Taking the measure of outsourcing providers

MIT Sloan Management Review

Volumn 46, Issue 3, 2005, Pages

  Feeny, David ^a   Lacity, Mary ^b   Willcocks, Leslie P ^c  

^a UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD   (United Kingdom)

^b UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI ST LOUIS   (United States)

^c UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 18444368150     PISSN: 7653697     EISSN: 1782155X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (12)

1. For an account of Bank of America's outsourcing of HR activity to Exult (which agreed to a merger with Hewitt Associates in June 2004), see P. Adler, "Making the HR Outsourcing Decision," MIT Sloan Management Review 45, no. 1 (fall 2003): 53-59. For a broader discussion of theory and practice in HR outsourcing, see
2. D. Dell and H. Munson, "Outsourcing HR in the Power Utilities and Energy Industry," research report E-0006-04-RR, Conference Board, New York, June 2004.
3. For an introduction to the transformational approach, see J. Linder, M. Cole and A. Jacobson, "Business Transformation Through Outsourcing," Strategy & Leadership 30, no. 4 (2002): 23-28;
4. and J. Linder, "Transformational Outsourcing," MIT Sloan Management Review 45, no. 2 (winter 2004): 52-58.
5. See, for example, M. Lacity, L. Willcocks and D. Feeny, "The Value of Selective IT Sourcing," Sloan Management Review 37, no. 3 (spring 1996): 13-25;
6. and D. Feeny and L. Willcocks, "Core IS Capabilities for Exploiting Information Technology," Sloan Management Review 39, no. 3 (spring 1998): 9-21.
7. For definition and analysis of the "winner's curse" phenomenon across 85 outsourcing contracts, see T. Kern, L.Willcocks and E. Van Heck, "The Winner's Curse In IT Outsourcing: Strategies for Avoiding Relational Trauma," California Management Review 44, no. 2 (winter 2002): 47-69.
8. Exult quickly won significant add-on contracts, including a $700 million deal with Prudential Financial Inc. and a $600 million deal with International Paper Co. See M.L. Cagle and K. Campbell, "Taking HR from Cost Center to Revenue Generator at Bank of America" (presentation at the 2002 Outsourcing World Summit, Orlando, Florida, February 18, 2002).
9. For discussion, see M. Lacity, D. Feeny, and L. Willcocks, "Transforming a Back-Office Function: Lessons from BAE Systems' Experience With an Enterprise Partnership," MIS Quarterly Executive 2, no. 2 (September 2003): 86-103.
10. M. Lacity and L. Willcocks, "Global Information Technology Outsourcing: In Search of Business Advantage" (Chichester, U.K.: John Wiley& Sons, 2001).
11. Lacity, Willcocks and Feeny, "Value of Selective IT Sourcing."
12. Feeny and Willcocks, "Core IS Capabilities."