This month's launch of the 2009 Black Book of Outsourcing: The Year of Outsourcing Dangerously by Douglas Brown and Scott Wilson has sparked much talk about the risks involved in outsourcing to offshore locations.
The report ranks locations based on potential offshore threats, such as civil unrest, but the impact the rankings will actually have on firms' outsourcing decisions is questionable.
In reality, there are very few instances of political or social upheaval having any impact on offshoring or outsourcing. One should also remember that major events are not isolated to offshore locations. The terrorist attacks on New York in September 2001 are an apt example of what can happen in an area perceived as a relatively 'risk-free' location.
