School of Business and Economics

The Centre for Global Sourcing and Services’ (CGSS) main objective is to undertake an independent research on the trends and practices in global sourcing of IT and business services and to improve sourcing practices through on-going engagement with managers and policy makers. In particular, the centre takes interest in understanding how individuals, teams, organisations and other stakeholders cope with the:

• Centralisation of business and IT service functions through shared service units;
• Disaggregation of business and IT service functions through captive centres and third party vendors;
• Back-sourcing of previously outsourced business and IT service functions;
• Emergence of new sourcing models such as cloud services.

To achieve these goals the CGSS  draws upon an outstanding network of researchers from the School of Business and Economics and others business schools in the UK, and is also working with media and industrial partners such as Professional Outsourcing magazine, SSON, IBM, Royal Shell and Berwin, Leighton & Paisner (BLP).

Activities

The centre is promoting a number of events, seminars and workshops over the coming year. These include:

1. Centre for Global Sourcing and Services Launch Event
   October 16, 2012: Holywell Park, Loughborough University, Loughborough. More details will be available shortly.
   Centre Introduction Video from Professor Angus Laing (Dean of Business and Economics)
   Download the event presentations below.
   Graham Barnes: Why and how we became a mutual
   Noel Cullen: optimal governance session
   Chris Deery: Global Sourcing & Services Chris - Shell Cont Improvement
   Mark Lewis Text
   Mark Lewis: The Challenges to Offshore Outsourcing
   Captive Centres: Trends and Strategic Manoeuvres
   Relevance Regained?

2. Alternative Sourcing Strategies, national outsourcing association (NOA)
   Date: Thursday 13th September 2012 
   Time: 9am – 1pm 
   Venue: Hosted by Hudson & Yorke at The Lincoln Centre, 18 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, WC2A 3ED 
   Captive shared service strategies - Ilan Oshri, Loughborough School of Business and Economics 

 

Global Sourcing Workshop

Global sourcing of IT and various business services has received increasing attention since 2000 and the offshoring role in Y2K work. Many organizations in  developed economies have rapidly evolved global models involving a mix of third parties at a range of geographical locations. Meanwhile developing economies have looked to develop their own industries to stimulate and meet demand. Both domestic and offshore suppliers are increasingly intent on designing more sophisticated sourcing arrangements, including offshore, nearshore and onshore components. The offshore market alone is expanding at well over 10 per cent per annum, while IT outsourcing (US$ 200 billion in 2005) and Business Process outsourcing (US$140 billion in 2005) are set to expand at between 7-10% annually for the next five years (Willcocks and Lacity, 2006 figures). These phenomena well deserve in-depth study, and this workshop provides a forum for advancement in research approaches and learning.

The First Global Sourcing Workshop that took place in March 2007 addressed aspects relating to the management of knowledge and innovation of IT and business services in global sourcing. Best papers from  this Workshop were published in the Special Issue of Journal of Information Technology in March 2008 (vol. 23 issue 1) and in the book Outsourcing Global Services: Knowledge, Innovation and Social Capitalby Palgrave, London. The following five Global Sourcing Workshops took place in France, Switzerland and the USA. The Seventh Global Sourcing Workshop will take place in Val D’isere, France, March 12-15, 2013. For Call for Papers and sponsorship opportunities please visit www.globalsourcing.org.uk or contact Ilan Oshri (mailto: i.oshri@lboro.ac.uk)

Shared Service Centre

The Shared Services Centre project is conducting research into the form and nature of shared service centres. In addition to publishing academic and practitioner articles the project also holds regular forum events to facilitate the sharing of best practice between leading organisations.
Key themes include:

• The transformation of the finance and other professional functions
• Performance measurement and management
• Balancing and blending market versus hierarchy approaches
• Talent management in SSCs
• Benchmarking
• New Working Practices, including  team empowerment and use of visual displays
• Development of ERP platforms and the consequential centralisation and control of End-User Computing tools especially spreadsheets
• Transfer pricing
• On-shore v. near shore v. offshore decisions
• Centres of excellence and Communities of Practice

In addition to exploring the way in which support services are being transformed through migration to SSCs we are also interested in the future impact on employment and careers of professional workers, including those that remain in ‘retained’ activities.

Whilst, SSCs and outsourcing arrangements can bring significant benefits through standardisation, process re-engineering and resource arbitrage, one of the emerging themes of our work is to ask how organisations will replace the elite professionals, so-called business partners, if in, say, 10 years’ time the flow of developing talent dries up because the early career stages have been de-professionalised and relocated away from the place where business operations take place?

To learn more about our work please visit: http://www.shared-services-research.com/  or contact Ian Herbert: I.P.Herbert@lboro.ac.uk

 

Topic: The Launch of the Centre	Prof. Ilan Oshri, Director, Research Centre for Global Sourcing and Services
Topic: Captive Centres: Trends and Strategic Manoeuvres	Prof. Ilan Oshri, Director, Research Centre for Global Sourcing and Services
Topic: Performance Management in Shared Service Centres	Prof. Lin Fitzgerald and Mr. Ian Herbert, Deputy Director, Centre for Global Sourcing and Services
Topic: The Challenges to Offshore Outsourcing	Noel Cullen, Principal Advisor, Management Consulting, KPMG:
Topic: The Role of Governance in Shared Services and OutsourcingCaption	Noel Cullen, Principal Advisor, Management Consulting, KPMG:
Topic: For Mutual Benefit: A New Approach to Shared Services	Graham Barnes, Financial Controller of MyCSP
Topic: Continuous Improvement – the Journey so far and Future Possibilities	Chris Deery, Global Process Owner, Royal Dutch Shell
Topic: Service Transformation: Pushing the Boundaries	Rashpal Hullait, Managing Director, The Hackett Group
Topic: Developing Educational Programme for SSC Leadership	Steve Swientozielskyj, CIMA council member

 

The Centre for Global Sourcing and Services is partnering with Professional Outsourcing magazine in order to extend our reach to the outsourcing community. This strategic partnership is based on the shared values and mutual understanding that research should be carried out and presented in an independent and non-biased manner. The CGSS and Professional Outsourcing hold joint events to disseminate knowledge and shape practices in the outsourcing industry. To learn more about our events please visit both Professional Outsourcing and the CGSS websites.

About Professional Outsourcing Magazine:

Professional Outsourcing magazine along with its series of Special Report supplements and website are completely independent and free from any vendor influenced editorial. They are recognised by key industry figures for their hard-hitting investigative editorial that pull no punches. In addition, they are the magazines and website for strategic decision-makers. Each magazine gives you: Focus: the key vendors, the key people, the big picture, and the small print; Analysis: expert commentary on the stories and themes of the moment; Management Briefings: sector-by-sector reports and high-level advice.

Its series of Special Report supplements cover in-depth the following topics: Shared Services, BPO, Financial Services, Offshore, Nearshore, Onshore, Cloud Services, Call & Contact Centres.

With its ABC-audited circulation reaching the key makers in both in the UK and overseas, this is the magazine that outsourcing decision makers look to for expert advice, guidance and thought leadership.  Available quarterly from Purple Cow Media, Professional Outsourcing is the title that leading academic and analyst organisations select as their outsourcing partner of choice.

Independent editorial not advertorial

www.professionaloutsourcingmagazine.net