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‘Looking for Trouble’ in Global Information Systems Development and New Product Development Outsourcing Projects

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Innovation and IT in an International Context

Abstract

Prior research on global information systems development (ISD) outsourcing projects and new product development identifies several management challenges, including the mitigation of cultural differences that can jeopardize project success. Despite the common mantra that greater distance makes ISD more critical, a growing body of literature on global virtual teams and internationally standardized codes of conduct suggests that they are becoming increasingly uniform. The concept of culture may thus increasingly refer to context-specific and dynamic professional cultures, rather than being solely embedded and statically rooted in national culture. In this chapter we show that with the globalization of IT project-management standards, alignment of professional practices and a maturing market for ISD off shoring, fewer culture-related conflicts appear to be emerging.

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© 2014 Roman Beck

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Beck, R. (2014). ‘Looking for Trouble’ in Global Information Systems Development and New Product Development Outsourcing Projects. In: Rowe, F., Te’eni, D. (eds) Innovation and IT in an International Context. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137336132_11

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