Nearshoring

Nearshoring means sourcing service activities to a foreign, lower-wage country that is relatively close in distance or time zone (or both). The customer expects to benefit from one or more of the following constructs of proximity: geographic, temporal, cultural, linguistic, economic, political, or historical linkages.

Similar terms include nearsourcing and nearshore outsourcing. The service work that is being sourced may be a business process or software development. As with offshore, the term "nearshore" was originally used in the context of fishing and other ocean-based activities and later adapted by the business world.

Overview
Nearshoring is a derivative of the business term offshoring. Offshoring is a business activity that is complex and risky because it involves working with a foreign, distant organization. In contrast, nearshoring is understood to mean that the business has reduced the complexity and risk of offshoring.

Examples of nearshoring: American clients nearshoring to Mexico, Austrian clients nearshoring to Slovakia, Japanese clients nearshoring to China.

The complexity of offshoring stems from different languages and cultures, long distances and different time zones, spending more time and effort on establishing trust and long-term relationships, overriding communication barriers and activities of that kind.

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