Manufacturing Back-shoring: Theoretical Conceptualization and Empirical Evidences

In recent years, the use of the term “back-shoring” has expanded dramatically in consulting firms’ white papers and, more recently, in academic journals too, despite the lack of reliable data. The paper aims to establish the importance of back-shoring strategies for manufacturing companies, especially in the wake of the recent financial crisis. To this end, we analyse and discuss 304 operational observations contained in our inter-University research group’s database on back-shoring strategies. Finally, we review 50 operations implemented by Italian companies and attempt to reconstruct motivations behind this change of strategy.