Competition in the Information Technology Outsourcing (ITO) and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry is increasingly moving from being motivated by cost savings towards strategic benefits that service providers can offer to their clients. Innovation is one such benefit that is expected nowadays in outsourcing engagements. The rising importance of innovation has been noticed and acknowledged not only in the Information Systems (IS) literature, but also in other management streams such as innovation and strategy. However, to date, these individual strands of research remain largely isolated from each other. Our theoretical review addresses this gap by consolidating and analyzing research on strategic innovation in the ITO and BPO context. The article set includes 95 papers published between 1998 and 2020 in outlets from the IS and related management fields. We craft a four-phase framework that integrates prior insights about (1) the antecedents of the decision to pursue strategic innovation in outsourcing settings; (2) arrangement options that facilitate strategic innovation in outsourcing relationships; (3) the generation of strategic innovations; and (4) realized strategic innovation outcomes, as assessed in the literature. We find that the research landscape to date is skewed, with many studies focusing on the first two phases. The last two phases remain relatively uncharted. We also discuss how innovation-oriented outsourcing insights compare with established research on cost-oriented outsourcing engagements. Finally, we offer directions for future research.

信息技术外包 (ITO) 和业务流程外包 (BPO) 行业的竞争正日益从成本节约转向服务提供商可以为其客户提供的战略利益。创新是当今外包业务中预期的一种好处。不仅在信息系统 (IS) 文献中，而且在创新和战略等其他管理流程中，都注意到并承认了创新日益重要的重要性。然而，迄今为止，这些单独的研究领域在很大程度上仍然相互隔离。我们的理论回顾通过巩固和分析 ITO 和 BPO 环境下的战略创新研究来弥补这一差距。文章集包括 1998 年至 2020 年间在 IS 及相关管理领域的网点发表的 95 篇论文。我们制定了一个四阶段框架，整合了关于 (1) 在外包环境中追求战略创新的决定的前因；(2) 促进外包关系战略创新的安排方案；(3) 战略创新的产生；(4) 根据文献评估，实现了战略创新成果。我们发现迄今为止的研究前景存在偏差，许多研究都集中在前两个阶段。最后两个阶段仍然相对未知。我们还讨论了以创新为导向的外包洞察力与以成本为导向的外包业务的既定研究相比如何。最后，我们为未来的研究提供了方向。我们制定了一个四阶段框架，整合了关于 (1) 在外包环境中追求战略创新的决定的前因；(2) 促进外包关系战略创新的安排方案；(3) 战略创新的产生；(4) 根据文献评估，实现了战略创新成果。我们发现迄今为止的研究前景存在偏差，许多研究都集中在前两个阶段。最后两个阶段仍然相对未知。我们还讨论了以创新为导向的外包洞察力与以成本为导向的外包业务的既定研究相比如何。最后，我们为未来的研究提供了方向。我们制定了一个四阶段框架，整合了关于 (1) 在外包环境中追求战略创新的决定的前因；(2) 促进外包关系战略创新的安排方案；(3) 战略创新的产生；(4) 根据文献评估，实现了战略创新成果。我们发现迄今为止的研究前景存在偏差，许多研究都集中在前两个阶段。最后两个阶段仍然相对未知。我们还讨论了以创新为导向的外包洞察力与以成本为导向的外包业务的既定研究相比如何。最后，我们为未来的研究提供了方向。