CARAFANO, J.J., KANE, T., MITCHELL, D., AND NGUYEN, H. 2004. Protectionism Compromises America's Homeland Security. Backgrounder, No. 1777. Heritage Foundation Washington, DC. (July) (Available at www.heritage.org/research/homelanddefense/bg1777.cfm).
This position paper by the Heritage Foundation, which is relevant to but not directly about software offshoring, was written in response to the criticisms by protectionists of the Department of Homeland Security contract to the Bermuda-based company Accenture. The paper argues that protectionism stifles innovation and increases costs; free trade enables the United States to have the best technologies for homeland security; Congress should fix US tax laws rather than discriminate against companies that are based in countries with better tax laws; the Department of Homeland Security should be free to award contracts to the company best prepared to do the job without consideration of location in most cases; and the Department of Homeland Security should be required to show due diligence to security in awarding these contracts. Some specific legislative action is recommended.
CARAFANO, J.J. AND ROSENZWEIG, P. 2004. Protecting Privacy and Providing Security: A Case of Sensible Outsourcing. Backgrounder, No. 1810, The Heritage Foundation Washington, DC. (N0v.) (Available at www.heritage.org/homelanddefense/bg1810.cfm).
This article by two senior researchers at the Heritage Foundation argues against a position that they claim is widely held, namely that offshoring threatens defending the nation against terrorists, protecting constitutional liberties, and promoting economic growth. The authors argue that by adopting sensible offshoring practices, the United States can protect the privacy of individual citizens, promote better security practices, and contribute to economic prosperity; that market forces can enhance economic growth and security; and that the federal government and Department of Homeland Security should change rules and practices so as to award contracts to the companies that provide the best security for value paid, regardless of location of the vendor. The article describes some of the principles that should be followed in contracting for offshoring in order to protect the security of data and services. It describes some of the actions taken in India, at least by the larger vendors who can afford these actions, to protect network, physical, and personnel security as well as business continuity in the face of disaster. There is also discussion of Indian legislation over the past five years to address security and privacy concerns from the United States and the European Union.
CARMEL, E. AND NICHOLSON B. To appear. Small Firms and Offshore Software Outsourcing: High Transaction Costs and their Mitigation. Journal of Global Information Management.
Abstract from preprint. It seems surprising that small firms engage in offshore outsourcing given that they lack the resources that large firms possess to overcome the difficulties involved. We examine these factors using transaction cost theory's three stages: contact costs, contract costs, and control costs. Then, using our field data culled from small client firms, intermediaries, and offshore vendors, we analyze the mitigation approaches that have appeared to reduce transaction costs for small firms. We identify nine such approaches: three for client firms and six for suppliers. For the small client firm, they are liaisons of knowledge flows, gaining experience, and overcoming opportunism; and, for the service providers, they are: onshore presence, reducing contact costs, simplifying contracting, providing control channels, expertise intermediaries, and standardization of services.
CARMEN, E., AND TIJA, P. 2005. Offshoring Information Technology. Cambridge University Press.
This is a book intended to educate CIOs and other IT executives about the opportunities and risks of offshoring. The first part of the book discusses fundamentals of offshoring: defining terms, offshoring economics, identifying offshore providers, and selecting the right country. The second part discusses managerial competency, including offshore strategy, legal issues, managing the transition, overcoming distance and time, and handling cross-cultural issues. The third part discusses other stakeholders, including building software industries in developing nations, the provider perspective on marketing of offshore services, and political issues. Carmel is a business school professor in the United States (American University); Tjia is an IT consultant in the Netherlands.
CARNOY, M. 1999. Globalization and Educational Reform: What Planners Need to Know. International Institute for Educational Planning, UNESCO. Paris, France.
The author is a professor of education and economics at Stanford University. The report includes information about the impact of globalization on work; the impact of globalization on educational reform strategies (whether competitiveness, finance, or equity driven); decentralization, privatization, and other educational reforms and their impact on knowledge production; the impact of globalization on educational practices, including educational technology; and globalization and cultural identity.
CARR, N. 2004. Does IT Matter? Harvard Business Press, Boston, MA.
