The Strategic Potential of Community-Based Hybrid Models: The Case of Global Business Services in Africa

Global Strategy Journal

Volumn 7, Issue 1, 2017, Pages 125-149

  Manning, Stephan ^a   Kannothra, Chacko G ^a   Wissman Weber, Nichole K ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS BOSTON   (United States)

Author keywords

hybrid organizations; impact sourcing; local communities; outsourcing; Sub Saharan Africa

Indexed keywords

EID: 85012219105     PISSN: None     EISSN: 20425805     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1002/gsj.1147     Document Type: Conference Paper

References (110)

1. Abbott P. 2013. How can African countries advance their outsourcing industries: an overview of possible approaches. African Journal of Information Systems 5(1): 27–35.
2. Abdulai M, Youngsun K, Junghoon M. 2012. Intellectual capital and firm performance: an empirical study of software firms in West Africa. African Journal of Information Systems 4(1): 1–30.
3. Apte UM, Mason RO. 1995. Global disaggregation of information-intensive services. Management Science 41(7): 1250–1262.
4. Altenburg T, Schmitz H, Stamm A. 2008. Breakthrough? China's and India's transition from production to innovation. World Development 36(2): 325–344.
5. Amiti M. 2001. Regional specialization and technical leapfrogging. Journal of Regional Science 41(1): 149–172.
6. Ang S, Inkpen A. 2008. Cultural intelligence and offshore outsourcing success: a framework of firm-level intercultural capability. Decision Sciences 39(3): 337–358.
7. Arora A, Arunachalam VS, Asundi J, Fernandes R. 2001. The Indian software services industry. Research Policy 30(8): 1267–1287.
8. Athreye SS. 2005. The Indian software industry and its evolving service capability. Industrial and Corporate Change 14(3): 393–418.
9. Avasant. 2012. Incentives and opportunities for scaling the ‘impact sourcing’ sector. Available at: https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/report/incentives-opportunities-for-scaling-the-impact-sourcing-sector/ (accessed 10 October 2016).
10. Barney J. 1991. Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. Journal of Management 17(1): 99–120.
11. Battilana J, Dorado S. 2010. Building sustainable hybrid organizations: the case of commercial microfinance organizations. Academy of Management Journal 53(6): 1419–1440.
12. Battilana J, Lee M. 2014. Advancing research on hybrid organizing–insights from the study of social enterprises. Academy of Management Annals 8(1): 397–441.
13. Bitzer V, Hamann R, Hall M, Griffin-EL EW (eds). 2015. The business of social and environmental innovation. In The Business of Social and Environmental Innovation: New Frontiers in Africa. Springer: Cambridge, U.K.; 3–24.
14. Blumer H. 1954. What is wrong with social theory? American Sociological Review 19: 3–10.
15. Bresnahan T, Gambardella A, Saxenian A. 2001. ‘Old economy inputs for ‘new economy' outcomes: cluster formation in the new Silicon Valleys. Industrial and Corporate Change 10(4): 835–860.
16. Bryceson DF, Jønsson JB. 2010. Gold digging careers in rural East Africa: small-scale miners' livelihood choices. World Development 38(3): 379–392.
17. Bulloch G, Long J. 2012. Exploring the value proposition of impact sourcing. Rockefeller Foundation. Available at: https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/app/uploads/Exploring-the-Value-Proposition-for-Impact-for-Impact-Sourcing.pdf (accessed 26 November 2015)
18. Chen S. 2012. Creating sustainable international social ventures. Thunderbird International Business Review 54(1): 131–142.
19. Childs J. 2014. A new means of governing artisanal and small-scale mining? Fairtrade gold and development in Tanzania. Resources Policy 40: 128–136.
20. Clifford J, Markey K, Malpani N. 2013. Measuring social impact in social enterprise: the state of thought and practice in the U.K. Available at: http://e3m.org.uk/measuring-social-impact-in-social-enterprise-the-state-of-thought-and-practice-in-the-uk/ (accessed 13 January 2017).
21. Corbin J, Strauss A. 2008. Basics of Qualitative Research, 3rd edn. Sage: Los Angeles, CA.
22. Craft Silicon Foundation. 2016. About us. Available at: http://www.craftsiliconfoundation.org/about_us.html (accessed 10 October 2016).
23. Crane A, Palazzo G, Spence LJ, Matten D. 2014. Contesting the value of ‘creating shared value’. California Management Review 56(2): 130–153.
24. Davenport TH. 2005. The coming commoditization of processes. Harvard Business Review 83(6): 100–108.
