Outsourcing of application software: a knowledge management perspective

Summarizes results from an exploratory field study of application software acquisition decisions and outcomes. We argue that outsourcing for application software is easiest when the objective is to obtain knowledge codified in artifacts such as packaged programs and their documentation. It is more complex when the objective is to get access to tacit knowledge about information technology or business processes held by professionals, and most problematic when the firm depends on learning or inventing new knowledge specific to the business process.