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A case survey of offshoring–backshoring cases : The influence of contingency factors

Henkel, Malin LU ; Boffelli, Albachiara ; Olhager, Jan LU orcid and Kalchschmidt, Matteo (2022) In International Journal of Production Economics 253.
Abstract

This study aims at investigating the influence of contingency factors on the drivers of offshoring and backshoring decision processes. A case survey of existing case studies on backshoring was performed with qualitative comparative analysis (QCA). In total, 43 cases from 16 research papers were analyzed. The results showed that many factors act as contingencies for the backshoring decision, namely, company size, industry, home region, host region, and governance modes for off- and backshoring. In addition, there are connections between the backshoring decision and the previous offshoring decision. The study revealed three main patterns, such that the offshoring decision can be linked to the following backshoring, in the sense that... (More)

This study aims at investigating the influence of contingency factors on the drivers of offshoring and backshoring decision processes. A case survey of existing case studies on backshoring was performed with qualitative comparative analysis (QCA). In total, 43 cases from 16 research papers were analyzed. The results showed that many factors act as contingencies for the backshoring decision, namely, company size, industry, home region, host region, and governance modes for off- and backshoring. In addition, there are connections between the backshoring decision and the previous offshoring decision. The study revealed three main patterns, such that the offshoring decision can be linked to the following backshoring, in the sense that offshoring for specific purposes leads to backshoring because of other specific reasons. In the end, 15 different configurations, including clusters of offshoring drivers, as well as significant contingency factors, were identified to explain offshoring – backshoring patterns. Thus, this study provides the first attempt to shed light on the causality between offshoring and subsequent backshoring decisions and highlights the importance of researchers building on each other's efforts to make empirical evidence comparable and advance the knowledge within this emerging field.

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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Global operations, Manufacturing relocation, Meta-analysis, Qualitative comparative analysis, Reshoring, Rightshoring
in
International Journal of Production Economics
volume
253
article number
108615
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:85137100557
ISSN
0925-5273
DOI
10.1016/j.ijpe.2022.108615
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
10f1e5e4-eea8-4991-a265-f91ebc0002f2
date added to LUP
2022-10-17 08:56:30
date last changed
2023-03-08 01:09:05
@article{10f1e5e4-eea8-4991-a265-f91ebc0002f2,
  abstract     = {{<p>This study aims at investigating the influence of contingency factors on the drivers of offshoring and backshoring decision processes. A case survey of existing case studies on backshoring was performed with qualitative comparative analysis (QCA). In total, 43 cases from 16 research papers were analyzed. The results showed that many factors act as contingencies for the backshoring decision, namely, company size, industry, home region, host region, and governance modes for off- and backshoring. In addition, there are connections between the backshoring decision and the previous offshoring decision. The study revealed three main patterns, such that the offshoring decision can be linked to the following backshoring, in the sense that offshoring for specific purposes leads to backshoring because of other specific reasons. In the end, 15 different configurations, including clusters of offshoring drivers, as well as significant contingency factors, were identified to explain offshoring – backshoring patterns. Thus, this study provides the first attempt to shed light on the causality between offshoring and subsequent backshoring decisions and highlights the importance of researchers building on each other's efforts to make empirical evidence comparable and advance the knowledge within this emerging field.</p>}},
  author       = {{Henkel, Malin and Boffelli, Albachiara and Olhager, Jan and Kalchschmidt, Matteo}},
  issn         = {{0925-5273}},
  keywords     = {{Global operations; Manufacturing relocation; Meta-analysis; Qualitative comparative analysis; Reshoring; Rightshoring}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{11}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{International Journal of Production Economics}},
  title        = {{A case survey of offshoring–backshoring cases : The influence of contingency factors}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2022.108615}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.ijpe.2022.108615}},
  volume       = {{253}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}