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Introduction
This paper is situated in the wider human resources development (HRD) literature and considers a much-neglected area and an often-cited need to consider external factors, especially the needs of an organisation's customers/clients in a firm's decision to train ([11] Bing et al. , 2003; [22] Leimbach and Baldwin, 1997; [28] Short, 2006). Using a case study methodology, this paper examines the factors that drive a firm's decision to invest in training in India's information technology-enabled services sector. [32] Smith (2000) argues that the phenomenon of enterprise training is too complex to be explicated by survey methodologies. Research on enterprise training needs alternative research strategies such as case study research - to uncover the complex interactions in training decision-making, especially when the phenomenon and the context cannot be separated. Qualitative case study methodology is one such strategy that can yield valuable insights about the phenomenon by allowing it to be studied in its natural settings ([15] Eisenhardt, 1989; [38] Yin, 2003).
External factors, such as clients' needs, are particularly important given the distinct features of the IT-enabled services (ITeS)/business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, such as the high level of interdependence between a service provider and the client firm, and the dynamic nature of its business environment ([7] Banerjee, 2004). In addition to the factors identified in the extant literature that explain a firm's decision to invest in training ([14] Dostie and Montmarquette, 2007; [18] Hendry and Pettigrew, 1989; [26] Ridoutt et al. , 2002; [34] Smith et al. , 2004), this study's distinctive contribution is in identifying the influence of a firm's market orientation, learning orientation and quality management systems on the nature and extent of training in firms in the ITeS/BPO sector in India. The paper provides novel insights into reasons for variation in training by considering a temporal dimension of an organisation's process or project life cycle, its competitive strategy and the interactions between various organisational capabilities. This paper contributes to the limitations identified in the current literature ([5] Ashton and Sung, 2006) by explaining the variation in provision of training in firms operating in a similar strategic milieu.
The rest of the paper is organised as follows. First, it briefly discusses the structure of India's ITeS/BPO sector. Second, it reviews the literature...