Western Europe out of vogue for outsourcing
Latin America and Asia strengthen position in Gartner list of top 30 offshoring nations
Developed countries have been completely pushed out of the world's top 30 territories for outsourcing, with Latin American and Asian nations increasing their footprint.
Gartner's 2010/11 list of the top 30 countries for globally sourced activities is, unsurprisingly, headed by long-term leader India. The analyst notes, however, that China represents "the greatest challenger in terms of potential scale".
Seven other countries from Asia-Pacific list also made the list: Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam. Of these Bangladesh appears for the first time, while Sri Lanka re-enters the top 30 after falling out last year.
However, three developed nations have tumbled out of the leading pack this year, in the shape of Australia, New Zealand and Singapore.
Gartner notes that India, China and Malaysia all benefit from strong government support for offshore services. Indonesia, meanwhile, has overtaken Vietnam as the region's leading nation on a purely cost basis.
The Americas have had a mixed year; eight countries featured in the top 30, with Colombia and Peru appearing for the first time and Panama making the cut as a re-entrant. But Uruguay was the only emerging nation featured on last year's list to miss out this time, and Canada has also fallen from the top 30. Argentina (pictured), Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica and Mexico all featured this time out.
Gartner claims Latin American countries are becoming popular offshoring locations for US firms, with Mexico and Chile enjoying "very good" government support. Mexico also leads the way in terms of cost and breadth of labour pool, while Chile and Brazil were praised for their infrastructure.
In the EMEA region, emerging nations Turkey and Bulgaria made the list, while developed countries Ireland, Israel and Spain all lost out. The Czech Republic, Egypt, Hungary, Morocco, Mauritius, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, South Africa and Ukraine also feature in the top 30.
EMEA was picked out as suffering from a lack of government support, with only Egypt achieving a higher rating than "good" in this area. The region's labour pool also compares unfavourably to others, with none of the featured nations exceeding the "good" level.
Gartner research vice president Ian Marriott said: "In this increasingly dynamic global environment, multinational providers will continue to extend their footprint in different geographies, carrying with them their expertise and maturity, while local providers will strive to become offshore providers, searching for opportunities and niches they can explore."