[AISWorld] JITCAR, Volume 15, Number 2 published

Fri Sep 6 13:37:00 EDT 2013

Dear IS Scholars and Practitioners around the World:

In my capacity as JITCAR Special Issue Guest Editor, It gives me great pleasure to announce this Special Issue.  Summary information about articles published in this issue is provided below.

Sincerely

Dr. Shailendra Palvia
Professor of MIS, Long Island University
http://liu.edu/CWPost/Academics/Faculty/P/Shailendra-Palvia.aspx?rn=Faculty&ru=/CWPost/Academics/Faculty.aspx
2012 LIU Post Nominee for Abraham Krasnoff Lifetime Scholarship Achievement Award
Faculty Advisor for the Indo-American Club
Phone #: 732-983-7034

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>From the Guest Editor's Desk
It gives me a great pleasure to present this Special Issue on Global Sourcing of Services.  The contents of this issue are:  Editorial Preface article by Dr. Varun Grover: Research article by Dr. Prashant Palvia and Dr. Ravi Thambusamy; Research article by Drs. Jeremy C. Ballah, James R. Burns and Christopher M. Cassidy; Expert Opinion report by Dr. Daniel Peak; and Book Review by Dr. Shailendra C. Jain Palvia.  Summary information of these items is as follows.

Dr. Varun Grover in his editorial preface article focuses on three perspectives on global sourcing: researcher, practitioner, and political/media. These perspectives are what Dr. Grover articulated in his keynote presentation at the 10th Annual International Smart Sourcing Conference held at the SolBridge International Business School in Daejeon, South Korea.  Delegates to this conference represented a diverse group of vendors, scholars, clients and government officials.  While summarizing the Academic World, Dr. Grover mentions three theoretical perspectives chosen by researchers to comprehend the global sourcing phenomenon since Kodak first outsourced its entire IT function to IBM in 1989:  Knowledge Based theory, Transaction Cost theory, and Agency theory.  From the vantage point of politics and media, outsourcing is a dirty word, which can be also termed myths of outsourcing as elucidated by an elaborate example.  The counter-example in his articles articulates in detail the facts. The main stakeholder in the global sourcing industry is client and vendor companies who are continually managing evolving outsourcing relationships; whether they are near shore or far shore or multi shore, total sourcing or selective sourcing, through captives or alliance or joint venture, ITO or BPO or KPO.  Towards the end of the article, Dr. Grover provides an outlook for the future of global sourcing.

The first research article is titled, "Electronic Medical Records Application Development: Perspectives of the Service Provider."  This article documents the experiences in the development and implementation of an EMR system for a U.S. client by an offshore vendor from the perspective of the offshore vendor. The following abstract provides details of the article.

"Healthcare Information Technology (HIT) is a relatively new phenomenon and refers to the use of computer applications to store, process, and use clinical, administrative, and financial information among various health care entities.  HIT is widely regarded as a key to improving the quality of healthcare in the United States and potentially reducing its cost. Yet, its implementation is a continuous challenge for the healthcare industry.  One of the key applications of HIT is Electronic Medical Records (EMR).  The implementation of an EMR system may result in improved and more efficient care and patient safety, but it may also incur additional costs. Furthermore, if the development of the application is undertaken by an offshore vendor, it adds another layer of complexity. This research case documents the experiences in the development and implementation of an EMR system for a U.S. client by an offshore vendor.  While client experiences abound  in the literature, this study is unique in that it draws from the perspective of the service provider. Key findings of the study show that the major issues related to EMR development by an offshore vendor include gaining domain knowledge, requirements generation, and access to expertise. Like offshoring projects in general, client-vendor communication remains perennially important.  Beyond EMR, this vendor's critical success factors in HIT project's offshore development additionally include scope containment, need for a client liaison, and managing non-functional expectations."

The second research article is titled, "Offshore Information System Development Process in India:  How Practitioners Respond to the Challenges." This grounded theory research presents an emergent theoretical model from the analysis of interviews performed with 29 respondents across 10 organizations in the U.S. and India. The following abstract provides more details.

"Offshore information systems development (ISD) has been an important practice for the last fifteen or more years, and it will likely continue to be. The potential benefits derived from lower operational costs and complementary time schedules are extremely attractive. Many organizations have successfully realized these benefits; however, others encountered unexpected challenges in the process and decided to move their operational capabilities back onshore. Current research addresses many challenges in the process and describes tools and methods for managing those challenges. However, more work needs to be done to investigate why offshoring works for some organizations but not others. This study investigates the system of offshore ISD through the eyes of practitioners by using grounded theory methods to inductively build theory to understand how they respond to the challenges that they encounter. We present an emergent theoretical model from the analysis of interviews performed with 29 respondents across 10 organizations in the U.S. and India. One portion of this model suggests that Indian organizations differ with respect to the way they respond to the challenge of solving problems that require critical thinking and creative problem-solving. While some organizations respond with an over-emphasis on processes, others invest in the training and development of employees to teach them higher-level skills in consulting. This model suggests that organizations can improve performance in offshore ISD by focusing more resources toward hiring the right employees, giving them the necessary training and development, and retaining them for many years."

