Abstract
Suriname is emerging as a popular low-cost country in South America with Dutch language capabilities combined with a substantial pool of qualified professionals to perform call center services. Based on Gartner selection criteria, we explore the attractiveness of Suriname for providing call center services. Two case studies, including six interviews, are conducted as the method for exploring this question. The interviewees indicated that language capabilities, low cost, and the availably of qualified resources have been the main drivers for sourcing call center services out of Suriname. The anticipated decrease in connectivity cost will also increase Suriname’s attractiveness in providing call center services. Additionally, we identify improvement areas, such as increasing the onshore/offshore ratio and English-language call center services. A major limitation of this research is that the interviews are limited to representatives employed by call centers in Suriname, which adds significant bias to the study.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
van Dun, Z., Bloemer, J., Henseler, J.: Job quality in customer contact centre: conceptual foundation and scale development. The Services Industries Journal 32(2), 171–196 (2012)
Koole, G.: Call center mathematics, a scientific method for understanding and improving contact centers. Technical report, http://www.math.vu.nl/~koole/ccmath
Cordes, C., Dougherty, T.: A review and an integration of research on job burnout. Academy of Management Review 18(4), 621–656 (1993)
Singh, J., Goolsby, J., Rhoads, G.: Behavioral and psychological consequences of boundaries spanning burnout for customer service representatives. Journal of Marketing Research 16(4), 558–569 (1994)
Ravishankar, M., Pan, A.: Examining the influence of modularity and knowledge management (KM) on dynamic capabilities: insights from a call center. International Journal of Information Management 22, 147–159 (2013)
Ruyter, K., de, W.M., Feinberg, R.: Role stress in call centres: its effect on employee performance and satisfaction. Journal of Interactive Marketing 15(2), 23–35 (2001)
Anton, J.: Call center management by numbers. Purdue University Press/Call Center Press, Annapolis (1997)
Feinberg, R., Kim, I., Hokama, L., de Ruyter, K., Keen, C.: Operational determinants of caller satisfaction in the banking/financial services call center. International Journal of Bank Marketing 20(4), 174–180 (2000)
Jaiswal, A.: Customer satisfaction and service quality measurement in Indian call centres. Managing Service Quality 18(4), 405–416 (2008)
Aksin, O., Vericourt, F., de Karaesmen, F.: Call Center Outsourcing Contract Analysis and Choice. Management Science 54(2), 354–368 (2008)
Kim, J., Park, S.: Outsourcing strategy in two-stage call centers. Computer & Operations Research 37, 790–805 (2010)
Gans, N., Zhou, Y.: Call-routing schemes for call center outsourcing. Manufacturing and Service Operations Management 9(1), 33–50 (2007)
Jaarsveld, D., Yanadori, Y.: Compensation Management in Outsourced Service Organisations and its implications for quit rates, absenteeism and workforce performance: evidence from Canadian call centers. British Journal of Industrial Relations 49, 1–26 (2011)
Heskett, J., Sasser, W., Schlessinger, L.: The service profit chain: how leading companies link profit and growth to loyalty, satisfaction and value. Free Press, New York (1997)
Lazear, E.: Personnel economics. MIT Press, Cambridge (1995)
Fuhrman, F.: Co-sourcing: a winning alternative to outsourcing call center services. Call Center Solutions 17(12), 100–103 (1999)
Sharma, P., Mathur, R., Dhawan, A.: Exploring customer reactions to offshore call centers: towards a comprehensive conceptual framework. Journal of Services Marketing 23(5), 289–300 (2009)
Russell, B., Thite, M.: The next division of labour: work skills in Australian and Indian call centers. Work Employment Society 22(4), 615–634 (2008)
Economist Intelligent Unit: Suriname: Political structure, 1114900355 (October 24, 2012)
Suriname: Suriname: researching out to the world. Foreign Policy 197, 55-56 (December 2012)
Economist Intelligent Unit: Quick view - the trail of President Bouterse has stalled, 1240667496 (December 18, 2012)
Economist Intelligent Unit: Caribbean politics: spotlight shines on Caribbean corruptions, 1238002349 (December 12, 2012)
Economist Intelligent Unit: Quick view – The World Bank backs Suriname’s development, 1115013483 (October 25, 2012)
World Bank: World Development Indicators database, http://data.worldbank.org/data-catalog/world-development-indicators
Waterkant: Contract goudwinning met multinationals fantastisch ding (in Dutch), http://www.waterkant.net/suriname/2012/12/19/contract-goudwinning-met-multinationals-fantastisch-ding/
Eisenhardt, K.: Building theories from case study research. Academy of Management Review 14(4), 532–550 (1989)
Yin, R.: Case Study Research: Design and Methods. Sage, Newbury Park (2002)
Miles, M., Huberman, A.: Qualitative Data Analysis: An Expanded Sourcebook. Sage, Thousand Oaks (1994)
Eisenhardt, K., Graebner, M.: Theory building from case studies: opportunities and challenges. Academy of Management Journal 50(1), 25–32 (2007)
Marriott, I.: Gartner’s 30 Leading Locations for Offshore Services, G00228043 (January 16, 2012)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Beulen, E. (2013). Business Process Outsourcing in Suriname: Call Center Services. In: Oshri, I., Kotlarsky, J., Willcocks, L.P. (eds) Advances in Global Sourcing. Models, Governance, and Relationships. Global Sourcing 2013. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 163. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40951-6_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40951-6_13
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-40950-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-40951-6
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)