Description from Carr's Web site. In this article, published in the May 2003 edition of the Harvard Business Review, I examine the evolution of information technology in business and show that it follows a pattern strikingly similar to that of earlier technologies like railroads and electric power. For a brief period, as they are being built into the infrastructure of commerce, these "infrastructural technologies," as I call them, open opportunities for forward-looking companies to gain strong competitive advantages. But as their availability increases and their cost decreases - as they become ubiquitous - they become commodity inputs. From a strategic standpoint, they become invisible; they no longer matter. (See also the HBR rebuttals to the Carr thesis in their August 2003 issue, and Carr's own Web site at http://www.nicholasgcarr.com/articles/matter.html.)
CASADIO TARABUSI, C. AND VICKERY, G. 1998. Globalization in the Pharmaceutical Industry. International Journal of Health Services 2, 2, 281-303.
See the annotation to Part 1 of the paper.
CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS 2004. Offshoring by the Numbers. (May 21). (Available at http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF=81289).
This brief report describes some of the problems associated with data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Bureau of Labor that might be pertinent in understanding offshoring.
CENTER FOR NATIONAL SOFTWARE STUDIES 2005. Software 2015: A National Software Strategy to Ensure U.S. Security and Competitiveness. Report of the 2nd National Software Summit (April 29).
The Center for National Software Studies is a nonprofit "whose mission is to elevate software to the national agenda, and to provide objective expertise, studies, and policy recommendations on national software issues." The report is based on the 2nd National Software Summit, which was held in Washington, DC, in May 2004. The Center is interested in protecting the vitality of the US software industry. The report, and the action plan for the next ten years, is based on concerns about risks from software that is not as trustworthy as it might be (especially in light of international terrorism) and concerns over the offshoring of software work. The summit, which was attended by 80 senior industry executives and other "thought leaders", identified goals and initiatives in four areas: improving software trustworthiness, educating and fielding the software workforce, re-energizing software research and development, and encouraging innovation with the US software industry.
CERF, V. AND H. N. MILLER 2005. America Gasps for Breath in the R&D Marathon. Wall Street Journal (July 27) A12.
This commentary by one of the inventors of the Internet and the President of the Information Technology Association of America argues that the US strength in international commerce will be harmed if the United States does not increase federal support for R&D. Some statistics: the federal budget for the National Science Foundation will decline for the first time since 1996 if the president's budget is passed as submitted; DARPA has moved away from open-ended, long-range research, dropping computing research from $214M in 2001 to $123M in 2004; national spending on R&D places the United States sixth in the world; the federal portion of the national budget for R&D has fallen to 25% today from 64% in 1964; the United States graduates 60,000 engineers each year, compared to 184,000 in India and more than 200,000 in China; in 1989 China, India, and Japan comprised 5% of US patent applications, while it is 19% today.
CHABROW, E. 2004. U.S. Holds an Edge in Global I.T.-Services Skills. Information Week 22 (March) 981.
This article provides some basic data about US trade balances in services generally and in IT services in particular. It also provides some information about job loss and job creation in the US computer industry. Much of the data is based on an analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
CHATTERJEE, M. B. 2005. Playing on a New Court. The Hindu: Business Line (Sept. 12 Internet edition).
This article describes the small but growing Indian industry for legal business process outsourcing, especially to the United States. Work consists mainly of legal services work such as paralegal and secretarial support, but there is also some higher value services such as contract review, patent writing, litigation research, and general research and review. Companies such as GE, Oracle, Sun, and Cisco have moved portions of their legal departments to India as have some large multinational law firms such as Schwegman, Lundberg, Woessner and Kluth. Some general purpose service providers such as Evalueserve, Office Tiger, and Manthan Services have divisions for legal services, and there are also some Indian companies focused exclusively on legal services such as Pangea3, Atlas Legal Research, Lexadigm, and Lawwave. Some clients are expressing concerns about data security and service quality and about not having the chance to custom train the employees of the service provider.
CHATTERJEE, S. 2004. South Africa Seen as India's Rival in Outsourcing. Indo-Asian News Service 21 (Nov.) (appeared on Yahoo! India News (Nov. 28).
This news article summarizes the key points in a study conducted by Datamonitor. The study concludes that South Africa may emerge as a leader in offshoring due to its better infrastructure, low labor costs, and cultural advantages. Datamonitor expects 939 call centers in South Africa by 2008, and the total number of agent positions is predicted to rise to 69,600 in the same period.