25. DDD Impact Report. 2014. Creating a world of digital possibilities. Available at: http://www.digitaldividedata.com/impact (accessed 10 October 2016).
26. Diesing P. 1971. Patterns of Discovery in Social Sciences. Aldine Publications: Chicago, IL.
27. Doh JP. 2005. Offshore outsourcing: implications for international business and strategic management theory and practice. Journal of Management Studies 42(3): 695–704.
28. Dossani R, Kenney M. 2007. The next wave of globalization: relocating service provision to India. World Development 35(5): 772–791.
29. Eisenhardt KM. 1989. Building theories from case study research. Academy of Management Review 14: 532–550.
30. Ethiraj SK, Kale P, Krishnan MS, Singh JV. 2005. Where do capabilities come from and how do they matter? A study in the software services industry. Strategic Management Journal 26(1): 25–45.
31. Forsgren M, Holm U, Johanson J. 2005. Managing the Embedded Multinational. A Business Network View. Edward Elgar: Cheltenham, U.K.
32. Gereffi G. 1999. International trade and industrial upgrading in the apparel commodity chain. Journal of International Economics 48(1): 37–70.
33. Ghoshal S, Bartlett CA. 1990. The multinational corporation as an interorganizational network. Academy of Management Review 15(4): 603–625.
34. Glin LC, Oosterveer P, Mol AP. 2015. Governing the organic cocoa network from Ghana: towards hybrid governance arrangements? Journal of Agrarian Change 15(1): 43–64.
35. Global Exchange. 2016. Fair trade coffee cooperatives. Available at: http://www.globalexchange.org/fairtrade/coffee/cooperatives (accessed 30 May 2016).
36. GlobalServices. 2009. The top 50 emerging global outsourcing cities. Global Services Report: Gurgaon, India.
37. Gruber V, Schlegelmilch BB. 2015. MNEs' regional headquarters and their CSR agenda in the African context. International Marketing Review 32(5): 576–602.
38. Haigh N, Hoffman AJ. 2012. Hybrid organizations: the next chapter of sustainable business. Organizational Dynamics 41(2): 126–134.
39. Haigh N, Hoffman AJ. 2014. The new heretics: hybrid organizations and the challenges they present to corporate sustainability. Organization & Environment 27(3): 223–241.
40. Harris D, Derdak T, Lash N, Uygur U, Welch M, Tuncay Zayer L. 2013. Alliance for social enterprise: a framework to develop social entrepreneurship in emerging economies. Journal of Strategic Management Education 9(4): 113–132.
41. Harrison AE, Lin JY, Xu LC. 2014. Explaining Africa's (dis) advantage. World Development 63: 59–77.
42. Haveman HA, Rao H. 2006. Hybrid forms and the evolution of thrifts. American Behavioral Scientist 49(7): 974–986.
43. Hilson G. 2014. ‘Constructing’ ethical mineral supply chains in Sub-Saharan Africa: the case of Malawian fair trade rubies. Development & Change 45(1): 53–78.
44. Hockerts K. 2015. How hybrid organizations turn antagonistic assets into complementarities. California Management Review 57(3): 83–106.
45. Holt D, Littlewood D. 2015. Identifying, mapping, and monitoring the impact of hybrid firms. California Management Review 57(3): 107–125.
46. Hoskisson RE, Eden L, Lau CM, Wright M. 2000. Strategy in emerging economies. Academy of Management Journal 43(3): 249–267.
47. Humphrey J, Schmitz H. 2002. How does insertion in global value chains affect upgrading in industrial clusters? Regional Studies 36(9): 1017–1027.
48. Iacovone L, Ramachandran V, Schmidt M. 2014. Stunted growth: why Don't African firms create more jobs? CGD Working paper 353, Center for Global Development, Washington, D.C.
49. Iammarino S, McCann P. 2006. The structure and evolution of industrial clusters: transactions, technology and knowledge spillovers. Research Policy 35(7): 1018–1036.
50. IAOP. 2014. Impact sourcing 101: innovative outsourcing with positive business and social impact. International Association of Outsourcing Professionals. Available at: https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/report/impact-sourcing-101/ (accessed 10 October 2016).
51. Impact Sourcing Conference. 2011. Impact Sourcing: an Emerging Path to Sustainable Job Creation. Rockefeller Foundation: Johannesburg, South Africa.
52. Jacobides MG, Winter SG. 2005. The co-evolution of capabilities and transaction costs: explaining the institutional structure of production. Strategic Management Journal 26(5): 395–413.
53. Jay J. 2013. Navigating paradox as a mechanism of change and innovation in hybrid organizations. Academy of Management Journal 56(1): 137–159.
54. Johanson J, Vahlne JE. 2009. The Uppsala internationalization process model revisited: from liability of foreignness to liability of outsidership. Journal of International Business Studies 40(9): 1411–1431.
