Make, buy or ally? Theoretical perspectives on knowledge process outsourcing through alliances

Journal of Management Studies

Volumn 47, Issue 8, 2010, Pages 1434-1456

  Mudambi, Susan M ^a   Tallman, Stephen ^b  

^a TEMPLE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 77958603307     PISSN: 00222380     EISSN: 14676486     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6486.2010.00944.x     Document Type: Article

References (93)

1. Alvesson, M. (1993). 'Organizations as rhetoric: knowledge-intensive firms and the struggle with ambiguity. Journal of Management Studies, 30, 997-1015.
2. Amsden, A. H. and Tschang, F. T. (2003). 'A new approach to assessing the technological complexity of different categories of R&D (with examples from Singapore). Research Policy, 32, 553-72.
3. AnB. N. and Khanna, T. (2000). 'Do firms learn to create value? The case of alliances. Strategic Management Journal, 21, 295-315.
4. Anderson, E. (1985). 'The salesperson as outside agent or employee: a transaction cost analysis. Marketing Science, 4, 234-54.
5. Anderson, J. C. and Narus, J. A. (1995). 'Capturing the value of supplementary services. Harvard Business Review, 73, 75-83.
6. Arino, A. and Reuer, J. J. (2006). Strategic Alliances: Governance and Contracts. Houndsmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
7. Barney, J. B. (1991). 'Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. Journal of Management, 17, 99-120.
8. Becerra, M., Lunnan, R. and Huemer, L. (2008). 'Trustworthiness, risk, and the transfer of tacit and explicit knowledge between alliance partners. Journal of Management Studies, 45, 691-713.
9. Bettencourt, L. A., Ostrom, A. L., Brown, S. W. and Roundtree, R. I. (2002). 'Client co-production in knowledge-intensive business services. California Management Review, 44, 100-28.
10. Beugelsdijk, S., Pedersen, T. and Petersen, B. (2008). 'Is there a trend towards global value chain specialization? An examination of cross border sales of US foreign affiliates. Journal of International Management, 15, 126-41.
11. Browne, D. C. (2009). 'Outsourcing stability studies. Pharmaceutical Technology, 33, s48-57.
12. Chi, T. (1994). 'Trading in strategic resources: necessary conditions, transaction cost problems, and choice of exchange structure. Strategic Management Journal, 15, 271-90.
13. Coase, R. (1988). 'The nature of the firm: influence. Journal of Law, Economics and Organization, 4, 33-47.
14. Contractor, F. J. and Lorange, P. (1988). Cooperative Strategies in International Business. Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath & Co.
15. Contractor, F. J. and Lorange, P. (1998). 'Competition vs. cooperation: a benefit/cost framework for choosing between fully-owned investments and cooperative relationships. Management International Review, 28, 5-18.
16. Contractor, F. J. and Lorange, P. (2002). 'The growth of alliances in the knowledge-based economy. International Business Review, 11, 485-503.
17. Contractor, F. J. and Mudambi, S. (2008). 'The influence of human capital investment on the exports of services and goods: an analysis of the top 25 services outsourcing countries. Management International Review, 48, 433-45.
18. Currie, W. L., Mitchell, V. and Abanishe, O. (2008). 'Knowledge process outsourcing in financial services: the vendor perspective. European Management Journal, 26, 94-104.
19. Demirbag, M. and Glaister, K. W. (2010). 'Factors determining offshore location choice for R&D projects: a comparative study of developed and emerging regions. Journal of Management Studies, doi: 10.1111/j.1467-6486.2010.00948.x.
20. Dess, G. G. and Beard, D. W. (1984). 'Dimensions of organizational task environments. Administrative Science Quarterly, 29, 52-73.
21. Dhanaraj, C., Lyles, M. A., Steensma, H. K. and Tihanyi, L. (2004). 'Managing tacit and explicit knowledge transfer in IJVs: the role of relational embeddedness and the impact on performance. Journal of International Business Studies, 35, 428-42.
