Revisit: Outsourcing and Offshoring Services

Introduction

Special issue of Australasian Marketing Journal; Deadline 28 Feb 2019

 

Australasian Marketing Journal

CALL FOR PAPERS

Special Issue
Outsourcing and Offshoring Services

Full-length paper submission deadline: 28 February 2019
Anticipated publication date: Issue 3, 2019

Guest Editors:

Themes:

In recent years, competition has driven multinational firms to increasingly ‘outsource’ or ‘offshore’ services to foreign locations to cut costs and improve performance both in domestic and international markets (Contractor, Kumar, Kundu, & Pedersen, 2010). Despite the benefits of service outsourcing/offshoring, i.e., cost reduction, performance improvement, financial returns, etc. (Kakabadse and Kakabadse, 2000), it is still unclear how moving service outsourcing/offshoring could affect firm’s competitive advantages (branding) in dynamic and intensely competitive environments. On the one hand, studies demonstrate short-term impacts on cost saving, service efficiency, and/or productivity improvement (Amiti and Wei, 2009); conversely, research questions the long-term impact on focal firms’ intangible assets, such as brands and employees (Grappi, Romani and Bagozzi, 2013). As service outsourcing/offshoring involves customer interaction with the offshore service providers, increasingly customer’s direct and/or indirect experiences with the offshore service providers affect their service and brand experiences. The strategic decision to outsource/offshore services should be carefully examined to consider its impacts both on operational performance and market performance. The synergy between marketing strategies/tactics and the decision of service outsourcing/offshoring should be fully explored. To understand the states of service outsourcing/offshoring, we invite conceptual and empirical contributions on the following topics:

  1. The impact of service outsourcing/offshoring on short-term operational performance versus longterm market performance.
  2. The impact of service outsourcing/offshoring on firm values, value creations, brand values/equity of the focal firms.
  3. The impact of service outsourcing/offshoring on consumers and their responses, customer life-time values, customer loyalty.
  4. The impact of service outsourcing/offshoring on employees and the role of internal marketing.
  5. The short-term and long-term impact of service outsourcing/offshoring.
  6. The impact from different types of services being outsourced/offshored.
  7. Factors that affect the firms’ operational performance (versus market performance) in service outsourcing/offshoring.
  8. The choice of the offshore location and its impact.
  9. The choice of offshore firms/partnerships and its impact.
  10. The impact of other marketing tactics/strategies/orientations on offshored/outsourced services.
  11. The impact of marketing strategy (e.g. communications, pricing, etc.) on offshored/outsourced services performance.
  12. Service outsourcing/offshoring of focal firms in developing and/or emerging economies.
  13. Market dynamics and environment and its impact on service outsourcing/offshoring.
  14. The role of competitors in service outsourcing/offshoring decision-making and forms of outsourcing/offshoring.
  15. The differential impact between service outsourcing/offshoring and artificial intelligence (AI)-based services.
  16. The use of technology on service outsourcing/offshoring.

How to submit your manuscript:

  • Full-length journal papers for the Special Issue are to be submitted through the AMJ submission system and will undergo a similar review process as regularly submitted papers. Submission for the Special Issue begin 15 July 2018, with the final deadline for submission being 28 February 2019. Questions pertaining to the Special Issue should be sent to the Guest Editors. Papers must be formatted in accordance with the Australasian Marketing Journal style sheet.
  • All papers will be double-blind refereed. Post-refereeing, the Guest Editors will propose a list of publishable papers for consideration by the Editors-in-Chief of the Australasian Marketing Journal – their agreement will be required prior to notifying Authors of final acceptance. The anticipated publication date is Issue 3, 2019.

Links:

Australasian Marketing Journal:
https://www.journals.elsevier.com/australasian-marketing-journal/

Australasian Marketing Journal – format of submissions:
https://www.elsevier.com/journals/australasian-marketing-journal/1441-3582/guide-for-authors

References:

1. Amiti, M., & Wei, S. J. (2009). Service offshoring and productivity: Evidence from the US. The World Economy, 32(2), 203-220.

2. Bairi, J., & Murali Manohar, B. (2011). Critical success factors in gaining user customer satisfaction in outsourced IT services. Journal of Enterprise Information Management, 24(6), 475-493.

3. Bharadwaj, N., & Roggeveen, A. L. (2008). The impact of offshored and outsourced call service centers on customer appraisals. Marketing Letters, 19(1), 13-23.

4. Cohen, L., & El-Sawad, A. (2007). Lived experiences of offshoring: An examination of UK and Indian financial service employees’ accounts of themselves and one another. Human Relations, 60(8), 1235- 1262.

5. Contractor, F. J., Kumar, V., Kundu, S. K., & Pedersen, T. (2010). Reconceptualizing the firm in a world of outsourcing and offshoring: The organizational and geographical relocation of high?value company functions. Journal of Management Studies, 47(8), 1417-1433.

6. Forman, A. M., Thelen, S., & Shapiro, T. (2015). Domestic versus offshore service providers: The impact of cost, time, and quality sacrifices on consumer choice. Journal of Service Management, 26(4), 608- 624.

7. Grappi, S., Romani, S., & Bagozzi, R. P. (2013). The effects of company offshoring strategies on consumer responses. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 41(6), 683-704.

8. Jensen, P. D. Ø., & Pedersen, T. (2012). Offshoring and international competitiveness: Antecedents of offshoring advanced tasks. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 40(2), 313-328.

9. Kakabadse, N., & Kakabadse, A. (2000). Critical review–outsourcing: a paradigm shift. Journal of Management Development, 19(8), 670-728.

10. Roggeveen, A. L., Bharadwaj, N., & Hoyer, W. D. (2007). How call center location impacts expectations of service from reputable versus lesser known firms. Journal of Retailing, 83(4), 403-410.

11. Sharma, P., Mathur, R., & Dhawan, A. (2009). Exploring customer reactions to offshore call centers: toward a comprehensive conceptual framework. Journal of Services Marketing, 23(5), 289-300.

12. Stringfellow, A., Teagarden, M. B., & Nie, W. (2008). Invisible costs in offshoring services work. Journal of Operations Management, 26(2), 164-179.

13. Thelen, S. T., Yoo, B., & Magnini, V. P. (2011). An examination of consumer sentiment toward offshored services. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 39(2), 270-289.

14. Tombs, A., & Rao Hill, S. (2014). The effect of service employees’ accent on customer reactions. European Journal of Marketing, 48(11/12), 2051-2070.

15. Youngdahl, W., & Ramaswamy, K. (2008). Offshoring knowledge and service work: A conceptual model and research agenda. Journal of Operations Management, 26(2), 212-221.

AMJ Editorial Office

Liem Viet Ngo, Incoming Editor-in-Chief
Email: liem.ngo@unsw.edu.au