Achieving Step-Change in Outsourcing Maturity: Toward Collaborative Innovation

Authors

Edgar A. Whitley, London School of Economics and Political ScienceFollow
Leslie Willcocks, London School of Economics and Political ScienceFollow

Abstract

This article describes the collaborative innovation practices used by outsourcing clients and their suppliers, based on insights gained from 26 organizations with a mature sourcing capability drawn from Europe, the U.S., and Asia/Pacific. We present a collaborative innovation framework comprising the four practices (Leading, Contracting, Organizing, and Performing) that these client organizations have adopted to achieve the "step-change" in outsourcing maturity that is needed to make collaborative innovation a reality. Three cases of information technology (ITO) and business process (BPO) outsourcing arrangements are described to illustrate these practices. The article concludes with lessons that emerged from our multi-year study that can be used to achieve the step-change needed to move to collaborative innovation in outsourcing.

Recommended Citation

Whitley, Edgar A. and Willcocks, Leslie (2011) "Achieving Step-Change in Outsourcing Maturity: Toward Collaborative Innovation," MIS Quarterly Executive: Vol. 10: Iss. 3, Article 4.
Available at: https://aisel.aisnet.org/misqe/vol10/iss3/4