PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) has announced a new relationship with Duke University, serving as a founding member of the Duke Offshoring Research Network (ORN)-Best Practices Institute (BPI), in collaboration with Duke University's Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) at The Fuqua School of Business. PricewaterhouseCoopers will help advance a long-term goal of Duke CIBER to increase the breadth and depth of practice-oriented knowledge in the offshoring and global services space.

ORN-BPI founding members leverage the institute's collective globalization, outsourcing, and process design best practices, and the innovative capacity of member companies to deliver breakthrough business services to benefit companies exploring innovative offshoring processes of best practice companies.

"The mission of the Duke Offshoring Research Network and the new Best Practices Institute will be to research and document offshoring leading practices by function, process or activity and by industry," said Dr. Charles Aird, managing director with PricewaterhouseCoopers' Advisory practice. "This will serve as a benefit to organizations who wish to learn and adopt innovative offshoring processes of leading practice companies."

PricewaterhouseCoopers has over 1,300 professionals around the world focused on helping companies make decisions about their outsourcing and offshoring requirements and is a leading provider of business consulting services worldwide. In addition to supporting the ORN-BPI, PwC may also collaborate with Duke Corporate Education, the university's not-for-profit corporate education provider, in designing and implementing company-specific offshoring strategies based on ORN-BPI research.

"PricewaterhouseCoopers brings to the alliance significant experience helping global companies address and implement outsourcing and offshoring capabilities," said Dr. Arie Lewin, Professor and Director of CIBER at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business. "We expect companies seeking to adopt outsourcing and offshoring practices will routinely seek such services and capabilities the ORN alliance has researched and documented because they provide the greatest possible value. OBPR will leverage the alliance's collective globalization, outsourcing and process design best practices, their scale, and the innovative capacity of member companies to deliver breakthrough business services."

Along with serving on the Executive Committee of BPI alongside Duke CIBER, PwC will help select best practice case study candidates, shape processes for reviewing offshore best practices and collaborate on the development of BPI programs and activities. In addition, PwC has committed to funding two PwC Research Associate Fellows (post-doctoral fellowships for PhD graduates with training in qualitative case research). These Fellows will research offshoring best practices.

"With the support of PricewaterhouseCoopers, we expect ORN-BPI to become recognized as the premier offshore research body," adds Dr. Lewin. "Sharing experience and solutions across multiple companies will enhance collective capabilities for the mutual benefit of all involved."