Title

Forced coopetition in IT multi-sourcing

Authors

Authors

M. Wiener;C. Saunders

Comments

Authors: contact us about adding a copy of your work at STARS@ucf.edu

Abbreviated Journal Title

J. Strateg. Inf. Syst.

Keywords

IT multi-sourcing; Forced coopetition; Multi-sourcing models; Vendor; competition; Vendor cooperation; Critical enablers; COOPERATION; COMPETITION; STRATEGY; COORDINATION; ORGANIZATION; SUPPLIERS; NETWORKS; CHAIN; RISK; Computer Science, Information Systems; Information Science & Library; Science; Management

Abstract

IT multi-sourcing refers to the managed delegation of IT projects and services to multiple vendors. While companies increasingly engage in multi-sourcing arrangements, theoretical insights into this important phenomenon are scarce. Drawing on the coopetition and multi-sourcing literatures, we introduce the concept of forced coopetition (i.e., the situation where a third party forces competitors to cooperate) to describe the vendor relationships in IT multi-sourcing models. As an illustration, we present the case of a global sports company. that recently introduced a novel IT multi-sourcing model, which is characterized by high levels of both vendor competition and cooperation, i.e., high levels of forced coopetition. Based on a longitudinal case study, we discuss the factors that enabled the client firm to (1) foster vendor competition and cooperation as well as (2) manage the delicate balance between the two. Specifically, we find that vendor number and size, vendor onboarding, vendor business growth, and vendor learning played a critical role in the successful implementation of the multi-sourcing model. The study's main contributions lie in providing a deeper understanding of how client firms can manage the delicate balance between vendor competition and cooperation in IT multi-sourcing, as well as expanding the theoretical basis of traditional coopetition to include situations of forced coopetition. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Journal Title

Journal of Strategic Information Systems

Volume

23

Issue/Number

3

Publication Date

1-1-2014

Document Type

Article

Language

English

First Page

210

Last Page

225

WOS Identifier

WOS:000344436000003

ISSN

0963-8687

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