China's Emerging Outsourcing Capabilities The Services Challenge

While China is known for its immense manufacturing base, in recent years the Chinese government has assigned a high priority to science and technology services as its future growth sectors. The Chinese government is supporting this vision with the establishment of research and technology parks, favorable tax incentives, policy reform, grants to help Chinese firms achieve certifications, investments in infrastructure, and promotion of IT outsourcing (ITO) and business process outsourcing (BPO) services. Beyond the aspirations of its leaders, is China ready to compete in the global ITO and BPO markets? How can Western managers successfully engage Chinese ITO/BPO suppliers? In this book, top scholars and practitioners doing leading research on China's ITO and BPO sector help answer these questions. All told, this book reports on findings from 519 interviews, 305 surveys, 11 detailed case studies, and 34 formal presentations. Authors analyze the strengths and weaknesses of China's ITO and BPO markets, categorize and analyze Chinese suppliers, project future trends in China's ITO and BPO capabilities, and prescribe lessons for Western managers seeking to engage Chinese suppliers. Several chapters contain studies of Chinese suppliers and clients engaged in particular ITO or BPO services, including, procurement, media relations, logistics, and research and development. Overall, the Chinese ITO and BPO markets are changing rapidly as they both respond to and help form the global outsourcing landscape. This book provides an in-depth, contemporary view on where China is heading, how it is going to get there, and how companies and countries can engage with China's emerging outsourcing capabilities.

MARY C. LACITY is a Professor of Information Systems and an International Business Fellow at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Her current research focuses on global outsourcing of business and IT services. She has published 11 books, most recently Information Systems Outsourcing: Theory and Practice (Palgrave, 2009; coauthor: Leslie P. Willcocks) and Offshore Outsourcing of IT Work, (Palgrave, 2008; coauthor Joe Rottman). More than 50 of her publications have appeared in the Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, MIS Quarterly, IEEE Computer, Communications of the ACM, and many other academic and practitioner outlets. She is Senior Editor of the Journal of Information Technology, Co-editor of the Palgrave Series: Work, Technology, and Globalization and on the Editorial Boards for MIS Quarterly Executive, Journal of Strategic Information Systems, Strategic Outsourcing: An International Journal, and Journal of the Association for Information Systems (JAIS).

LESLIE P. WILLCOCKS is Professor of Technology Work and Globalization at the London School of Economics and Political Science, head of the Information Systems and Innovation Group and director of The Outsourcing Unit there. He is known for his work on global sourcing, information management, IT evaluation, e-business, organizational transformation as well as for his practitioner contributions to many corporations and government agencies. He holds visiting chairs at Erasmus, Melbourne and Sydney universities and is an Associate Fellow at Templeton, University of Oxford. He has been Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Information Technology for the last 20 years, and is joint series editor, with Mary C. Lacity, of the Palgrave book series Technology Work and Globalization. He has co-authored 31 books, including most recently Major Currents in Information Systems (Sage, London 2008, with Allen Lee), and Global Sourcing of Business and IT Services (Palgrave, London, 2006, with Mary C. Lacity) He has published over 180 refereed papers in journals such as Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, MIS Quarterly, MISQ Executive, Journal of Management Studies, Communications of The ACM, and Journal of Strategic Information Systems.

YINGQIN ZHENG is a research associate at the London School of Economics. She obtained her MPhil and PhD from Cambridge University. She was a Gates Cambridge scholar. Her research interests include the implications of information and communication technology in social development, information society and information culture, and distributed innovation. She has conducted research in various countries including South Africa, China, Switzerland and the UK. Yingqin has published a number of academic papers in international journals, and conferences. Her work was awarded Best Paper Finalist at the International Conference of Information Systems 2007, and Highly Commended Award at the Literati Network Awards for Excellence 2009.