Offshoring dynamics: implications for India as an attractive offshore location

The last decade has seen dramatic increase in offshoring activities motivated by the drive to cut operation cost, focus on core competencies, speed to market and to stay globally competitive. The emergence of internet as an enabling technology has further accelerated the pace of offshoring activity. In this paper, we attempt to study the offshoring decision making. The literature on offshoring decision making has largely taken a firm related view of offshoring decisions. We argue that host country's characteristics also play an important role in determining offshoring decision making. We also consider the firm level characteristics such as firm environment and type in determining offshore decisions. The results of this study support the relationship between host country characteristic (location attractiveness) and offshoring intensity of the firm. Implications for theory and practise are discussed.