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Exploring Failures at the Team Level in Offshore-Outsourced Software Development Projects

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The Dynamics of Global Sourcing. Perspectives and Practices (Global Sourcing 2012)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing ((LNBIP,volume 130))

Abstract

Offshore-outsourced software development (OOSD) projects involve multifaceted risks throughout the project execution, as they are handed over to third-party organizations and thus are exposed to more risks than in domestic outsourcing or captive offshoring. We concentrate on failed OOSD projects in this paper and analyze the unique aspects of such projects at the team level that lead to failures. Using the grounded theory approach, we conducted semistructured interviews with 19 project managers involved in OOSD project failures from the vendor and client sides, who are based in India or Switzerland. We developed a set of propositions regarding multiple teams in the OOSD project context to explain failures. Integration of inter-organizational offshore and onshore teams from the vendor and client sides was found to be indispensable in avoiding project failures. Six categories of unique aspects that lead to OOSD project failures were identified and discussed in this exploratory work.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Informatics, University of Zurich, Binzmühlestrasse 14, CH-8050, Zurich, Switzerland

    Tom Philip, Erik Wende & Gerhard Schwabe

Authors
  1. Tom Philip
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  2. Erik Wende
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  3. Gerhard Schwabe
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Aston Business School, Birmingham, UK

    Julia Kotlarsky

  2. Loughborough School of Business and Economics, Loughborough, UK

    Ilan Oshri

  3. London School of Economics, London, UK

    Leslie P. Willcocks

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Philip, T., Wende, E., Schwabe, G. (2012). Exploring Failures at the Team Level in Offshore-Outsourced Software Development Projects. In: Kotlarsky, J., Oshri, I., Willcocks, L.P. (eds) The Dynamics of Global Sourcing. Perspectives and Practices. Global Sourcing 2012. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 130. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-33920-2_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-33920-2_12

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-33919-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-33920-2

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