Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 2 of 2
Full-Text Articles in Business
Mitigate, Tolerate Or Relocate? Offshoring Challenges, Strategic Imperatives And Resource Constraints, Stephan Manning
Mitigate, Tolerate Or Relocate? Offshoring Challenges, Strategic Imperatives And Resource Constraints, Stephan Manning
Management and Marketing Faculty Publication Series
This paper examines key firm-level factors influencing initial strategic responses to offshoring implementation challenges. Comparative case findings indicate that firms are likely to try to mitigate challenges if they perceive to have control over their cause; if strategic objectives are diverse; and if firms have abundant resources available. By comparison, firms tolerate challenges if cost is a strategic imperative, or if resource endowments are limited. Firms relocate operations temporarily or permanently in particular if challenges are externally caused, whereby temporary relocation requires investments into flexible global infrastructures. Findings reveal critical contingencies of capability development and learning in offshoring and beyond.
Emerging Capability Or Continuous Challenge? Relocating Knowledge Work And Managing Process Interfaces, Stephan Manning, Thomas Hutzschenreuter, Alexander Strathmann
Emerging Capability Or Continuous Challenge? Relocating Knowledge Work And Managing Process Interfaces, Stephan Manning, Thomas Hutzschenreuter, Alexander Strathmann
Management and Marketing Faculty Publication Series
This study examines interface management as a dynamic organizational capability supporting an increasing global distribution of knowledge work, based on an in-depth case of an automotive supplier. We show how local responses to experiences of task and interface ambiguity following the relocation of R&D processes may lead to a shift of organizational attention from ex-ante process design to continuous process and interface management. Findings suggest that flexible interface manager positions and partnership structures across locations facilitate local experimentation with effective transfer and handling of ambiguous and partially tacit tasks. This enhances the firm’s capacity to distribute an increasing variety of …