Role of clusters and certification in the internationalization of offshoring service providers from emerging markets: a study of Indian IT firms

Abstract

We adopt a resource-based view to investigate the drivers of internationalization of emerging market offshoring service providers (OSPs). Using data from Indian IT firms between 1992 and 2002, we investigate the effect of cluster presence and quality certification on OSP internationalization and in moderating the internationalization performance relationship. Our findings contribute to the OSP literature by proposing a significant role for clustering and certification. We find a positive effect of certification on OSP internationalization. Although certification contributes negatively to OSP performance, it positively moderates the performance effect of OSP internationalization. Cluster presence was found to drive OSP‟s overall performance.