Special Issue of Production and Operations Management : Integrating Information and Knowledge Work in Outsourced,Offshored,and other Distributed Business Networks

Description: The use of distributed organizational arrangements (e.g., supply chains, outsourcing, offshoring, mergers and acquisitions, and alliances) involving multiple entities that are separated by ownership, geographic, or other organizational boundaries to implement business processes has spread dramatically in recent years. In the past, such outsourcing arrangements were confined primarily to peripheral activities, such as payroll management, benefits administration, and janitorial services. Today, however, these outsourcing arrangements are increasingly used to execute more core information‐ and knowledge‐intensive activities, such as information systems development and administration, the creation of intellectual property, contract manufacturing and engineering, and other professional or knowledge services. Some of these arrangements remain centralized with a clear focal organization and its subsidiary suppliers. Other arrangements, such as open‐source networks, are decentralized. Hybrid arrangements are also observed, as the recent open contest to develop new recommendation algorithms for Netflix demonstrates. The extensive use of multi‐organizational arrangements to execute highly integrated knowledge work is a relatively new phenomenon. Prior management theories, such as transaction cost economics, information processing, and organizational search, need to be extended to describe the operational realities posed by organizational forms that are neither markets nor hierarchies. Because the effectiveness of the coordination, management, and integration of the new organizations is still poorly understood, there is a need for a rigorous program of study.

The special issue on Integrating Information and Knowledge Work in Outsourcing, Offshoring, and other Distributed Business Networks seeks research articles that describe or prescribe how these new multi‐organizational arrangements are integrated across time and space to provide coherent business processes. Papers may employ a range of research methods including, but not limited to, case studies, econometric or empirical analysis, analytic modeling, and simulation. All manuscripts should contain original research and conform to Production and Operations Management's guidelines for authors.

Appropriate topics include, but are not limited to:

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Challenges to integration and coordination of organizational efforts resulting from outsourcing, offshoring, or other distributed development networks.

Review Process: Submitted articles will be reviewed by the guest editors, associate editors, and referees. Decisions regarding acceptance of articles will be made within two review cycles, where each review cycle will be within 4 months.

Deadline for submission: Please prepare an electronic copy of the article in PDF format that conforms to the POM format (http://www.poms.org/Journal.html) and submit the file to the e‐mail address below by June 30, 2010 (DATE IS SUBJECT TO REVIEW). Please submit your manuscript at the journal's Manuscript Central site: (http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/poms) to the guest editor Geoffrey Parker (listed as department editors in Manuscript Central), Questions on this special issue can be sent to him at E‐mail: gparker@tulane.edu