Emerald Management Reviews

Design/methodology/approach - A review of the literature of offshoring as a way of sourcing S&E talent is presented. Discusses the shifting emphasis in offshoring away from cost cutting and towards finding a solution to the increasing difficulties of finding suitable S&E talent in advanced economies by tapping into the seemingly unlimited availability of such talent in emerging economies. Describes the study which investigated the antecedents and dynamics of this offshoring-based talent sourcing trend by examining the co-evolution of macroeconomic forces, domestic and offshore national policies, industry dynamics, and company-level offshoring capabilities driving current offshoring decisions. Explains that data for the analysis was derived from the Offshoring Research Network (ORN) project, which was instituted in 2004 and tracks offshoring activities of over 1,600 large, medium and small US and European companies at the level of discrete implementations.

Findings - The results indicated that, while the pool of S&E talent in Western countries has been shrinking in recent years, due to declining interest in S&E careers, ageing populations, and inadequate secondary education, new S&E clusters providing highly skilled talent are emerging in developing countries.

Originality/value - Provides valuable insights that will be useful in informing both company-level strategies and national policy-making.