1,721,067 research outputs found
Le peculiarità del reshoring manifatturiero in Italia: un'analisi basata su dati secondari
No full textThis paper offers the first characterization of the manufacturing reshoring phenomenon for Italy, one of the countries that are more invested by this recent trend. As such, it fills a gap in the extant literature.
The study is based on secondary data gathered through a number of different sources over more than 5 years’ time. Data are analysed in order to provide information on: geographical areas from which companies move back home; industries they belong to; time span; governance structures (insourcing vs. outsourcing); decision drivers.
The 121 investigated Italian cases are compared to the other European cases (256) and the North American ones (329) – thus providing an original perspective. In so doing interesting highlights emerges useful to characterise the phenomenon in Italy. Main outcomes of the study are:
– in Italy, reshoring is limited to a small set of industries compared to the other two sampled geographical areas; more specifically, fashion-related industries (apparel, textile, footwear, leather goods, and accessories) are by far the prevailing ones;
– similarly to the rest of Europe, firms reshoring to Italy generally leave from both, other European and Asian ones. The share of these two areas is quite similar. Instead, the vast majority of companies reshoring to North America moved back from Asia;
– Italian companies reshore outsourced activities more than the European ones, i.e., their share of offshore outsourced activities that is brought home is comparatively higher;
– there are some differences in the motivations for reshoring between Italian companies and those of the other two samples. More specifically, an unique to the Italian cases, the «made-in effect» emerges as the main driver.
The comparative analysis we conducted suggest useful insights for policy makers in order to develop initiatives to trigger a further increase of the reshoring phenomenon in our country
The capabilities of the transnational firm: Accessing knowledge and leveraging inter-firm relationships
No full textThe nature of competition imposes a fundamental re-examination of strategies, both at the corporate and business level. Observation of a large number of firms reveals changes aimed at creating more permeable boundaries for breaking down costs, while increasing efficiency in product innovation and manufacturing. What appears to be relevant in many of these efforts is the emergence of transnational organisational architectures (TOA) in which the value-generating activities are distributed among different countries and actors, and then recomposed at the corporate level without losing efficiency. In this paper, we put forward the proposition that relational capability represents a distinctive competence for the transnational firm. The ability to access new knowledge or complementary capabilities, and to leverage inter-firm relationships and opportunities wherever they arise emerges as a critical factor for success on a global scale
The impact of environmental and social sustainability on the reshoring decision making and implementation process: insights from the bicycle industry
Full text linkAfter decades of huge production offshoring, companies are increasingly re-evaluating their production footprint, often implementing so-called reshoring strategies. Among them scarce attention has been devoted to the near-shoring option, i.e., relocation to the home region. At the same time, the impact of environmental and social sustainability on such strategies is an emerging issue within the reshoring scholars' debate. This paper aims to shed new light on this debate focusing on the bike industry. To reach the research aim, a single case study was investigated, regarding an Austrian bike manufacturer that decided to near-shore the assembling phase to Poland in 2021. Collected evidence was analyzed through an interpretative framework based on the extant literature, allowing us to understand the impact of environmental and social issues on the reshoring decision making and implementation process, and its outcomes. The analyzed case study shows that environmental and social issues may play different roles when near-shoring decisions are taken and implemented. However, it emerges that the magnitude of such impacts may differ among the specific levels of analysis investigated (namely drivers, barriers, enabling factors and outcomes) and the sustainability pillar investigated (environmental vs. social one). The debate on sustainability impacts on a firm's relocation strategies is still in its infancy, moreover the near-shoring alternative was not considered earlier in the academic debate. Therefore, this paper is the first attempt to shed new light on this issue and also proposes some future research avenues
Does sustainability matter for reshoring strategies? A literature review
No full textPurpose: Production activities affect environmental and social pillars of firm’s sustainability. Therefore, decisions regarding where products are manufactured have a tremendous impact on a firm’s sustainability. However, until now, interdependencies among back-shoring decisions and sustainability issues have been rarely addressed. This paper aims to fill this research gap and develop avenues for future research. Design/methodology/approach: The paper adopts an explorative approach based on a two-steps desk research strategy. In the first one, a structured literature review is implemented analysing 105 Scopus documents published up to August 2018. In the second step, empirical evidence of manufacturing back-shoring decisions coming from secondary sources is analysed and discussed. Findings: The investigated research questions shed new light on the “how” back-shoring decisions are taken and implemented. The structured review and the empirical evidence show that environmental and social sustainability issues are increasingly assuming certain relevance for the academic debate and managerial decisions. Research limitations/implications: The structured analysis of the selected literature and the empirical evidence sorted by the UnivAQ Manufacturing Reshoring Dataset clearly shows that neither scholars nor firms’ managers and entrepreneurs considered the environmental and social pillars of sustainability as the most relevant in terms of back-shoring drivers/motivation, outcome/benefit and/or barrier/enabler. Practical implications: The paper suggests policymakers that sustainability-based legislations may influence – and support – the firm’s decision to backshore. At the same time, policymakers should carefully reflect on the role of market labour laws and ensure that relocations are not based on “informal subcontracting and informal employment”. At the same time, the paper suggest managers to adopt a “progressive” and/or a “selective” approach when implementing reshoring decisions based (also) on sustainability issues. Originality/value: Even if other authors suggest that sustainability issues may be relevant for the reshoring decisions, this is the first attempt to define the base of knowledge on this topic and to suggest avenues for further research
