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

What will I learn?

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

How will I learn?

Student Effort Type	Hours
Specified Learning Activities	70
Autonomous Student Learning	100
Lectures	30
Total	200

Am I eligible to take this module?

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.

Module Requisites and Incompatibles

Not applicable to this module.

How will I be assessed?

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: Group Activity	Varies over the Trimester	n/a	Pass/Fail Grade Scale	No	10
Continuous Assessment: Homework assignments	Varies over the Trimester	n/a	Graded	No	25

Carry forward of passed components
Yes

What happens if I fail?

Resit In	Terminal Exam
Summer	No

Assessment feedback

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.

When is this module offered?


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