New York…New York…IBM-NYU Global Sourcing Workshop…

I just attended the IBM-NYU Global Sourcing Workshop (http://w4.stern.nyu.edu/ceder/events.cfm?doc_id=6687) at the Stern School of Business. I would like to thank Natalia Levina (Assistant Professor, NYU) for inviting me. Natalia, and her team, organized a high-impact day with an eclectic array of speakers. All details, from the logistics of getting to NY, to lodging, food, and even the closing dinner, were handled with the utmost care.

The day began with talk by Dianne Bellantoni-Sammon, Director of Global Diversity, at IBM. Dianne discussed IBM’s resourcing program, and also the various disruptive issues that need to be managed in sourcing relationships. During the Q&A session, she was asked to comment on the skills needed by business students to be successful in today’s marketplace. Not surprisingly, she cited the need to have students who can communicate effectively, argue their positions, pull the business case together, and manage relationships.

Next there were talks by prominent scholars on various themes of outsourcing research. Cynthia Beath and Rudy Hirscheim began by discussing the State of Affairs. Cynthia’s presented her analysis of the literature on outsourcing. Rudy provided a personal reflection on current happenings in outsourcing. This was followed by several sessions of talks: Working across Boundaries: Challenges and Solutions (speakers: Erran Carmel, Alberto Espinosa, Jens Dibbern, and Natalia Levina), Accounts from Offshore Providers (Anand Gopal, Kate Kaiser, and Ravi Aron), and IT Outsourcing Performance (Jeanne Ross, and Vijay Gurbaxani).

During lunch, I participated in a roundtable discussion on knowledge sharing and innovation issues in outsourcing. Members of the roundtable included: Natalia, Sirkka Jarvenpaa, Joe Rottman, Alberto Espinosa, and Manuel Arriaga. We wrestled with the idea of developing new theories for work, questioning the notion of organizational boundaries, and even the concept of culture.

The day ended with a nice wine reception, followed by dinner at Zoë. During dinner, I had entertaining discussions with Alberto and Cynthia…

Overall, an excellent event, and once again, a big thank you to Natalia…