| As offshore outsourcing continues to grow, understanding the dynamics of the relationship between the outsourcing customer and vendor are becoming more important. Previous outsourcing literature has identified the importance of the customer and vendor relationship as an indicator for successful outcomes. Until Goles (2001), researchers primarily focused on "outsourcing determinants, benefits, vendor selection, and contracting" (Kern and Willcocks, 2001, p. 40) with very little research investigating the outsourcing relationship and the processes required to support it (Kern, 1997, Goles, 2001; Dibbern et al., 2004).; Goles developed a model that synthesized the prior theories on relationship development and success to create the "Goles Research Model" (2001). No research, to date, has focused on the relationship attributes and processes associated with offshore outsourcing from the client and vendor perspective. Goles used his research model to examine the attributes and processes from the vendor and client perspective, but the companies that he used were U.S. companies utilizing onshore alternatives for outsourcing.; This dissertation used a multiple case study research methodology to conduct an exploratory analysis on the impact of processes and attributes, as described by Goles, on offshore outsourcing relationships. Fourteen interviews were conducted, representing a total of seven outsourcing agreements or seven different case studies.; Although the findings of this research did not mirror Goles' results, the underlying premise to his model is found to be accurate in identifying offshore outsourcing relationship processes and attributes. More importantly, it further supports the importance of relationship attributes and processes for offshore outsourcing relationships, thereby extending Goles' findings for onshore outsourcing relationships to include offshore outsourcing agreements. Additionally, support is found for the inclusion of a sixth process, knowledge transfer, to the Goles Research Model (2001). |
