In the last decades, offshoring has been used as a major international development strategy for both large and small companies. Only recently, also relocation of second degree have been considered a viable alternative for firms, which can take place in the country of origin (backshoring) or in a third country. Among the reasons behind this choice, the raising interest in sustainability, the digital transformation, the growing political tension between the US and China, the global Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have prompted companies to reconsider the importance of the robustness and resilience of their supply chain, placing new priorities alongside the classic drivers of cost and quality. Both at corporate and academic level, the interest in reshoring is growing, particularly in light of developments in the international business and supply chain management. However, the study of this phenomenon is still in a primordial state and there is a lack of studies based on primary data about backshoring initiatives, both regarding the relocation choices of companies and their motivations. This thesis aims to analyze the offshoring and reshoring phenomena of companies in the Italian territory, starting from a database of primary data collected between June 2021 and February 2022, containing information on 762 companies, focusing in particular on manufacturing and supply backshoring. The analysis shows that out of the total number of companies analyzed, 121 have relocated their production abroad in the past and only 20 of them have decided to undertake manufacturing backshoring in Italy. While, among the 688 that used to have partially or totally foreign suppliers, 120 decided to do supply backshoring, highlighting the importance of this phenomenon that is, however, still given less attention in the scientific literature. To conclude, considerations are made on how this work can bring value to the existing literature, on possible research limits and on starting points for future work.
Negli ultimi decenni, l’offshoring è stato utilizzato come una delle principali strategie di sviluppo internazionali, sia per aziende di grandi dimensioni che per realtà più piccole. Solo recentemente, anche le rilocalizzazioni di secondo grado vengono considerate una valida alternativa per le aziende, e possono avvenire nel paese di origine (backshoring) o in un paese terzo. Tra i molteplici motivi di tale scelta, il maggiore interesse nella sostenibilità, la trasformazione digitale, la crescente tensione politica tra Stati Uniti e Cina, la pandemia globale di Covid-19 e la guerra in Ucraina hanno spinto le aziende a riconsiderare l’importanza di avere una supply chain robusta e resiliente, accostando nuove priorità ai classici driver di costo e qualità. Sia a livello aziendale che a livello accademico, l’interesse per il reshoring sta crescendo, soprattutto alla luce degli sviluppi legati al business internazionale e alla gestione della supply chain. Tuttavia, lo studio di questo fenomeno si trova ancora in uno stato primordiale e vi è una mancanza di studi sulle iniziative di backshoring basati su dati primari, sia per quanto riguarda le scelte di rilocalizzazione delle aziende, sia relativamente alle motivazioni di quest’ultime. Questa tesi si propone dunque di analizzare i fenomeni di offshoring e reshoring delle aziende presenti sul territorio italiano, partendo da un database di dati primari raccolti tra giugno 2021 e febbraio 2022, contenente informazioni su 762 aziende, e focalizzandosi in modo particolare sul backshoring di produzione e di fornitura. Dall’analisi emerge che sul totale delle aziende analizzate, solo 121 in passato hanno rilocalizzato la loro produzione all’estero e, di queste, 20 hanno deciso di fare reshoring manifatturiero in Italia. Mentre, tra le 688 che avevano parzialmente o totalmente fornitori esteri, 120 hanno deciso di fare backshoring di fornitura, evidenziando l’importanza di questo fenomeno, a cui tuttavia viene data ancora minor importanza nella letteratura scientifica. Per concludere, vengono fatte delle considerazioni su come questo lavoro possa portare valore alla letteratura già esistente, sugli eventuali limiti dello studio e sui punti di partenza per lavori futuri.
From offshoring to manufacturing and supply backshoring : evidence from the first national survey on relocation strategies of italian companies
Comini, Martina;CURRELI, RICCARDO
2021/2022
Abstract
In the last decades, offshoring has been used as a major international development strategy for both large and small companies. Only recently, also relocation of second degree have been considered a viable alternative for firms, which can take place in the country of origin (backshoring) or in a third country. Among the reasons behind this choice, the raising interest in sustainability, the digital transformation, the growing political tension between the US and China, the global Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have prompted companies to reconsider the importance of the robustness and resilience of their supply chain, placing new priorities alongside the classic drivers of cost and quality. Both at corporate and academic level, the interest in reshoring is growing, particularly in light of developments in the international business and supply chain management. However, the study of this phenomenon is still in a primordial state and there is a lack of studies based on primary data about backshoring initiatives, both regarding the relocation choices of companies and their motivations. This thesis aims to analyze the offshoring and reshoring phenomena of companies in the Italian territory, starting from a database of primary data collected between June 2021 and February 2022, containing information on 762 companies, focusing in particular on manufacturing and supply backshoring. The analysis shows that out of the total number of companies analyzed, 121 have relocated their production abroad in the past and only 20 of them have decided to undertake manufacturing backshoring in Italy. While, among the 688 that used to have partially or totally foreign suppliers, 120 decided to do supply backshoring, highlighting the importance of this phenomenon that is, however, still given less attention in the scientific literature. To conclude, considerations are made on how this work can bring value to the existing literature, on possible research limits and on starting points for future work.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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https://hdl.handle.net/10589/195172