IT-Outsourcing to China - In what way can ICT help manage challenges?

Abstract: The purpose of the study was to explore the current IT-outsourcing situation in China, find out what challenges exist and figure out ways of managing these challenges with the help of ICT.To achieve the purpose of the study a case study was performed in Shanghai, China. The case study was built around several interviews with the representatives of three IT-Outsourcing companies that work globally from Shanghai, China. All of the companies that were involved in the process of conducting the study were big established companies that are experts in their respective field. All of the interviewees were either from a management part of the company or selected by the management to represent their companies in the interviews.The study was performed with a qualitative research approach and was divided into a theoretical section where the current IT-Outsourcing situation was displayed and thereby the theoretical challenges were presented. This presented a need for verification on the theoretical elements and also created information gaps that needed to be filled by conducting an empirical study.The empirical study was then built around the gaps that needed to be filled in order for ICT to become an even more efficient enabler for IT-Outsourcing. Thereby four semi-structured interviews were conducted with three different companies. With the help of the theoretical and empirical studies an analytic approach were applied to then answer the research questions that are directly connected to the purpose of the study, making it possible to identify the challenges that needed to be addressed and mapping the current IT-outsourcing situation in China. These challenges then addressed and displayed in six different tables with an explanatory text attached to each table for further validation and clarification on the table content.Based on the findings, the research could then be validated with a theoretical and empirical analysis that gave grounds for the conclusions that part take in answering the research questions that give ground for the purpose of the study.