55. Jønsson JB, Bryceson DF. 2009. Rushing for gold: mobility and small-scale mining in East Africa. Development and Change 40(2): 249–279.
56. Juselius K, Møller NF, Tarp F. 2014. The long-run impact of foreign aid in 36 African countries: insights from multivariate time series analysis. Oxford Bulletin of Economics & Statistics 76(2): 153–184.
57. Kannothra C, Manning S. 2015. Impact sourcing in India: managing people, clients, and growth at ServImpact. In Managing Interorganizational Relationships—Debates and Cases, Sydow J, Schuessler E, Mueller-Seitz G (eds). Palgrave Macmillan: New York; 139–145.
58. Kenney M, Massini S, Murtha TP. 2009. Offshoring administrative and technical work: new fields for understanding the global enterprise. Journal of International Business Studies 40(6): 887–900.
59. Kepe T. 1999. The problem of defining ‘community’: challenges for the land reform programme in rural South Africa. Development Southern Africa 16(3): 415–433.
60. Kickul J, Lyons T. 2012. Understanding Social Entrepreneurship: The Relentless Pursuit of Mission in an Ever Changing World. Routledge: New York.
61. Kistruck GM, Beamish PW. 2010. The interplay of form, structure, and embeddedness in social intrapreneurship. Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice 34(4): 735–761.
62. Kistruck GM, Beamish PW, Qureshi I, Sutter CJ. 2013a. Social intermediation in base-of-the-pyramid markets. Journal of Management Studies 50(1): 31–66.
63. Kistruck GM, Sutter CJ, Lount RB, Smith BR. 2013b. Mitigating principal-agent problems in base-of-the-pyramid markets: an identity spillover perspective. Academy of Management Journal 56(3): 659–682.
64. Kolk A, Lenfant F. 2013. Multinationals, CSR and partnerships in Central African conflict countries. Corporate Social Responsibility & Environmental Management 20(1): 43–54.
65. Lacity M, Rottman J, Carmel E. 2012. Emerging ITO and BPO Markets: Rural Sourcing and Impact Sourcing. IEEE Readynotes, IEEE Computer Society: Washington, DC.
66. Linna P. 2012. Base of the pyramid (BOP) as a source of innovation: experiences of companies in the Kenyan mobile sector. International Journal of Technology Management & Sustainable Development 11(2): 113–137.
67. London T, Hart SL. 2004. Reinventing strategies for emerging markets: beyond the transnational model. Journal of International Business Studies 35(5): 350–370.
68. London T, Anupindi R, Sheth S. 2010. Creating mutual value: lessons learned from ventures serving base of the pyramid producers. Journal of Business Research 63(6): 582–594.
69. Lorenzen M, Mudambi R. 2013. Clusters, connectivity and catch-up: bollywood and Bangalore in the global economy. Journal of Economic Geography 13(3): 501–534.
70. Luo Y, Wang S, Zheng Q, Jayaraman V. 2012. Task attributes and process integration in business process offshoring: a perspective of service providers from India and China. Journal of International Business Studies 43(5): 498–524.
71. Manning S. 2013. New Silicon Valleys or a new species? Commoditization of knowledge work and the rise of knowledge services clusters. Research Policy 42(2): 379–390.
72. Manning S, Larsen MM, Bharati P. 2015. Global delivery models: the role of talent, speed and time zones in the global outsourcing industry. Journal of International Business Studies 46(7): 850–877.
73. Manning S, Massini S, Lewin AY. 2008. A dynamic perspective on next-generation offshoring: the global sourcing of science and engineering skills. Academy of Management Perspectives 22(3): 35–54.
74. Maxwell JA. 2012. Qualitative Research Design: An Interactive Approach. SAGE Publications: Thousand Oaks, CA.
75. Meyer KE, Estrin S, Bhaumik SK, Peng MW. 2009. Institutions, resources, and entry strategies in emerging economies. Strategic Management Journal 30(1): 61–80.
76. Moreira MM. 2006. Fear of China: is there a future for manufacturing in Latin America? World Development 35(3): 355–376.
77. Mudambi R. 2008. Location, control and innovation in knowledge-intensive industries. Journal of Economic Geography 8(5): 699–725.
78. NASSCOM. 2015. Global sourcing. Available at: http://www.nasscom.in/global-sourcing (accessed 15 May 2015).
79. National Treasury. 2011. Confronting youth unemployment: policy options for South Africa. Discussion paper. National Treasury, Pretoria, South Africa.
80. Niosi J, Tschang FT. 2009. The strategies of Chinese and Indian software multinationals: implications for internationalization theory. Industrial and Corporate Change 18(2): 269–294.
