The expression “information technology revolution” is commonly used to refer to a far-reaching phenomenon related to innovations that are occurring at a phenomenal rate in the information and communication technologies (ICTs). A convergence is happening in technical aspects between computing and telecommunication, in contents between text, images, voice and sound, and in the ways in which information is delivered as PCs, TVs and mobile phones become multifunctional. Technical innovations associated with the ongoing process of liberalization and deregulation of markets and world backbone networks are resulting in cheaper, faster and easier internet access. These innovations are substantially transforming the ways in which goods and services are produced, distributed and consumed, and are improving our mobility and increasing the diffusion of ideas and innovations.
Published in Chapter:
Scales and Dynamics in Outsourcing
Iva Miranda Pires (Faculdade Ciências Sociais e Humanas, Portugal) and Torunn Kvinge (Fafo Institute for Labour and Social Research, Norway)
Copyright: © 2008
|Pages: 8
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-59904-885-7.ch184
Abstract
Outsourcing is used to describe the situation where a firm decides to subcontract assembly and/or service functions to an external supplier, either locally or abroad. When activities are subcontracted abroad, the term offshore outsourcing often applies. While offshore assembling activities have taken place for some time, the phenomenon of outsourcing services abroad is quite new. Several factors have contributed to these altered circumstances. First, the development of information and communication technologies (ICT) implies that services can, to a great degree, also be located at arm’s length or elsewhere in the flat world (Friedman, 2005). Second, institutional changes have opened access to new markets for goods and services as well as skilled labor, for instance in Eastern Europe and China. Third, the increased competition through globalization pushes firms to adapt quickly to new contexts and to achieve efficiency in order to maintain competitiveness.