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Based on the conducted literature review and the regular exchange of information with OSD experts during the course of a two-year research project with a German multinational company, we were able to develop an OSD project phase model from a client perspective. This model can be divided into “phases”, “activities”, and “methods”. While the first determine “Which activities need to be carried out when?”, the latter addresses the question “How these activities can be supported by methods?” (Amberg, 1999).

As illustrated in the figure below, the model classifies the management activities which need to be executed as well as the corresponding methods to support these activities into three project phases: “Planning and Analysis”, “Decision and Negotiation”, and “Implementation” (compare Amberg and Wiener, 2004c). In this context, it has to be mentioned that we were not able to identify supportive methods for each single activity.

During the planning and analysis phase, major management activities comprise the definition of the sourcing strategy, the assessment of the internal organization, the identification of project candidates, and the analysis of the identified candidates. Methods to support the mentioned activities are: The balanced scorecard (strategy definition), the core competence analysis (project identification), and the TCP cost analysis (project analysis).

The decision and negotiation phase concentrates on the selection of an offshore destination, the selection of one or multiple offshore providers, as well as the negotiation and the formulation of the contractual agreement with the offshore provider(s). These activities can be supported by the following methods: Country ratings (country selection), the TCP supplier assessment (provider selection), and the Harvard concept of negotiation (contract negotiation).

The implementation phase primarily deals with typical project management issues: Managing the transfer of assets, staff, as well as data...