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The incredibly successful Pebble project organised through Kickstarter has reached two important milestones! Shipping the physical units and getting the complementary Apps into the Apple App Store and Google Play. ( link ). In other news, consider the implications for new kinds of user generated data in services such as ESRI's Health Information Map ( link ). And Crowdsourcing.org is currently running an industry survey of the crowdfunding phenomenon ( link ).

Andrew (the firm's COO) has been having discussions with a specialist outsourcing firm from India and is meeting with Chris (CEO) and Charlie (VP Engineering) this morning. Chris has just returned from a state trade mission to China, and Charlie has been researching software development capabilities in the US, South America and Eastern Europe. Profits are 40% of revenue, enough to plough investment back into numerous new product development and R&D projects. The ‘cash cow’ is a third-generation (mature) application that continues to generate substantial new sales  and  deliver a reliable stream of lucrative annual support fees. The firm's strategy so far has been to drive sales in new markets. They have achieved this by being close-to-the-customer, putting skilled engineers and sales people on site or in-country. The first item on today's agenda is hiring. Andrew, Chris and Charlie reviewed a proof copy from HR of the job advertisement for next Friday's job secti...

Goal Come up with a working definition of crowdsourcing. Comments Can be run in groups or as class exercise with someone writing up definitions and examples on blackboard. There are no wrong answers, just build up a list, tabulate and provide back to the class Instructions 1. Ask members of the class to brainstorm the meaning of crowdsourcing. (3 minutes) 2. Write down and display this list of definitions and examples. Definitions Quotes below from (Howe, 2008). "Crowdsourcing isn't a single strategy. It's an umbrella term for a highly varied group of approaches that share one obvious attribute in common: they all depend on some contribution from the crowd." "A community that forms around a shared interest, shared passion, hobby, craft" "When a company takes something that was once performed by employees and outsources in the form of an open call to a large group of undefined group of people, generally using the internet" "Crowdsourcing is Wik...

EileenBJan 31, 2012 11:53 AM Discussion on Foxconn (Apple, Dell, Nokia, Panasonic, HP, Samsung, Sony, Lenovo - a third of the electronics), workers conditions and history of Shenzhen, China. The Foxconn plant in Shenzhen has 430,000 workers. 31 years ago Shenzhen was a small town. It had little reed huts, little reed walkways between the huts. The men would fish in the late afternoon. Today Shenzhen is a city of 14 million people. It is larger than New York City. Depending on how you count it, it's the third largest city in all of China. Because 31 years ago, when Deng Xiaoping carved this area off from the rest of China with a big red pen, he said, this will be the special economic zone. And he made a deal with the corporations. He said listen, use our people. Do whatever you want to our people. Just give us a modern China. And the corporations took that deal, and they squeezed and they squeezed. And what they got was the Shenzhen we find today. ( link ) Matej SykoraJan 30, 2012 1...

Books on Offshoring and Outsourcing: Oshri, I. (2011). Offshoring Strategies: Evolving Captive Center Models (MIT Press) Oshri, I., Kotlarsky, J. & Willcocks, L. P. (2009) The Handbook of Global Outsourcing and Offshoring, Palgrave Macmillan. Carmel, E. and P. Tija (2005). Offshoring Information Technology: Sourcing and Outsourcing to a Global Workforce. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. Lacity, M. C. and L. P. Willcocks (2001). Global Information Technology Outsourcing. Chichester, Wiley & Sons. Sahay, S., B. Nicholson, et al. (2003). Global IT Outsourcing: Software Development Across Borders. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. Trauth, E.M.(2000). The Culture of an Information Economy: Influences and Impacts in the Republic of Ireland, Dordrecht, Netherlands, Kluwer Academic Publishers. Academic Articles on Offshoring and Outsourcing: Lewin, A. Y. & Peeters, C. (2006) Offshoring work: Business hype or the onset of fundamental transformation? Long Range Planning, 3...

Sourcing Concepts - Word Association What is sourcing? Consider the following words and concepts associated with sourcing activities and outsourcing industry: Outsourcing & Economic Development Managing Distance/Time Managing Cross-cultural Issues Managing Knowledge Transfer The Politics of Outsourcing Sourcing Models Offshoring Offshore Outsourcing Near Shoring Crowd Sourcing Open Source Captive Centres Supplier/Customer/Client Life Cycle Multi-Sourcing Service Providers Cloud Sourcing In-Sourcing Trust Commodity Capability Communication ASP's (Application Service Providers) Backsourcing (insourcing) BPO & Nearshoring Sea sourcing Farm sourcing Outsourcing Modes: Deciding: Interrelated: Managing the Relationship: Outsourcing and Economic Development: Managing Distance and Time: Managing Across Cultures: Managing Knowledge Transfer: The Politics of Outsourcing: Outsourcing and Offshoring Trends.

I argue that the sourcing phenomenon is an intrinsic feature of human societies that is amplified by scientific advance, manufacturing innovation, technology more generally, and accelerated in the modern era of computer based infrastructures, high-tech products and services. What organizational activities and products are amenable to sourcing beyond the traditional boundaries of organizations? And if activities and products can be sourced beyond the boundaries of the organisation what models or modes can be used? Outsourcing isn't a business fad, it is a fundamental part of modern industrial production. Capital based manufacturing and production of goods and services is predicated on the basic idea of a division of labour. Specialised stages of manufacture, in other words a supply or value chain exist when skilled work is applied to some material, goods or activity to add value until an end point when the good or service is consumed. All industrial and professional specialisation r...

Simplified grade descriptor for grading standard. A+/A The report is complete and covers all important topics. Appropriate significance is attached to the information presented. There is a compelling logic to the report that reveals clear insight and understanding of the issues. Analytical techniques used are appropriate and correctly deployed. The analysis is convincing, complete and enables creative insight. The report is written in a clear, lucid, thoughtful and integrated manner-with complete grammatical accuracy and appropriate transitions. A-/B+ The report is complete and covers all important topics. Appropriate significance is attached to the information presented. There is a clear logic to the report that reveals insight. Analytical techniques used are appropriate and correctly deployed. The analysis is convincing, complete and enables clear insight. The report is written in a clear, lucid, and thoughtful manner-with a high degree of grammatical. B/B- The report is substantiall...