Western companies decide to source work from abroad, they often pick jobs that are routine, standardized and easy to learn—things like software support and call-center operation.

The thinking is that the easier it is to explain to offshore workers exactly what to do, the more successful the operation will be.

We believe these companies may be thinking too narrowly about the benefits of offshoring.

Based on a study of 130 offshore operations in India, we discovered that what really determines success versus failure isn’t the ease with which knowledge can be transferred from one location to another. Instead, the key is managing teamwork—that is, helping onshore and offshore workers whose jobs are linked coordinate their work effectively. We found that the projects that paid close attention to managing coordination performed almost four times as well as their less-successful counterparts.

More broadly, our research has implications for what kind of work is “offshore-able.” We believe that if Western companies focused more on fostering collaboration between workers separated by geography and culture, and less on forcing offshore workers to perform tasks in very specific ways, the range of work they could source offshore would be significantly expanded. Companies struggling to fill talent gaps in semiconductor-chip design, drug discovery, engineering and other intellectually complex areas could draw on high-quality and growing talent bases in countries like India and China.

Companies have several options when it comes to managing coordination between offshore and onshore teams. The strategy they choose may depend on the type of work involved.

Black Box. One of the easiest ways to ensure coordination across locations is to minimize the