Global Outsourcing Discourse: Exploring Modes of It Governance

The aim of this book is to investigate the discursive power of two original, theoretical lenses when applied toreal outsourcing arrangements and phenomena. The Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) and Foucauldian perspectives are brought to bear on five outsourcing relationships in order to test the application of these discourses to rich qualitative data over the outsourcing contractual life-cycle. This will be thefirst study illustrating the relevance of Foucauldian concepts of governmentality, discourse and power relations to the study of outsourcing arrangements, and will also incorporate the perspectives of both client and supplier organizations.Using discourse analysis, the objective is to critically deconstruct andprovide fresh insight into the normative ‘outsourcing’ discourse that has grown up around global sourcingpractices over the last 30 years.