Communications of the ACM
'rural Sourcing' Offers Way to Keep Jobs at Home
Rural Sourcing Inc. (RSI) represents a growing trend that is helping to keep information technology (IT) jobs in the United States by locating them in smaller cities instead of outsourcing them to foreign countries. RSI is one of about 20 U.S. companies that offer U.S.-based businesses a cost-effective alternative to outsourcing.
Although per hour wage and benefit costs for an IT worker are about double in the United States what they would be for an overseas worker, the overall cost of outsourcing ends up being closer to the rural sourcing cost after factors such as long-distance travel, management oversight, communication and cultural breakdowns, and geopolitical issues are taken into account. "It shouldn't be surprising to see more . . . IT activities go to wherever there is a labor source that is cost competitive and has all the near-shore advantages," says University of California, Davis professor Martin Kenney, a member of ACM's Job Migration Task Force.
The key to rural sourcing success is finding locations where the quality of life is high but the cost of living is low, and that have nearby universities or technical colleges to produce a stream of high-quality workers.
From Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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Abstracts Copyright © 2011 Information Inc., Bethesda, Maryland, USA 
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