La réinter nalisation, chaînon manquant des théories de la firme

Abstract

Although backsourcing is at the crossroads of outsourcing and vertical integration, this concept has received little attention from academic research. Backsourcing is generally presented as a negative response to outsourcing failures. However, it is a dynamic response when the boundaries of the firm need to evolve and value chains have to be redesigned. Even though it is theoretically justified, companies rarely consider backsourcing because of governance inseparability and path dependency. Through the analysis of five cases, it is possible to highlight the strategic interest of this approach. Although backsourcing is at the crossroads of outsourcing and vertical integration, this concept has received little attention from academic research. Backsourcing is generally presented as a negative response to outsourcing failures. However, it is a dynamic response when the boundaries of the firm need to evolve and value chains have to be redesigned. Even though it is theoretically justified, companies rarely consider backsourcing because of governance inseparability and path dependency. Through the analysis of five cases, it is possible to highlight the strategic interest of this approach.