Mapping out the global value chains of Chinese outsourced service industries: The case of ITO and BPO

The globalisation of manufacturing outsourcing has been seen in the past decades. More recently service outsourcing has been globalised too. How do local firms insert into the global value chain (GVC) and how do the potential upgrading happened have drawn scholar´s attentions. There is a lack of research into the area of globalised services production. China as an large market for global manufacturing outsourcing has been well researched, while it as an emerging destination of global service outsourcing activities received very little attention. In reality the two typical outsourced service industries: ITO and BPO have been always intertwined and linked, in theory they have not been examined in a one framework before. This paper aims to map out the value chain of Chinese outsourced service industries (ITO and BPO) and the potential upgrading opportunities available for Chinese outsourced service firms, attempting to analyse them in the same framework. Adopting a standard case study methodology the paper draws upon the qualitative data from 24 dispersedly selected Chinese outsourced service firms. The paper found out that the process/product upgrading and the functional upgrading are the most possible opportunities for Chinese outsourced service firms. The value chain upgrading is only seen from ITO to BPO.