Offshoring Solutions
BackResources17th October 2019
Institution:
The University of Manchester
Lead academic:
Dr Silvia Massini, Manchester Business School
Company:
A global pharmaceutical company
Summary:
Advising on the feasibility of offshoring technical work to low cost countries outside the UK
Categories:
Business Engagement, Case Study, The Economy and The University of Manchester
Objective
To advise on the feasibility of offshoring technical work to low cost countries outside the UK
Project
As part of an international Offshoring Research Network, Dr Massini looked at how and why UK companies are increasingly moving functions such as product design, research and development (R&D) and IT development to offshore locations like India and China. A global pharmaceutical company contacted her for advice on whether or not to offshore some of its non-core R&D processes to free up capital to invest in essential product and service innovation. The assignment involved in-depth interviews with UK and US managers and researchers about their offshoring activity.
Results
The company accepted the advice in Dr Massini’s report to offshore its R&D processes. The report recommended looking at different locations to avoid popular ‘hotspots’ with potentially high wage inflations, and advised the company to appoint an experienced Global Offshoring Manager to oversee the operations.
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