The Top Ten Books on Outsourcing

A Chillibreeze report

Outsourcing has made quantum leaps in growth and learning curve in the last few years. Its successful growth has prompted a number of writers to pen their thoughts on this industry and has resulted in numerous books on the subject. Some of the books dealing with outsourcing are listed below.

1. The Black Book Of Outsourcing: How to Manage the Changes, Challenges and Opportunities by Douglas Brown and Scott Wilson (2005) - A useful guide to the industry of outsourcing that discusses among other things, how to plan, lead and manage outsourcing initiatives; choose outsourcing vendors; how to make a career out of outsourcing as well as how to start entrepreneurial ventures in this field.

2. The Outsourcing Revolution: Why it makes Sense and How to do it Right by Michael F. Corbett (2004) - Written by an erstwhile employee who participated in the foray of IBM into the outsourcing business, this is a hands on book that helps its readers to make informed decisions and take actions that will lead to successful outsourcing initiatives by their companies.

3. The Offshore Nation: Strategies for Success in Global Outsourcing and Offshoring by Atul Vashistha, Avinash Vashistha (2006) - This book provides an overview of trends in the outsourcing business across the world and puts forth the benefits of globalization of services. It tells of how companies are benefiting from this process by delivering better products and services to their customers, resulting in economic growth in the home countries.

4. The Outsourcing Handbook by Mark J Powes, Kevin deSouza, Carlo Bonifazi (2006) - A book that not only deals with the factors leading to success of an outsourcing project but also points to problems that may be encountered on the way. It has a very objective decision making approach that helps companies to make profitable returns on their investments in the outsourcing business.

5. Outsourcing to India: The Offshore Advantage by Mark Kobayashi-Hillary (2005) - India has undoubtedly become the global leader in Offshore IT– enabled services, and this book helps the reader to understand India and the key players in this arena. It discusses among other things how India should be utilized as an outsourcing destination and what businesses need to look out for while choosing their local partners.

6. What’s This INDIA Business? Offshoring, Outsourcing and the Global Services Revolution by Paul Davies (2004) - This book takes a balanced view of the entire business of outsourcing, while giving the readers a feel of India, its culture and what to expect if doing business with Indian companies. The book deals with the advantages of outsourcing (tremendous cost savings) while also acknowledging that more than half of the outsourcing projects fail!

7. Strategic Outsourcing: A Structured Approach to Outsourcing Decisions and Initiatives by Maurice F. Greaver (1999) - A proponent of the outsourcing phenomenon, the author has written this book with a view of helping managers on how to approach the outsourcing option, which may not always be a smooth sail; how to implement it in their respective companies and how to proceed once the implementation is through.

8. Multi Sourcing: Moving Beyond Outsourcing to Achieve Growth and Agility by Linda Cohen and Allie Young (2005) - Research shows that a large number of outsourced projects are not expected to deliver positive results. This book points out that this is due to adhoc approaches being taken by organizations and offers a new approach – Multisourcing, which helps organizations maximize results in growth, agility and bottom line.

9. Offshore Outsourcing: Business Models, ROI and Best Practices by Marcia Robinson and Ravi Kalakota (2004) - For people who would like to know more about the businesses of outsourcing and offshoring, this book provides that basic education and discusses in detail about both these business models. It also discusses in detail the various kinds of activities that can be off shored.

10. Six Billion Minds: Managing Outsourcing in the Global Knowledge Economy by Mark Minevich, Dr. Frank Jurgen Richter and Faisal Hoque (2006) - This book deals with the emergence of the knowledge economy in the world and the impact globalization has had on businesses in terms of challenges and innovation. It talks of utilizing the vast global knowledge pool to build excellence in the world economy.

Article published in December 2006.

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