Cambridge Judge Business School (CJBS) teaching case study named among The Case Centre top-15 Classic Cases in the category Knowledge, Information & Communication Systems Management.
On 29 January, The Case Centre announced its best-selling cases for the past year and Cambridge Judge Business School is very proud that one of our cases has made it onto their list.
The case Offshoring and Innovation at Globalco: Negotiating a Win-win Strategy for the Outsourcing Relationship, written by Professor Michael Barrett, and published in our collection at the Case Centre in 2008, is among the best-selling Classic Cases in the Knowledge, Information & Communication Systems Management category. The Classic Cases lists highlight best-selling cases that are over 10 years old. Sales are calculated based on the number of individual organisations ordering and teaching the case over the past five years.
The case study focuses on the challenges and opportunities that GlobalCo, a multinational telecommunications firm, faced when it decided to increase the involvement of their offshore Indian IT supplier in their value chain. In particular, the case examines how the two firms could transition their offshoring relationship into a partnership driving business innovation.
For some time, IT offshoring relationships have been characterised by the focus on low cost and labour arbitrage. However, more recently, corporations are taking a more partnership-oriented approach, seeing IT services supplier as a key source of innovation rather than a way to save costs. The case is therefore helpful for many companies and managers, who are finding themselves in the position of evaluating how to best change their relationships with key suppliers to leverage their expertise and insights for growth and innovation.
Michael Barrett, Professor of Information Systems & Innovation Studies at Cambridge Judge and Academic Director of Cambridge Digital Innovation, is an expert in digital innovation, and has conducted research on this topic in several companies and developing countries. Currently, he is working with the Global Challenges Research Fund of UK Research and Innovation on the evaluation of national grants concerned with Digital Innovation for Development in Africa.
The prolonged success of this case study demonstrates the strong advocacy by CJBS of the power of deep engagement. When research is conducted in collaboration with businesses and other organisations, new knowledge is created that benefits both our students and the broader business world. This creates opportunities for further explorations and discoveries.