A state-of-the-practice study on communication and coordination between chinese software suppliers and their global outsourcers

Abstract

Most studies of software outsourcing focus on how to manage outsourcing from the perspective of the outsourcer. There are few studies of outsourcing presented from the viewpoint of the supplier. Given that more and more Chinese software companies are getting software outsourcing subcontracts from all over the world, it is important to understand how software outsourcing projects are actually performed in China, and to identify ways in which performance might be improved. Our study first collected data through a questionnaire-based survey from 53 finished projects in 41 Chinese software suppliers. A follow-up study was performed by telephone interviews with 11 participants, to find explanations for phenomena revealed by the preceding survey. The results show that: (a) differences in natural languages are not a real obstacle for Chinese software suppliers; (b) e-mail is most used to discuss issues related to development, while face-to-face meetings are mainly used to discuss issues related to management and requirements; and (c) the two main reasons for overtime work at the Chinese suppliers are changes to the design or requirements that are proposed by the outsourcers and the suppliers' initial underestimation of the effort required. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.