Indian IT service industry as a socio-technical transition: A multi-level perspective analysis with case studies

Abstract

Indian IT-services companies did experience 10 times growth from the mid-1990s till 2005. Companies did achieve growth predominantly with an approach based on aggregation and arbitrage; however, from 2005 to 2015 the growth was different. Going forward, it is imperative to look beyond arbitrage and aggregation, one approach is an emphasis on organizational adaptations to manage in transitions.
Transition literature has numerous instances explaining shifting of assemblies of sociotechnical systems with a heuristic and analytic view. To assist practitioners, the author extends it for IT-services with a case study from an Indian IT-services company. The current practices of arbitrage and aggregation approaches provide only incremental innovations and are insufficient; the need is in developing adaptation-selection This requires using latest ICT-innovations and develop organizational capabilities that promote knowledge management and foster collaboration both at intra- and interorganizational levels. The capabilities that promote knowledge management and collaboration assist in developing an innovative culture within the organization, thereby, enable other entities in the environment to coevolve.