Even after Gartner listed Mexico as one of the top 30 offshore locations, the country has been struggling to enter the spotlight of today’s global outsourcing arena.

While concerns over border violence and drug-related crime have already overshadowed the benefits of Mexico’s proximity to US, swine flu is now the latest blow for the Mexican offshoring business, according to an Infoworld article.

“A lot of businesses in Mexico are temporarily shut down, and IT services is a 24-7 business,” Gartner Research Vice President Frances Karamouzis told Inforworld. “The country also has travel restrictions in place now, which was one of the primary attractions around doing work in Mexico – the ease of travel. If you can’t travel there, that ruins business.”

The blow is akin to the Satyam scandal hit to the Indian outsourcing industry. While Indian firms tried to abate the effects by promising value-additions and transparency, there is little that Mexican firms can do.

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