CHEN, K. AND KENNEY, M. 2005. University/Research Institute-Industry Linkages in Two Chinese Cities: Commercializing Technological Innovation. Presented at Universities as Drivers of the Urban Economies in Asia sponsored by the World Bank and Social Research Council (May 24-25).
This paper examines the role of universities and research institutes in two Chinese cities, Beijing and Shenzen, which have very different development models. The paper presents historical background on Chinese higher education, research institutions, market globalization policy, and research and development policy. It also gives detailed information about the state of universities, research institutes, and their ties to the commercial sector. In Beijing, there was already a strong higher educational base, and the paper talks about the contribution that the education base makes to technology commercialization through the formation of spin-off firms and the transfer of people from the educational to the industrial sector. Case studies of the Chinese Academy of Science and Tsinghua University are given in illustration of these patterns. Shenzen was a fishing village near Hong Kong that was promoted by the Chinese government for development as a way to relocate manufacturing from Hong Kong. It did not originally have any universities or research centers, but incentives attracted a number of universities to establish graduate programs there. A successful high technology industry has been built up in Shenzen. In Beijing, most of the R&D continues to be done in the universities and research institutes; in Shenzen, most of the R&D is carried out in companies.
CHEN, L. 1999. Reform: China's New Engineering Obstacle. Prism (Sept.). (Available at http://www.prismmagazine.org/sept99/lastword.htm (accessed September 2005).
A Chinese professor identifies challenges in engineering education for his country. He is particularly concerned about students learning to think creatively. He suggests reforming the teaching content, introducing students to a scientific learning method, modifying teaching plans, speeding up educational modernization, and improving teachers' working conditions and training.
CHINA SOFTWARE INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION. 2005. China Software Export Achieved 7 Times Growth in Five Years. (Available at . Accessed March 13).
The brief excerpt quotes Vice Minister YU Guangzhou of the Ministry of Commerce in Beijing who stated that the Chinese Software Industry has developed rapidly in recent years with an average annual growth of 30% on sales and seven times growth on software export for the past five years.
CHINA VENTURE CAPITAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE 2004.China Venture Capital Yearbook 2003. Hong Kong.
Introduction from Webpage. China Venture Capital Yearbook 2003, the 2nd annual series work, is an authoritative & comprehensive reference on venture capital in China produced by a group of prominent business scholars, industry leaders, and government officials headed by Siwei Cheng, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), the People's Republic of China. It is one of the feature publications edited by CVCRI in cooperation with Public Policy Research Institute of Hong Kong Polytechnic University, China's Ministry of Science and Technology, Guangdong Venture Capital Association and Shanghai Venture Capital Association. The Yearbook can serve as the most valuable guide in China and overseas for business practitioners, academic researchers, and government officials with a focus on China's venture capital markets to capture latest developments, track on historical data and past records, seek practical insights and ideas, and find and build business connections in the venture capital communities inside and outside China.
CHITTUM, R.2005. Rise in Offshore Jobs Expected. The Wall Street Journal (Eastern Edition) (May) B6.
This article is based on a survey of 40 of the Fortune 1000 firms by Jones Lang LaSalle, a Chicago-based commercial real estate service provider. The major points (almost verbatim from various parts of the article): 80% of real-estate executives for major companies say they are likely to increase their offshore call centers and computer services over the next five years; two-thirds say they are likely to increase offshore back-office functions; most executives are creating new jobs overseas rather than replacing US jobs, but 42.5% say they are transferring US jobs overseas; IT job losses will hit high-tech markets such as Silicon Valley and Boston hardest; moving call centers overseas will have the largest effect on secondary markets, particularly in the south and southwest; offshoring is driven by lower labor costs; real-estate costs are often higher in India than in secondary US markets because of the costs of upgrading infrastructure and the fact that offshoring firms were generally in Indian cities where costs are higher; almost 90% of the executives say that negative publicity surrounding offshoring has had little or no effect on their plans, for others it has affected strategy but not the decision to offshore; more than 80% of the firms have used third parties to help them implement their offshoring activities; and the biggest obstacles to implementation are poor infrastructure, bureaucracy, and lack of suitable buildings.
COHEN, S. AND DELONG, J. B. 2004. Thinking About Outsourcing. Brad DeLong's Semi-Daily Journal (April 2).