22. Doh, J. P., Bunyaratavej, K. and Hahn, E. D. (2009). 'Offshoring administrative and technical work: implications for globalization, corporate strategies, and organizational designs. Journal of International Business Studies, 40, 926-43.
23. Doz, Y. and Hamel, G. (1998). Alliance Advantage: The Art of Creating Value through Partnering. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
24. Eisenhardt, K. M. (1985). 'Control: organizational and economic approaches. Management Science, 31, 134-49.
25. Evalueserve (2004). 'The next big opportunity: moving up the value chain from BPO to KPO'. White Paper, 13 July. Available online at: (accessed 15 December 2009).
26. Foss, N. J. and Foss, K. (2005). 'Resources and transaction costs: how property rights economics furthers the resource-based view. Strategic Management Journal, 26, 541-53.
27. Foss, N. and Pedersen, T. (2002). 'Transferring knowledge in MNCs: the role of sources of subsidiary knowledge and organizational context. Journal of International Management, 8, 49-67.
28. Ganesan, S., Malter, A. J. and Rindfleisch, A. (2005). 'Does distance still matter? Geographic proximity and new product development. Journal of Marketing, 69, 44-60.
29. Gerwin, D. and Ferris, J. (2004). 'Organizing new product development projects in strategic alliances. Organization Science, 15, 22-38.
30. Geyskens, I., Steenkamp, J.-B. E. M. and Kumar, N. (2006). 'Make, buy, or ally: a transaction cost theory meta-analysis. Academy of Management Journal, 49, 519-43.
31. Graf, M. and Mudambi, S. M. (2005). 'The outsourcing of IT-enabled business processes: a conceptual model of the location decision. Journal of International Management, 11, 253-68.
32. Grant, R. M. (1996). 'Towards a knowledge-based theory of the firm. Strategic Management Journal, 17, 109-22.
33. Grimpe, C. and Kaiser, U. (2010). 'Balancing internal and external knowledge acquisition: the gains and pains from R&D outsourcing. Journal of Management Studies, doi: 10.1111/j.1467-6486.2010.00946.x.
34. Gulati, R. (1995). 'Does familiarity breed trust? The implications of repeated ties for contractual choice in alliances. Academy of Management Journal, 38, 85-112.
35. Gulati, R. and Singh, H. (1998). 'The architecture of cooperation: managing coordination costs and appropriation concerns in strategic alliances. Administrative Science Quarterly, 43, 781-815.
36. Gulati, R., Lawrence, P. R. and Puranam, P. (2005). 'Adaptation in vertical relationships: beyond incentive conflict. Strategic Management Journal, 26, 415-40.
37. Gupta, S., Woodside, A., Dubelaar, C. and Bradmore, D. (2009). 'Diffusing knowledge-based core competencies for leveraging innovation strategies: modeling outsourcing to knowledge process organizations (KPOs) in pharmaceutical networks. Industrial Marketing Management, 38, 219-27.
38. Heide, J. B. (1994). 'Interorganizational governance in marketing channels. Journal of Marketing, 58, 71-85.
39. Heide, J. B. and Wathne, K. H. (2004). 'Relationship governance in a supply chain network. Journal of Marketing, 68, 73-89.
40. Hennart, J.-F. (1988). 'The transaction cost theory of equity joint ventures. Strategic Management Journal, 9, 361-74.
41. Hennart, J.-F. (1993). 'Explaining the swollen middle: why most transactions are a mix of "market" and "hierarchy". Organization Science, 4, 529-47.
42. Hoetker, G. and Mellewigt, T. (2006). 'Matching alliance governance to alliance content'. In Arino, A. and Reuer, J. (Eds), Strategic Alliances: Governance and Contracts. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 148-58.
43. Hoskisson, R. E., Eden, L., Lau, C. M. and Wright, M. (2000). 'Strategy in emerging economies. Academy of Management Journal, 43, 249-67.
44. Howells, J., Gagliardi, D. and Malik, K. (2008). 'The growth and management of R&D outsourcing: evidence from UK pharmaceuticals. R&D Management, 38, 205-19.
