Europe is now the biggest market for outsourcing, while demand in the US has softened as a result of a shift in focus to smaller deals.
And the global outsourcing market is continuing to grow but at a slower rate - and with lower average deals sizes, according to consultancy TPI's quarterly outsourcing index.
TPI said the total number of outsourcing contracts awarded this year is down 17 per cent on 2006 and is the smallest number awarded during the first three quarters of a year since 2001.
The global value of contracts awarded from January to September this year was ?38.2bn compared to ?46bn last year.
