Doctor of Philosophy in Business Administration DISSERTATION PROPOSAL ANNOUNCEMENT

One of the primary drivers of offshoring systems development is anticipated cost savings.  This focus on reduced cost is often overstated when considered relative to other factors such as the quality of the work products delivered by the vendor, distance and communication problems based on geographic separation, and additional time and effort managing the vendor.  Despite this focus on cost, companies frequently overlook these ancillary or hidden costs that contribute to the Total Cost of Ownership of IT Infrastructure (TCO-ITI).  These additional costs are silently absorbed by the organization as extra effort by current staff, yet need to be included in the analysis.  Thus far we have not done much in the way of actual study of the offshoring process, its benefits and its problems.

 

As a relatively recent phenomenon, there is currently no defining theory in the area of offshore systems development as in other areas of Information Technology research.  It is believed that through theory development a proposed method of undertaking this type of venture successfully may be suggested.  This research will take a new direction and focus on the cost proposition for clients seeking to offshore their systems development activities, specifically the impact of the quality of the delivered system on the cost to the client.  Factors that may serve to decrease the quality of the delivered system include experience of the vendor personnel developing the system, communication problems between the client and vendor, and distance between parties, thus providing the client with a lesser solution than originally expected.  The research contribution of this work will focus on three areas:  development of a theory based model for offshoring success, exploration of these proposed relationships through a case study approach, and discussion of confirmations and suggestions for needed amendments to the theoretical model to identify testable propositions for future research.

 

This dissertation continues the exploratory work in this area and provides a theory-based model for offshoring success.  It is anticipated that this work will further focus efforts for continued exploration and potential empirical research follow-up allowing additional theoretical development suggesting directions for future research and refinement to the model proposed.  The model proposed will explore the factors impacting the overall quality of solutions delivered by offshore vendors and the requisite impact on the Total Cost of Ownership for the client company.  Finally, the planned dissertation will discuss the findings of the case study to determine whether further research along the initial path is warranted or whether refinement of the proposed model is warranted.  Based on the outcomes of the investigations of the theoretical model, future testable propositions will be discussed to help guide future research efforts in this area.  The dissertation will focus on the following research question:  What impact does quality have on the Total Cost of Ownership of the offshore development solution ?

 ALL MEMBERS OF THE GRADUATE FACULTY AND DOCTORAL STUDENTS ARE INVITED TO ATTEND.