The Hidden Costs of Offshoring: The Impact of Complexity, Design Orientation and Experience

This study seeks to explain hidden costs of offshoring, i.e. unexpected costs resulting from the relocation of business tasks and activities outside the home country. We develop a model that highlights the role of complexity, design orientation and experience in explaining hidden costs of offshoring. Specifically, we propose that hidden costs can be explained by the combination of increasing structural, operational and social complexity of offshoring activities. In addition, we suggest that firm orientation towards organizational design as part of an offshoring strategy and offshoring experience moderate the relationship between complexity and hidden costs negatively i.e. reduces the cost generating impact of complexity. We develop three hypotheses
and test them on comprehensive data from the Offshoring Research Network (ORN). In general, we find support for our hypotheses. A key result of our study is to suggest how hidden costs of offshoring can be mitigated through an explicit orientation towards improving organizational processes and structures as well as experience with offshoring.