Several countries in the Mena region have beaten Eastern European locations to make it to the AT Kearney’s Global Services Location Index (GSLI) list of top 25 service locations.

AT Kearney, the global management consulting firm, said the GSLI provides a benchmark for service location selection on a comparative scale internationally. Specifically it ranks countries for locating outsourcing activities, including IT services and support, contact centers and back-office support. 

India, China and Malaysia continue to be the globally most attractive locations and once again, a combination of human resources and low cost have placed them in the top three spots respectively - positions they’ve occupied since the inaugural GSLI in 2003, AT Kearney said.

With its first-mover advantage and deep skill base, India still maintains the lion’s share of the IT services market. It is the all-around standout, able to provide manpower for any type of offshoring activity. China provides competitively priced high-end analytics and engineering, while Malaysia attracts IT services offshoring, it added.

In its most recent index edition, AT Kearney said the Mena region was fast becoming the ideal choice for service center locations.

“The region has become increasingly attractive because of their proximity to Europe, competitive cost structure and vast talent pool,” said Dan Starta, managing director, AT Kearney Middle East.

On the GSLI ranking, Starta said the index enables investor decision makers and countries within the region to evaluate key selection criteria for making offshoring service location decisions.

Each country’s score is composed of a weighted combination of relative scores on 39 measurements, which are grouped into three categories: financial attractiveness, people and skills availability and business environment,” he added.

Within other ME countries, regional locations have made consistent progress, with scores analyzed and compiled prior to recent political uprisings.

Egypt features fourth in the world and the leader in the Middle East, while the UAE moved from 29th to 15th position, Jordan (22nd) and Tunisia (23rd) remain in the top 25.

"The UAE, second in the Middle East region, improved to 15th raking globally. This ranking proves the sustained propensity to attract regional service centers/head quarters of multinational corporations, with the UAE acting as a gateway to the GCC, he added.

However, as the index was developed before the political turmoil in Egypt and other Mena countries, it is yet to be seen how the unfolding of recent events will impact their ratings going forward.

“While this year’s index has highlighted the improved attractiveness of the Mena region for multinationals, the results also highlight that Middle East corporations may benefit from leveraging the opportunities presented by the most attractive off shoring destinations of India, China and Malaysia,” Starta added.-TradeArabia News Service