81. North DC. 1990. Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, U.K.
82. Ozcan P, Santos FM. 2014. The market that never was: turf wars and failed alliances in mobile payments. Strategic Management Journal 36(10): 1486–1512.
83. Pache AC, Santos F. 2013. Inside the hybrid organization: selective coupling as a response to competing institutional logics. Academy of Management Journal 56(4): 972–1001.
84. Page J. 2012. Can Africa Industrialise? Journal of African Economies 21: ii86–ii125.
85. Patibandla M, Petersen B. 2002. Role of transnational corporations in the evolution of a high-tech industry: the case of India's software industry. World Development 30(9): 1561–1577.
86. Peng M, Sun SL, Pinkham B, Chen B. 2009. The institution-based view as a third leg for a strategy tripod. Academy of Management Perspectives 23(3): 63–81.
87. Peng M, Wang DYL, Jiang Y. 2008. An institution-based view of international business strategy: a focus on emerging economies. Journal of International Business Studies 39(5): 920–936.
88. Porter ME. 1990. The competitive advantage of nations. Harvard Business Review 68(2): 73–93.
89. Porter ME. 2000. Location, competition, and economic development: local clusters in a global economy. Economic Development Quarterly 14(1): 15–34.
90. Porter ME, Kramer MR. 2011. Creating shared value. Harvard Business Review 89(1/2): 62–77.
91. Prahalad CK. 2012. Bottom of the pyramid as a source of breakthrough innovations. Journal of Product Innovation Management 29(1): 6–12.
92. Prahalad CK, Hammond A. 2002. Serving the world's poor, profitably. Harvard Business Review 80(9): 48–59.
93. Q Drum. 2016. About Q Drum. Available at: http://www.qdrum.co.za/about-q-drum (accessed 30 May 2016).
94. Reddy P. 1997. New trends in globalization of corporate R&D and implications for innovation capability in host countries: a survey from India. World Development 25(11): 1821–1837.
95. Rivera-Santos M, Holt D, Littlewood D, Kolk A. 2015. Social entrepreneurship in Sub-Saharan Africa. Academy of Management Perspectives 29(1): 72–91.
96. Rockefeller Foundation. 2013. Digital jobs in Africa: catalyzing inclusive opportunities for youth. Available at: https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/report/digital-jobs-in-africa-catalyzing-inclusive-opportunities-for-youth/ (accessed 10 October 2016).
97. Sako M. 2006. Outsourcing and offshoring: implications for productivity of business services. Oxford Review of Economic Policy 22(4): 499–512.
98. Samasource. 2016. Impact. Available at: http://www.samasource.org/impact (accessed 10 October 2016).
99. Saxenian A. 2005. From brain drain to brain circulation: transnational communities and regional upgrading in India and China. Studies in Comparative International Development 40(2): 35–61.
100. Scott WR. 1995. Institutions and Organizations (Vol. 2). SAGE Publications: Thousand Oaks, CA.
101. Senthilingam M, Hoeferlin M. 2015. Catch a ride: Ghana's bamboo bikes put sustainable change in the frame. Available at: http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/20/africa/booomers-bamboo-bicycles-ghana/ (accessed 10 October 2016).
102. Simplice A. 2014. Development thresholds of foreign aid effectiveness in Africa. International Journal of Social Economics 41(11): 1131–1155.
103. Smith WK, Gonin M, Besharov ML. 2013. Managing social-business tensions: a review and research agenda for social enterprise. Business Ethics Quarterly 23(3): 407–442.
104. The Africa Report. 2012. Outsourcing: the Indian connection and Africa. Available at: http://www.theafricareport.com/North-Africa/outsourcing-the-indian-connection-and-africa.html (accessed 30 November 2015).
105. Thugge K, Ndung'u N, Owino O. 2009. Unlocking the future potential for Kenya: the vision 2030. Available at: http://www.foresightfordevelopment.org/sobipro/55/1266-unlocking-the-future-potential-for-kenya-the-vision-2030 (accessed 13 January 2017).
106. Volberda HW, Lewin AY. 1999. Prolegomena on coevolution: a framework for research on strategy and new organizational forms. Organization Science 10(5): 519–534.
107. Wernerfelt B. 1984. A resource-based view of the firm. Strategic Management Journal 5(2): 171–180.
108. Yin RK. 2003. Case Study Research: Design and Methods, 3rd edn. SAGE Publications: Thousand Oaks, CA.
109. Zaheer S. 1995. Overcoming the liability of foreignness. Academy of Management Journal 38(2): 341–363.
110. Zahra SA, Rawhouser HN, Bhawe N, Neubaum DO, Hayton JC. 2008. Globalization of social entrepreneurship opportunities. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal 2(2): 117–131.