Newsletter Apr 2019

Dear Members of the SIG Sourcing,

We hope this email finds you well. We have some interesting news to share with you.

 (1)  SIG SOURCING named Outstanding AIS Community

We defended our title! The Association for Information Systems has named SIG Sourcing as an outstanding Special Interest Group for the year 2020. Please find the official AIS announcement here. This honorable recognition serves as motivation for groups to maintain excellent programs, operations, and services that support a successful AIS Community.


(2)  Sourcing Track at ECIS 2022

Our SIG will host a track at ECIS 2022, which will take place in Timisoara (Romania). We want to thank you for your willingness to engage in this important community event. Please find below the official call for papers as well as additional information on our track on the ECIS website.

Call for Papers, IS Sourcing in the Digital Age, ECIS 2022:

In the digital age, organizations are faced with the challenge of adapting their IS sourcing practices to a number of major changes (Dibbern et al. 2020). First, digital technologies increasingly permeate the processes, products, and services of companies (Venkatraman 2017)—including those IS services and products offered by a vibrant and increasingly complex ecosystem of external service providers that includes consulting companies, standard software providers, specialized development firms, and digital giants. Second, the digital transformation entails a number of concurrent technological shifts such as the rise of AI and new architectural paradigms (e.g., microservices, low-code platforms, and serverless computing) that fundamentally change the nature of the task that is being sourced (Willcocks et al. 2016), reconfigure firm boundaries, and add further complexity to the already confusing number of alternative sourcing arrangements (Lacity et al. 2010; Oshri et al. 2019, Nevo and Kotlarsky, 2020) and governance mechanisms (Benaroch et al. 2016; Gregory et al. 2013; Huber et al. 2013; Kotlarsky et al. 2018; Wiener et al. 2016). Furthermore, with the growing popularity of data-driven business models issues associated with data sourcing are becoming more prevailed (Wiener et al. 2020). To respond to these changes, sourcing professionals will have to adapt their decision and governance practices—offering unique opportunities for researchers to advance understanding of the evolution and socio-technical underpinnings of sourcing practices (Sarker et al. 2019). 

This track welcomes papers that improve our understanding of how, why, and under what conditions sourcing can make a positive contribution to the digital transformation of firms. We welcome all types research, including empirical, conceptual, and simulation-based studies that address social, technical, and socio-technical aspects of IS sourcing. We also welcome ‘focus on practice’ submissions. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

  • In-depth investigations into the complexities and dynamics of sourcing practices
  • Sourcing as driver of digital transformation processes
  • Sourcing of innovative, AI-powered systems, including studies investigating new AI-specific managerial practices such as data governance, management of (algorithmic) learning processes, and the management of autonomous agents (e.g., robots)
  • Technology-driven changes in sourcing practices including studies exploring how increasingly autonomous systems and/or new architectural innovations transform sourcing decision making and sourcing governance
  • Sourcing configurations and sourcing arrangements for the digital age (multi-sourcing, plural sourcing, crowdsourcing, cloudsourcing, etc.)
  • Supplier and client capabilities and competences for the digital age
  • Sourcing governance and in particular studies investigating change processes, holistic configurations of governance mechanisms, and interactions between them
  • Sourcing eco-systems
  • Data sourcing
  • Backsourcing/re-shoring decisions driven by the digital transformation and in particular the changing role of IS
  • Sourcing of knowledge-intensive and innovative IS services and products
  • Emerging topics and concepts in sourcing not covered above

 

(3) Upcoming Sourcing Industry Events

Please find below a list of sourcing, which might be of interest for you. Due to the ongoing pandemic this list is smaller than usual.

Best regards,
Your SIG ADVANCES IN SOURCING Team!