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International Workshop on Global Sourcing of Information Technology and Business Processes

Global Sourcing 2012: The Dynamics of Global Sourcing. Perspectives and Practices pp 39–60Cite as

Asset Transfer in IT Outsourcing: Divesting Commodities or Inviting Investment?

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

Abstract

Information technology outsourcing is often accompanied by the risky practice of transferring clients’ production assets to vendors. It is unclear why outsourcing similar services is, at times, accompanied by asset transfer while at other times is not. Theoretical explanations in the Resource Based View and Property Rights Theory have tended to separately focus on either the nature of the outsourced service or the ownership of the asset. I argue that independently they offer only partial explanation of the common phenomena and consequently propose an integrative framework. Based on two well documented case studies, I offer an illustration to the merits of the framework.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. IE Business School, Maria de Molina 11-13-15, Madrid, Spain

    Kiron Ravindran

Authors
  1. Kiron Ravindran
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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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Ravindran, K. (2012). Asset Transfer in IT Outsourcing: Divesting Commodities or Inviting Investment?. 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_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-33920-2_3

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-33919-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-33920-2

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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