IT Governance Mechanisms in Multisourcing--A Business Group Perspective

Many international corporations are adopting multisourcing strategies. Multisourcing is defined as the blending of services from multiple company-internal and external suppliers. To date, performance measurement and governance-related aspects have been scarcely covered in the academic literature of IT outsourcing. With this study, we intend to broaden understanding of how business groups utilize governance mechanisms in a multi-sourced IT environment. This article contributes to the body of knowledge in three ways. First, it describes established IT governance mechanisms, second, it presents insights into a real-life example of IT governance mechanisms at a leading financial services provider, and third, it extends current literature toward multisourcing in a group-context by proposing a framework of IT governance mechanisms targeting the different relationships of multisourcing in business groups. In addition, this research is useful for corporations facing similar challenges.