The article discusses the economics and politics of outsourcing in the United States. It points out how protectionist policy became a Democratic position during the presidential election, how the political debate is likely to die away after the election (especially if the economy rebounds), the impact of monetary policy on level of employment, how the economists are right in arguing that offshoring will benefit the economy overall, how the economists are wrong in that the government has not been effective at transferring funds from the winners to the losers in previous outsourcing/free trade situations such as the textile industry, and how the effect of outsourcing will occur during the course of a generation rather than more quickly so that there is time to make changes in the way we redistribute wealth so that all Americans are winners if we have the will to do so. Blogged comments follow.
COLVIN, G. 2005. Can America Compete? Fortune (July 20).
The article investigates the crisis in confidence in America about continuing to be competitive in the global marketplace. There is a discussion of the failing of the American K-12 education system, the lack of American students enrolling in higher education in science and engineering, the departure of foreign students to their home countries in record numbers after receiving their degrees, loss of jobs for American workers, increasingly strong educational systems in other countries, wage stagnation from foreign competition, education as a possible policy solution, the success that the United States had with education reform as it moved from an agrarian to a manufacturing nation, and the value of immigration reform to attract and retain foreign students and science and technology professionals.
COMMITTEE FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. 2005. Making Trade Work: Straight Talk on Jobs, Trade, and Adjustment. The Research and Policy Committee, Washington, DC. (March).
The Committee for Economic Development is a non-profit, non-partisan, non-political organization of some 250 business leaders and educators in the United States. This report argues strongly in favor of free trade and against protectionism in light of offshoring. It also argues for major reforms in US trade assistance programs that will provide a safety net for workers who have lost their jobs. "It is easy to count the jobs lost through outsourcing, but difficult to count the many jobs created through the cost savings created by outsourcing, the productivity growth it allows, and direct foreign investment in the United States - they are 'hidden in plain sight.'" (p. 2) The report cites some of the relevant economic analysis and data bolstering their position. It also provides a bibliography of articles, with summaries, on current state of domestic jobs, foreign outsourcing, trade policy, adjustment assistance/unemployment insurance reform, and education/training for displaced workers.
COMMUNICATIONS WORKERS UNION 2004. The Threat of Outsourcing UK Call Centre Jobs Offshore - the Current Situation and Future Developments. Communications Workers Union, London, UK.
From the publication's overview. The call centre outsourcing market is continuing to grow with more companies announcing their intention to remote source call centre and back office work abroad. New technology has enabled the service industry to cut labor costs by moving operations to countries with low wage economies. Royal and Sun Alliance have recently announced plans to outsource 1,200 jobs to India. In the last year, National Rail Enquiries have outsourced 600 jobs, and HSBC has revealed its intention to outsource 4,000 jobs over 2 years. Nevertheless, some UK companies are opting to retain UK-based call centers, believing that potential gains in terms of lower wages are outweighed by poorer customer service and inadequate levels of data protection.
COMPUTERWORLD STAFF 2005. Indian Call Center Workers Charged With Citibank Fraud. Computerworld (April 7).
Police arrested 12 people, including three employees of Mphasis BPO, a call center in Pune, India, for defrauding four Citibank account holders of an estimated 300,000 US dollars. The three Mphass employees carried with them the details of four accounts (including the accounts PIN's) and used a number of subterfuges, including false e-mail accounts and account details, to transfer funds into accounts in Pune.
COMPUTING ACCREDITATION COMMISSION 2005. Draft General and Program Criteria for Accrediting Computing Programs. (July 14, unpublished).
The document provides draft guidelines on general criteria for computer program evaluation. Issues include objectives and outcomes, student support, faculty qualifications, faculty size and workload, curriculum, technical infrastructure, institutional support and financial resources, and institutional facilities.
COMPUTING RESEARCH ASSOCIATION, 2004. 2003-04 Taulbee Survey. (Available at http://www.cra.org/statistics/).
The Taulbee Survey is the principal source of information on the enrollment, production, and employment of PhD.s in computer science and computer engineering and in providing salary and demographic data for faculty in computer science and computer engineering at doctoral institutions in North America. Undergraduate majors and master's students who are studying at these doctoral-granting institutions are also tracked. Statistics include gender and ethnicity breakdowns.
COMPUTER SYSTEMS POLICY PROJECT 2004. Choose to Compete: How Innovation, Investment, and Productivity can Grow U.S. Jobs and Ensure American Competitiveness. Computer Systems Policy Project, Washington , DC.
