Abstract
Most studies of software outsourcing focus on how to manage the outsourcing from the perspective of the outsourcer, i.e., a company issuing a subcontract. There are few studies of outsourcing presented from the viewpoint of the supplier, i.e., a company receiving a subcontract. Since more and more Chinese software companies are getting software outsourcing subcontracts from all over the world, it is important to investigate how software outsourcing projects are actually performed in China, and to identify possible enhancements. Our study has collected data by a questionnaire-based survey from 53 finished projects in 41 Chinese software suppliers. The results show that: 1) Differences in natural languages may not be the barrier of Chinese software suppliers. 2) Email is most used to discuss development related issues, while face-to-face meetings are mainly used to discuss management and requirements issues. 3) The main reasons for overtime work at the Chinese suppliers are design or requirements changes initiated by the outsourcers and the suppliers’ initial underestimation of the effort.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Ahmed, R.E.: Software Maintenance Outsourcing: Issues and Strategies. Computers and Electrical Engineering 32(6), 449–453 (2006)
Ministry of Information of the People’s Republic of China & Chinese Software Industry Association: Annual Report of China Software Industry (2006), http://www.soft6.com/news/detail.asp?id=15759
Aubert, B.A., Rivard, S., Patry, M.: A Transaction Cost Model of IT Outsourcing. Information and Management 41(7), 921–932 (2004)
Carmel, E., Agarwal, R.: Tactical Approaches for Alleviating Distance in Global Software Development. IEEE Software 18(2), 22–29 (2001)
Donahoe, D.N., Pecht, M.: Are U.S. Jobs Moving to China? IEEE Transactions on Components and Packaging Technologies 26(3), 682–686 (2003)
Ferguson, E., Kussmaul, C., McCracken, D.D., Robbert, M.A.: Offshore Outsourcing: Current Conditions and Diagnosis. In: Proceedings of the Thirty-Fifth SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, Norfolk, Virginia, USA, March, vol. 36(1), pp. 330–331 (2004)
Kankanhalli, A., Tan, B.C.Y., Wei, K., Holmes, M.C.: Cross-cultural Differences and Information Systems Developer Values. Decision Support Systems 38(2), 183–195 (2004)
Krishna, S., Sahay, S., Walsham, G.: Managing Cross-cultural Issues in Global Software Outsourcing. Communications of the ACM 47(4), 62–66 (2004)
Kshetri, N.: Structural Shifts in the Chinese Software Industry. IEEE Software 22(4), 86–93 (2005)
Lacity, M.: Lessons in Global Information Technology Sourcing. Computer 35(8), 26–33 (2002)
Smite, D.: Global Software Development Projects in One of the Biggest Companies in Latvia: Is Geographical Distribution a Problem? Software Process Improvement and Practice 11(1), 61–76 (2006)
Taylor, H.: Critical Risks in Outsourced IT Projects: The Intractable and the Unforeseen. Communications of the ACM 49(11), 74–79 (2006)
Walsham, G.: Cross-cultural Software Production and Use: A Structurational Analysis. MIS Quarterly 26(4), 359–380 (2002)
Herbsleb, J.D., Grinter, R.E.: Splitting the Organization and Integrating the Code: Conway’s Law Revisited. In: Proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Software Engineering, Los Angeles, CA, USA, pp. 85–96 (May 1999)
Wong, J.: China’s Economy in 2005: At a New Turning Point and Need to Fix Its Development Problems. China & World Economy 14(2), 1 (2006)
Herbsleb, J.D., Paulish, D.J., Bass, M.: Global Software Development at Siemens: Experience from Nine Projects. In: Proceeding of the 27th International Conference on Software Engineering, St. Louis, Missouri, USA, pp. 524–533 (May 2005)
Madhavji, N.H., Fernandez-Ramil, J., Perry, D.: Software Evolution and Feedback: Theory and Practice. John Wiley & Sons, West Sussex (2006)
Moløkken, K., Jørgensen, M.: A Review of Surveys on Software Effort Estimation. In: Proceedings of the 2003 International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering, Rome, Italy, pp. 223–231 (September/October 2003)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2007 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Ma, J., Li, J., Chen, W., Conradi, R., Ji, J., Liu, C. (2007). An Industrial Survey of Software Outsourcing in China. In: Münch, J., Abrahamsson, P. (eds) Product-Focused Software Process Improvement. PROFES 2007. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 4589. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-73460-4_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-73460-4_5
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-73459-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-73460-4
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)