MIS41010 Outsourcing and Offshoring

Academic Year 2023/2024

Digital infrastructure, distributed organisations and increasing global reach are driving a growing array of options around the sourcing of key product components and services. Business and organizations face strategic decisions around which specific products/services are better provided in-house, and which may be better outsourced to an increasingly global and competitive marketplace of delivery specialists. Moreover, this new ecology of complex inter-organisational arrangements introduces a range of difficult management challenges. This module will exercise the language and knowledge needed to better understand the diverse range of global sourcing options, the attendant opportunities and challenges, and approaches to addressing these in practice. Themes covered include: on-going relationship development; the formulation of sourcing contracts and service level agreements; relationship governance structures and practices; risk management and resilience; balancing in-house and outsourced capabilities; the facilitation of effective communication and learning in context of cultural diversity and distributed work; the use of ICT; and identifying and addressing emerging relationship problems.

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Curricular information is subject to change

Learning Outcomes:

Context/history of sourcing: Demonstrate a sound understanding of how the outsourcing market has developed over time, and of the types of processes/services that should be considered for sourcing. Sourcing modes: Describe the common modes of sourcing (e.g. in-sourcing, outsourcing, offshoring, nearshoring) and their associated advantages and disadvantages. Management models: Describe how to approach strategic sourcing decisions and the choice of appropriate sourcing partners. Critical perspective: Demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of how sourcing relationships may be better managed and how this might vary according to the sourcing mode. Emerging trends: Critically assess emerging trends in sourcing that are likely to be important in the future.

Indicative Module Content:

The class reviews the following themes and subjects:
* Paradigms of outsourcing and offshoring
* National competitiveness, country attractiveness
* Sourcing models and decisions
* Supplier capabilities and strategies
* The client perspective
* Leveraging Knowledge
* The IT outsourcing lifecycle
* Organisational governance
* Global, distributed, teams
* Emerging issues for sourcing

Student Effort Type Hours
Lectures

30

Specified Learning Activities

70

Autonomous Student Learning

100

Total

200

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 
Assessment Strategy  
Description Timing Open Book Exam Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade
Continuous Assessment: Research paper, presentation, and reflection Coursework (End of Trimester) n/a Graded No

65

Continuous Assessment: Homework assignments Varies over the Trimester n/a Graded No

25

Continuous Assessment: Group Activity Varies over the Trimester n/a Pass/Fail Grade Scale No

10


Carry forward of passed components
Yes
 
Resit In Terminal Exam
Summer No
Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, on an activity or draft prior to summative assessment
• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Formative feedback on research essay offered throughout the module. Summative feedback on project given at time of presentation. Summative feedback on research essay and reflection given at end of term.

Spring
     
Lecture Offering 1 Week(s) - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Tues 09:00 - 11:50

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