Inter-cultural problems of IT-services outsourcing from Sweden to India

Abstract: IT-services outsourcing from Sweden to India has increased in the last few years and it is often regarded as a strategic measure to handle the increasing costs of IT-related development and maintenance operations. There are a number of advantages of outsourcing however, there are many challenges that outsourcing initiatives face. One of the challenges mentioned by many researchers is the cultural differences between the Swedish culture and the Indian culture. At the same time there is not enough research done about these cultural differences in the context of IT-services outsourcing from Sweden to India. It creates difficulties for the partners involved in an IT services outsourcing initiative to achieve the desired results. In this work we have researched these problems by sending questionnaire to IT-outsourcing companies in Sweden. The questionnaire was prepared after a thorough literature review. The participants were asked if they are still facing the problems identified in the literature review and to also mention any other cultural problems faced by them. The questionnaires were analysed and the results obtained are presented in this work. The results show that the practitioners were still facing the problems. This thesis identifies the root causes, the negative effects and also suggests ways for handling the problems. This research will help the IT-services outsourcing practitioners to manage these problems for achieving better result.