How Green is my Outsourcer - Environmental Responsibility in Global IT Outsourcing

The focus of this paper is on the intersection of Environmental Responsibility (ER) and Global IT Outsourcing (GITO). GITO is well established as a business practice towards reducing costs and improving performance. ER is becoming increasingly important in global outsourcing in relation to environmental issues. The cost of energy has already increased dramatically and further increases appear likely. Sustainability issues related to carbon footprint and greenhouse gases (GHG) are also becoming increasingly important. Thus responsible and economic energy management has become a critical business capability and an important social responsibility. Global outsourcing of IT operations to a less energy efficient, less environmentally responsible organization may provide increased returns to shareholders, but may also become an ER liability. The key question this paper seeks to answer is how are GITO vendors transforming their ER capabilities? Drawing on preliminary fieldwork and an extensive literature search, we conclude that ER issues will become important capabilities for outsourcers to demonstrate, as buyers are increasingly sensitive to their stakeholders' environmental concerns.