Outsourcing to Rural Areas of the U.S.

Good article in Business Week on the growth of rural outscourcing. It is also called farmshoring and it is a trend that is picking up steam.

According to the article, outsoucing to rural areas is price competitive with sending work overseas once you add in all the administrative and management costs. Key quote from the article:

“After factoring in additional costs such as oversight and quality control of the offshore work, however, rates are comparable, says Mary Lacity, a professor at the University of Missouri in St. Louis who studies outsourcing.”

One limiting factor to rural outsourcing is the supply of qualified workers. But with costs doing business overseas continuing to rise – especially in China and India – there will be more opportunities for rural outsourcing.

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