Offshoring Versus Reshoring? Rather, Shouldn’t It Be Rightshoring?

Abstract

In the latest years location strategies of firms are gaining growing attention due to the recent rise of reshoring announcements, which cannot be considered just an outcome of new political platforms based on protectionism. Most of them aim at coping with problems determined by unsuccessful offshoring decisions. But, when considering how to implement a relocation choice, namely in terms of geographical destination and in terms of governance of the new manufacturing footprint, several concerns rise and a wide array of relevant factors can be identified, which can drive the effectiveness of a reshoring project. In this setting, offshoring and reshoring can be seen as possible outcomes of a "rightshoring" approach, regarded as the decision making process that leads towards sound location decisions. This paper proposes and empirically tests a theoretical framework according to which factors that should be considered in the location decision making process are the following: (1) strategic alignment; (2) business environ-ment's factors; (3) firm's specific factors; (4) contingency factors. The preliminary evidence stemming out from the case-studies supports our framework.