This is a policy document from CSPP, which is an organization representing the CEOs of eight IT industry firms: Dell, EMC, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Motorola, NCR, and Unisys. The basic position is that we need to take decisive action to be able to compete in the international setting by strengthening our ability to innovate and that we should not retreat into protectionism. Perhaps the most interesting point of this document is the policy positions advocated by CSPP:
" Promote innovation as a means to maintain American leadership
" Pass a permanent R&D tax credit
" Increase federal investment in university-based research in the physical sciences
" Implement new policies that support the chain of innovation
" Encourage investment in the innovation infrastructure and maintain a business climate that rewards risk and encourages entrepreneurship
" Enact an infrastructure investment act supporting improved asset depreciation tables, a permanent tax moratorium on Internet access, and reform international tax rules
" Adopt national broadband goals and implement a strategy to reach them
" Continue e-government initiatives to make government more efficient
" Improve education and training of US workers
" Fund federal and state education priorities
" Enact a mathematics and science improvement act to improve teaching and learning in these areas
" Support greater access to and use of technology for interactive learning
" Improve teacher preparedness and performance
" Create an incentive for human capital investment among employers
" Mitigate the temporary effects of workforce dislocations through training programs
COONEY, M. 2005. States Target Offshoring - Again. Computer World (Network World) (Feb. 28).
From the article. Colorado this week became yet another state to see a bill before its legislature that would cut tax breaks and other incentives to companies in Colorado that offshore workers. According to an Associated Press report, 36 states considered legislation aimed at limiting offshoring last year. Laws, however, were only passed in two of them: Tennessee and Illinois. So far this year, 15 states besides Colorado are considering such bills.
COOPER, M. H. 2004. Exporting Jobs. CQ Researcher 14, 7 (Fed. 20) 149-172.
This article provides a brief overview of most of the general issues about offshoring as they concern the United States. The article is best on issues having to do with the history and current status of policy concerning H1-B and L-1 visas. It includes a useful one-page chronology of events and excerpts from testimony by Ron Hira (IEEE USA) and Harris Miller (ITAA) for and against, respectively, having the government slow the offshoring of high-tech jobs.
CURRIE, W. 2000. The Supply Side of IT Outsourcing: The Trend Towards Mergers, Acquisitions, and Joint Ventures. International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management 30, 3/4, 238-254.
Although the article is a little dated, it provides useful information about the somewhat neglected topic of the supply side of IT outsourcing since most of the management literature has been focused on client strategies. The focus is mainly on large IT service providers based on UK examples and shows how these companies use strategies of mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures across vertical markets. The paper discusses the growing complexity of outsourcing deals and analyzes the actions of various kinds of players, including consulting firms.
CUSUMANO, M. 1991. Japan's Software Factories: A Challenge to U.S. Management. Oxford University Press.
From Amazon.com. Though Japan has successfully competed with U.S. companies in the manufacturing and marketing of computer hardware, it has been less successful in developing computer programs. This book contains the first detailed analysis of how Japanese firms have tried to redress this imbalance by applying their skills in engineering and production management to software development. Cusumano focuses on the creation of "software factories" where large numbers of people are engaged in developing software in cooperative ways, i.e., individual programs are not developed in isolation but rather utilize portions of other programs already developed whenever possible and then yield usable portions for other programs being written. Devoting chapters to working methods at System Developing Corp., Hitachi, Toshiba, NEC, and Fujitsu, and including a comparison of Japanese and U.S. software factories, Cusumano's book will be important reading for all people involved in software and computer technology as well as those interested in Japanese business and corporate culture.
CYBERHOOD NEWS 2005. IBM Opens Dedicated IT Services Research Center in Bangalore. (Aug. 18) (Available at http://www.ciol.com/content/news/2005/105081813.asp. Accessed September 1).
Lead from article. In an effort to promote innovation in the IT services arena, Infotech, a major IBM subsidiary, today announced the opening of a research center in Bangalore that would look purely at services. This center, which would look purely at services, would act as the extended arm of IBM's India Research Lab (IRL) located in New Delhi. This announcement comes as the company is on a big hiring spree in India and speculations that IBM plans to cut jobs at other locations and hire thousands more in India. The company already has a 23,000 strong IT services team in the country.
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