the compliance of those who provide services to certain criteria, the main ones among them: professionalism and competence in the specifics and strategies of the customer’s activity; responsibility for result and quality; privacy; cost of accounting services. It is defined that the use of crowd technologies by enterprises in the organization of the accounting process will contribute to its optimization, obtainment of significant benefits from the use of additional resources, and increase in the ability to adapt them to modern economic realities.