Industry 4.0 technologies and manufacturing back-shoring: A European perspective
Full text linkOver the last two decades, companies have increasingly been re-evaluating their off-shoring strategies and implementing decisions on relocations of second degree (RSD). In some cases, the RSD decision has been implemented through back-shoring. The topic has attracted the attention of several scholars, some of whom have specifically investigated the role of Industry 4.0 technologies in the backshoring decision-making process. This paper aims to shed new light on the role that Industry 4.0 technologies play as a driver or an enabling factor for companies that are evaluating RSD alternatives. A two-step explorative approach has been used for this research. In the first step, a theoretical approach has been followed by developing a structured literature review based on 115 Scopus-indexed journal articles. The second step of the methodology is based on the empirical evidence of European countries using the UnivAQ manufacturing reshoring dataset. The collected data provides evidence of the growing interest of scholars in this issue; however, attention has mainly been focused on two single technologies, production automation and additive manufacturing. The empirical data offers interesting findings in terms of industry and geographic characterisation
Manufacturing reshoring in the fashion industry: A literature review
No full textManufacturing reshoring is the decision to relocate to the home country production activities earlier offshored (independently of the implemented governance mode, in- vs. out-sourcing). This topic has attracted the attention of practitioners and policy makers; in recent decades the attention of scholars has also grown quite rapidly. Following the suggestions of earlier scholars, this paper adopts an industry-level perspective, focusing its attention on the fashion industry, since its characteristics may heavily influence the manufacturing reshoring decisions. This article aims to present and discuss the results of a systematic literature review on relocation decisions implemented by fashion companies. More specifically the authors analysed 17 articles indexed on Elsevier Scopus and published up to December 2018. Based on collected evidence, a comparison with findings that emerged in previous reviews regarding the whole reshoring extant literature is performed, and the specificities of the fashion industry are shown and discussed. Avenues for further research for this specific industry are then presented and discussed
Entrepreneurial and market orientations: the moderating role of social networks on post-entry performance of international new ventures
Full text linkThis paper investigates whether entrepreneurial and marketing orientations (respectively EOs and Mos) impact – individually or collectively – international new ventures’ (INVs’) post-entry performance growth. Furthermore, we investigate whether such relations are moderated by the foreign social networks, both formal and informal, of international new ventures. Using a survey, we test our hypotheses on a sample of Italian high-tech INVs located in a cluster near Rome. A quantitative analysis is used to test the hypotheses. We found that EOs and MOs positively impact the post-entry international performance growth of INVs. Moreover, while informal foreign social network ties significantly moderate the impact of EOs and MOs, formal foreign social network ties do not have a significant moderating effect. Many theoretical and practical contributions are discussed in the paper.This paper investigates whether entrepreneurial and marketing orientations (respectively EOs and Mos) impact – individually or collectively – international new ventures’ (INVs’) post-entry performance growth. Furthermore, we investigate whether such relations are moderated by the foreign social networks, both formal and informal, of international new ventures.
Using a survey, we test our hypotheses on a sample of Italian high-tech INVs located in a cluster near Rome. A quantitative analysis is used to test the hypotheses. We found that EOs and MOs positively impact the post-entry international performance growth of INVs. Moreover, while informal foreign social network ties significantly moderate the impact of EOs and MOs, formal foreign social network ties do not have a significant moderating effect. Many theoretical and practical contributions are discussed in the paper
Workers buyout cooperatives: A structured literature review and a research agenda
No full textThis article aims to present and discuss the results of a systematic literature review on workers buyout (WBO) cooperatives. More specifically the authors analyzed 44 documents, comprising 29 journal articles and 15 book chapters published up to December 2022 based on the '5Ws and 1H' (who-what-where-when-why and how) questions. The findings show that the authors of these documents mostly focused on the definition of cooperatives, and the triggers of the operation, while stages of the decision-making and implementation process are rarely investigated, in particular those following the constitution of the WBO cooperative. Avenues for further research are then presented and discussed at the level of a single cooperative, country/market and policy maker. Lastly, the article provides a useful operational reference for implementing a WBO operation
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