Coping with cultural and maturity inequality in offshore outsourcing: Is minimizing interaction the solution?

Many companies consider and undertake outsourcing of their software-development activities. Often information systems development is outsourced to vendors in different cultures or with a different level of software-process maturity. Recommendations for managing such outsourcing arrangements typically involve that client and vendor should increase interaction, learn more about the culture of the other part, communicate more, form partnerships, and the like. We have studied a client that did the opposite with a successful outcome. Based on a case study we lay out the story of how interaction between client and vendor on purpose was minimized. What mechanisms were used? What worked and what did not? We conclude that minimizing interaction can be a viable strategy to follow when clients face large cultural and maturity inequality in offshoring their software-development activities.