Dear Members of SIG Advances in Sourcing,
We hope that all of you are safe in these times of pandemic and war. In this newsletter, we would like to look back at the Annual Meeting of the SIG in December 2021 and to give an update on the latest community activities related to our SIG.
New leadership team elected
The new leadership team of our SIG has taken office after the SIG elections in December 2021. The team consists of Ilan Oshri (president), Thomas Huber (secretary), Julia Kotlarksy (treasurer), Oliver Krancher (content and media), Kai Spohrer (communications), and Rajiv Sabherwal in the new role of region representative for North America. The team sends all members their best wishes and looks forward to developing the SIG further in the next two years.
The former and the current president, Julia Kotlarsky and Ilan Oshri, emphasized that all SIG members who would like to join the leadership team are more than welcome. If you are interested in a leadership team role, please do not hesitate to contact any current member of the leadership team.
Looking Back: Annual event of the SIG Sourcing at ICIS 2021
During ICIS 2021, we held our annual event as a zoom session. The annual event began with an expert panel on IS sourcing in the digital age featuring Suzanne Rivard and Martin Wiener. Suzanne Rivard provided great insights with her perspective on IS sourcing research, particularly on dealing with sequences of rapidly emerging topics. She critically evaluated the strategies of riding these waves vs. diving under them.
Next, Martin Wiener dissected current phenomena in IS sourcing, examining their novelty and the need for research in different areas. In doing so, he took a dialectical view arguing "everything has changed but nothing has changed".
Drawing on the inspiring talks of both panelists, a lively discussion then helped to tease out several areas in which IS sourcing scholars may fruitfully connect to ongoing conversations and quests for better theory. Overall, the expert panel provided novice as well as senior scholars of IS sourcing with new ideas and we hope to see many of them realized in influential research papers.
Subsequently, a research forum provided five author teams with the opportunity to present and discuss their research with the rest of the SIG Sourcing. Intensive and inspiring discussions emerged about topics such as (big) data sourcing, governance of sourcing endeavors as well as crowdsourcing in disaster responses and beyond. We hope that the research forum helped all author teams to develop their research further and believe that it was an interesting session for all participants.
Looking forward 1: ECIS, PACIS, AMCIS tracks
The SIG Sourcing is planning to extend its engagement in our conferences by regularly providing tracks for IS sourcing researchers. In order to do so, we need your support! If you are willing to serve in an active role as track chair, associate editor, or reviewer, please do let us know by contacting any member of the SIG Sourcing team.
There are several IS sourcing-related tracks at the major conferences this year. We would be pleased to meet many SIG members at the track sessions.
ECIS - Track "IS Sourcing in the Digital Age"
- Track chairs: Thomas Huber, Oliver Krancher and Ilan Oshri
PACIS - Track "SIG Sourcing: IS Sourcing in the DIgital Age"
- Track chairs: Ilan Oshri, Rong Du, Derek Wenyu Du and Fang Su
AMCIS - Track “Sourcing in the Digital Age: platforms, crowd and services”
- Track chairs: Julia Kotlarsky, Dorit Nevo and Rajiv Sabherwal
- Mini-track “Sourcing Through the Crowd: Issues in Platform Enabled Work” (Mini-track chairs: Timothy Olsen, Pitso Tsibolane and Joseph Taylor)
- Mini-track “Emerging technologies and Sourcing” (Mini-track chairs: Aleksandre Asatiani and Esko Penttinen)
ICIS - Track "IS Design, Development, and Project Management"
- Track chairs: Geneviève Bassellier, James J. Jiang, Thomas Kude
Looking forward 2: Global Sourcing Workshop 2022
The Global Sourcing Workshop is back! It will take place as a physical meeting around ICIS in Copenhagen in December 2022. Follow the SIG Sourcing page for updates and details. https://communities.aisnet.org/sigsourcing/home
Looking forward 3: Three new SIG Sourcing Awards
The SIG Sourcing has decided to create three awards for IS sourcing researchers to encourage further outstanding contributions in the focus areas of our SIG. There will be the Life-Achievement Award for life-long contribution to the IS Sourcing field which will be awarded by a committee set by the leadership team; the Early Career Award for the most promising early career researcher in the IS field based on publications in leading IS journals. This award will require an application which will soon be available on the SIG website; and the Practice Impact Award for a research article published recently that has the potential to make significant impact on industry, government or not-for-profits. This award will require an application which will soon be on the SIG website. Details about the different awards will be announced shortly.
Looking forward 4: Upcoming Sourcing industry events
- SSOW North American Digital, Digital Conference, 26-29 April 2022, visit: https://www.ssonetwork.com/events-sso-digital-week-north-america?mac=SSON_OnlineEvents_Title_Listing
- SSON European Week, June 21-24, Digital Conference, visit: https://www.ssonetwork.com/events-sso-digital-week-europe?mac=SSON_OnlineEvents_Title_Listing
Best regards,
Your SIG Advances in Sourcing Team