Global sourcing: recent trends and issues

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to review recent trends and issues in global IT sourcing and to introduce papers in the special issue: "Social, managerial and knowledge aspects in global IT sourcing". Design/methodology/approach - The paper examines trends by regions including Brazil, Russia, India and China and also trends in Captive Centres and their strategies. Findings - There will be a continuing rise in outsourcing revenues for global outsourcing, with BP overtaking ITO within five years. Multi-sourcing will continue to be the dominant trend. India will continue to dominate but its role will change. China heralds promise but will still struggle to achieve scale in Western European and North American markets. Emerging country competition will intensify. Software as a service will be a "slow burner" but will gain momentum in the second half of the next decade. Near-shoring will be a strong trend. Outsourcing, by offering a potential alternative, - will help discipline in-house capabilities and service. Knowledge process outsourcing will increase as the BRIC and emerging countries move up the value chain. Captive activity both buying and selling will increase (see below). Outsourcing successes and disappointments will continue as both clients and suppliers struggle to deal with a highly dynamic set of possibilities Originality/value - The paper is of value to both academics and practitioners working in the field of IT sourcing. The study of captive centres is in its early stages and the paper introduces further work in this area.