45. Jacobides, M. G. and Winter, S. G. (2005). 'The co-evolution of capabilities and transaction costs: explaining the institutional structure of production. Strategic Management Journal, 26, 395-413.
46. Kale, P., Dyer, J. and Singh, H. (2002). 'Alliance capability, stock market response, and long-term alliance success: the role of the alliance function. Strategic Management Journal, 23, 747-68.
47. King, W. R. and Sethi, V. (1999). 'An empirical assessment of the organization of transnational information systems. Journal of Management Information Systems, 15, 7-28.
48. Kotabe, M., Murray, J. Y. and Javalgi, R. (1998). 'Global sourcing of services and market performance: an empirical investigation. Journal of International Marketing, 6, 10-31.
49. KPMG (2008). 'Knowledge process outsourcing. Global Issues and Insights. 14 February. Available online at: (accessed 20 December 2009).
50. Lazzarini, S. G., Claro, D. P. and Mesquita, L. F. (2008). 'Buyer-supplier and supplier alliances: do they reinforce or undermine one another?. Journal of Management Studies, 45, 561-84.
51. Lichtenthaler, U. and Lichtenthaler, E. (2009). 'A capability-based framework for open innovation: complementing absorptive capacity. Journal of Management Studies, 46, 1315-38.
52. MacGarvey, A. (2009). 'Changing face of outsourcing. Pharmaceutical Technology Europe, 98. Available online at: (accessed 20 December 2009).
53. Madhok, A. (1997). 'Cost, value and foreign market entry mode: the transaction and the firm. Strategic Management Journal, 18, 39-61.
54. Madhok, A. (2002). 'Reassessing the fundamentals and beyond: Ronald Coase, the transaction cost and resource based theories of the firm and the institutional structure of production. Strategic Management Journal, 23, 535-50.
55. Madhok, A. and Tallman, S. (1998). 'Resources, transactions and rents: managing value through interfirm collaborative relationships. Organization Science, 9, 326-38.
56. Mehta, S. and Peters, L. S. (2007). 'Outsourcing a core competency. Research Technology Management, 50, 28-34.
57. Mesquita, L. F. and Lazzarini, S. G. (2008). 'Horizontal and vertical relationships in developing economies: implications for SMEs' access to global markets. Academy of Management Journal, 51, 359-80.
58. Mithas, S. and Whitaker, J. (2007). 'Is the world flat or spiky? Information intensity, skills, and global service disaggregation. Information Systems Research, 18, 237-59.
59. Mudambi, R. (2002). 'Knowledge management in multinational firms. Journal of International Management, 8, 1-9.
60. Mudambi, R. (2008). 'Location, control and innovation in knowledge-intensive industries. Journal of Economic Geography, 8, 699-725.
61. Mudambi, R. and Venzin, M. (2010). 'The strategic nexus of offshoring and outsourcing decisions. Journal of Management Studies, doi: 10.1111/j.1467-6486.2010.00947.x.
62. Mudambi, R., Mudambi, S. M. and Navarra, P. (2007). 'Global innovation in MNCs: the effects of subsidiary self-determination and teamwork. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 24, 442-55.
63. Murray, J. Y., Kotabe, M. and Westjohn, S. A. (2009). 'Global sourcing strategy and performance of knowledge-intensive business services: a two-stage strategic fit model. Journal of International Marketing, 17, 90-105.
64. Nelson, R. R. and Winter, S. G. (1982). An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
65. Nobel, R. and Birkinshaw, J. (1998). 'Innovation in multinational corporations: control and communication patterns in international R&D. Strategic Management Journal, 19, 479-96.
66. Oxley, J. E. and Sampson, R. C. (2004). 'The scope and governance of international R&D alliances. Strategic Management Journal, 25, 723-49.
67. Parkhe, A. (1993). 'Strategic alliance structuring: a game theoretic and transaction cost examination of interfirm alliances. Academy of Management Journal, 36, 794-829.
68. Peteraf, M. (1993). 'The cornerstones of competitive advantage: a resource based view. Strategic Management Journal, 14, 179-91.
69. Pfeffer, J. and Nowak, P. (1976). 'Joint venture and interorganizational interpendence. Administrative Science Quarterly, 21, 398-418.