The Expert Opinion report probes into the experience and expertise of a veteran IT service provider Polaris Financial Technology Inc. for the financial services industry.  The interviewee is Mr. Sanjeev Gulati.  As head of business for Americas at Polaris Financial Technology Ltd, Sanjeev Gulati is responsible for all of Polaris' business in North and South America. He is part of Polaris' top management team and provides executive oversight to Polaris' global relationships anchored out of Americas.   Polaris Financial Technology builds, maintains, expands, and extends Financial Technology infrastructure for Banks, Financial Institutions and Insurance Companies using most efficient technologies, methodologies, and prebuilt solutions. Mr. Gulati has spent over two decades in Business Strategy and Client Relationships across Asia, Europe and North America. For the past fourteen years he has been with Polaris and has played an integral role in the growth of many of Polaris' global relationships anchored in the US like Citi, JPMC, Morgan Stanley and Bank of Montreal.  He focuses on positively impacting business outcomes for Polaris customers and is a strong believer in the power of collaboration across global cross-functional and multicultural teams to create superior value. His core strengths include Business Strategy, Global Client Relationship Management and Commercials Management.
Book review report provides a detailed critique of 2010 book titled, "Implementing Strategic Sourcing: A Manager's Guide to World Class Best Practices," co-authored by Dr. Christine V. Bullen, Mr. Richard LeFave, and Dr. Gad J. Selig.  The book reviewer summarizes as follows.

"In my role as a Professor of Business School for 30 years and as world conference chairperson of eleven annual international smart sourcing conferences, I will give this book a grade of A- or A.  It has relevance for both researchers and more so for practitioners.  Global sourcing of services (ITO, BPO, and KPO) is irreversible. Global sourcing has enabled people of developing nations to participate in the global economic development without physically immigrating to developed nations. I wish the authors the very best in this book helping diverse stakeholders of global sourcing from industry, government, and academia in achieving a "global mindset" and in utilizing world's resources for world's citizens."

In my capacity as the guest editor, it is a great honor to present to you this 58th issue of JITCAR that I founded in 1999.  After editing the journal for 9 years till 2007, I had passed on the leadership of this journal to Dr. Steven Gordon.  Dr. Gordon elevated the already high quality standards of this journal for three years till 2010.  For the last 2.5 years. Dr. Suprateek Sarker, in his role as Editor in Chief, has worked very hard to sustain these high quality standards. Dr, Sarker is relinquishing his role of Editor of JITCAR to take over as Editor of the Journal of AIS (JAIS).  I congratulate him and wish him the very best.  I would also like to take this opportunity to welcome Professor Andrew Urbaczewski from the University of Denver, who will be taking over the reins of JITCAR starting Volume 15, Issue #3.  I wish Andrew phenomenal success in not only sustaining but elevating the status of JITCAR further from the perspective of the community of scholars worldwide.
I have been doing these special issues of global sourcing of services almost every year ever since I started organizing annual international smart sourcing conferences since 2002.  Some of the top quality papers presented at the conferences have ultimately been published in these special issues. The delegates to these conferences have hailed from twenty four countries: Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, Finland, Germany, India, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Taiwan, Uganda, United Kingdom, and United States.  More than fifty companies have been represented at the conferences.  The primary goals of these conferences are knowledge sharing and networking among key stakeholders of global sourcing industry.  Following mission of these conferences has motivated me to do these special issues year after year.

"Facilitate the emergence of a harmonious global village with maximum economic equity - where products, work, and money can flow across national borders without any irrational restrictions."

I hope you will enjoy reading all items in this issue.  With best regards,

Dr. Shailendra Palvia
Professor of MIS, College of Management
Long Island University Post, Brookville, NY 11801.
http://liu.edu/CWPost/Academics/Faculty/P/Shailendra<http://liu.edu/CWPost/Academics/Faculty/P/Shailendra%0dPalvia.aspx?rn=Faculty&ru=/CWPost/Academics/Faculty.aspx>
Palvia.aspx?rn=Faculty&ru=/CWPost/Academics/Faculty.aspx<http://liu.edu/CWPost/Academics/Faculty/P/Shailendra%0dPalvia.aspx?rn=Faculty&ru=/CWPost/Academics/Faculty.aspx>
World Conference Chairperson, Twelfth Annual International Smart Sourcing Conference www.outsourceglobal.org<http://www.outsourceglobal.org/> , Toronto, Canada, June 26-27, 2014
2012 LIU Post Nominee for Abraham Krasnoff Lifetime Scholarship Achievement Award
Founding Editor, Journal of IT Case and Applications Research (JITCAR), www.jitacr.org<http://www.jitacr.org/>
Phone #: 732-983-7034

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