Des McLaughlin
Information Systems Research Centre,
Cranfield School of Management
Qualifications
BSc (physics), University College Dublin
MSc (physics), University College Dublin
MBA, Fordham University, New York
Background
Des lectures in management and information systems at Dublin City University. Prior to his university career, Des worked for over 20 years in the telecommunications and Internet industries in a number of roles including Senior VP Sales & Marketing eircom USA; Head of Product Development; Manager International Business; Business Process Reengineering; Corporate Planning, and other business areas.
Research Topic
The social basis of IT outsourcing relationships: An exploratory study
Research Issue
IT outsourcing is a widely-used management strategy, yet it underperforms or fails frequently. Much of the research to date has been based on economic or strategic theories, with some indications of the potential usefulness of relational theories. Outsourcing disrupts structures and relationships in the client and vendor organisations, and through this may impact business performance. Des’s doctoral research is examining how outsourcing arrangements affect the social dimension of business-IT alignment
Sector
Private sector
Research Methods
Case study. Qualitative analysis, interpretive viewpoint
Theoretical Perspective
Nahapiet & Ghoshal’s (1998) framework of social capital.
Why I Chose Cranfield
I chose Cranfield because of its reputation as a leading management school, and because of its excellent and well-structured PhD programme.
Published Papers
McLaughlin, D. & Peppard, J., 2006. IT Backsourcing: From 'make-or-buy' to 'bringing it back in-house'. In 14th European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS). Göteborg, Sweden.