70. Poppo, L. and Zenger, T. (2002). 'Do formal contracts and relational governance function as substitutes or complements?. Strategic Management Journal, 23, 707-25.
71. Porter, M. (1998). 'Clusters and the new economics of competition. Harvard Business Review, 76, 77-90.
72. Powell, W. W. (1990). 'Neither market nor hierarchy: network forms of organization. Research in Organizational Behavior, 12, 295-336.
73. PricewaterhouseCoopers (2009). Outsourcing Comes of Age: The Rise of Collaborative Partnering. Available online at: (accessed 15 December 2009).
74. Pyndt, J. and Pedersen, T. (2006). Managing Global Offshoring Strategies - A Case Approach. Copenhagen: Copenhagen Business School Press.
75. Quinn, J. B. and Hilmer, F. G. (1994). 'Strategic outsourcing. Sloan Management Review, 35, 43-55.
76. Rindfleisch, A. and Heide, J. B. (1997). 'Transaction cost analysis: past, present, and future applications. Journal of Marketing, 61, 30-54.
77. Robins, J. A., Tallman, S. and Fladmoe-Lindquist, K. (2002). 'Alliance strategies for emerging economies: a structural approach to autonomy and dependence in US-Mexican alliances. Strategic Management Journal, 23, 881-902.
78. Santos, F. M. and Eisenhardt, K. M. (2005). 'Organizational boundaries and theories of organization. Organization Science, 16, 491-508.
79. Sen, A. and McPherson, A. (2009). 'Outsourcing, external collaboration, and innovation among U.S. firms in the biopharmaceutical industry. The Industrial Geographer, 6, 20-36.
80. Steiner, C. J. (1995). 'A philosophy for innovation: the role of unconventional individuals in innovation success. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 12, 431-40.
81. Tallman, S. (2001). 'Forming and managing shared organization ventures: resources and transaction costs'. In Faulkner, D. and DeRond, M. (Eds), Cooperative Strategy: Economic, Business, and Organizational Issues. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 96-118.
82. Tallman, S. and Phene, A. (2006). 'Coordination, appropriation and governance in alliances: the biotechnology case'. In Arino, A. and Reuer, J. (Eds), Strategic Alliances: Governance and Contract. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 67-76.
83. Tallman, S. and Phene, A. (2007). 'Leveraging knowledge across geographic boundaries. Organization Science, 18, 252-60.
84. Tallman, S. and Shenkar, O. (1994). 'A managerial decision model of international cooperative venture formation. Journal of International Business Studies, 25, 91-113.
85. Teece, D. J., Pisano, G. and Shuen, A. (1997). 'Dynamic capabilities and strategic management. Strategic Management Journal, 18, 509-33.
86. Thompson, J. D. (1967). Organizations in Action. New York: McGraw-Hill.
87. Tiwana, A. (2008). 'Does interfirm modularity complement ignorance? A field study of software outsourcing alliances. Strategic Management Journal, 29, 1241-52.
88. Venkatesan, R. (1992). 'Strategic sourcing: to make or not to make. Harvard Business Review, 70, 92-107.
89. Williamson, O. E. (1975). Markets and Hierarchies: Analysis and Antitrust Implications. New York: The Free Press.
90. Williamson, O. E. (1991). 'Comparative economic organization: the analysis of discrete structural alternatives. Administrative Science Quarterly, 36, 269-96.
91. Youngdahl, W. and Ramaswamy, K. (2008). 'Offshoring knowledge and service work: a conceptual model and research agenda. Journal of Operations Management, 26, 212-21.
92. Yuan, L., Zelong, W. and Yi, L. (2010). 'Strategic orientations, knowledge acquisition, and firm performance: the perspective of the vendor in cross-border outsourcing. Journal of Management Studies, doi: 10.1111/j.1467-6486.2010.00949.x.
93. Zajac, E. J. and Olsen, C. P. (1993). 'From transaction cost to transactional value analysis: implications for the study of interorganizational strategies. Journal of Management Studies, 30, 131-45.