Need for sustainable global business model in software outsourcing: The Indian perspective

The purpose of this paper is to study sustainability of the global business model of software outsourcing with perspective of Indian vendors.

In order to obtain results as per the stated purpose, the authors have done an extensive literature review search in the e‐journals databases: ABI/INFORM Complete, EBSCO Business Source Complete, Emerald Management Xtra and Science Direct. Over and above these databases and journals, NASSCOM reports, survey and some books were also referred for literature review. Finally 59 references listed at the end of the paper were used for the stated purpose.

The paper studies trends in software industry and outsourcing models, which Indian vendors are offering to their global clients. Each model is evaluated analytically for its advantages and shortcomings subsequently the paper concludes by stating the need for a sustainable global business model in software outsourcing from Indian perspective.

The paper studies business of software at a global level and subsequently narrows its focus on the models being provided by the Indian vendors. It identifies need for a sustainable model to be used by the Indian vendors; the limitation of the paper is it concludes with the need identification and is from an Indian vendor perspective. The needs identified can be further used as a basis for hypothesis formulation, questionnaire design, data survey and analysis so that blue print of the proposed model can finally emerge, also the study can be expanded to include global vendors.

The following paper analytically studies current trends in global business of software sourcing, and identifies pros and cons of the models adopted by Indian vendors. It identifies the need for a sustainable global business model for software outsourcing; in case the need is fulfilled it will definitely add value to India as a software sourcing destination and lead to more revenue generation which will eventually culminate into a large‐scale and long term economic and social impact. The study also has several research and public policy formulation implications.

The paper is completely original work of the authors where the value addition is clearly seen by studying the advantages and shortcomings of the existing models of software outsourcing adopted by Indian vendors and identifying the need for sustainability therein.