Why Nearshore Drives Competition

As the outsourcing and offshoring phenomena have matured, the marketplace has sought increased differentiation on the basis of location through a range of ‘shoring’ and ‘sourcing’ terms. “Rural-sourcing,” “two-shoring,” “best-shoring,” and at least a dozen other expressions have emerged. Prominent among these is “nearshore,” which appeared in the software/IT field first in an article about an entrepreneurial software development venture established in the island of Barbados (Hopkins, 1998). Nearshore was presented then as a reaction to the main offshore destination, India, which was viewed as “farshore,” a very distant destination, many hours to travel, many time zones away, and a very different culture.