The Reshoring Phenomenon: What Supply Chain Academics Ought to know and Should Do

TLDR

Reshoring has recently attracted media attention as a notable supply‑chain trend. This essay seeks to clarify the definition of reshoring, assess whether it is a novel phenomenon, and stimulate research that benefits both theory and practice. The authors present a set of informed assertions that define reshoring, frame it as a reversal of offshoring, explore its future evolution amid growing environmental concerns, and warn that it could ultimately reduce employment in Western countries.

Abstract

The popular press has begun to pay attention to the phenomenon of “reshoring”. The task of supply chain management researchers with regard to this phenomenon should be to clarify what it is; to explore whether it is really a new phenomenon; and, paraphrasing (Simon, 1967; p . 1), to conduct research into the reshoring phenomenon so as to contribute not only to the science but also to the practice of reshoring. This essay is a starting point for our efforts in that direction. We make a number of informed assertions about reshoring—assertions that are juxtaposed in relevant literature and that aim to (a) define what reshoring is and is not; (b) explain why the reshoring phenomenon should not be examined in isolation but rather as a reversion of a prior offshoring decision; (c) describe how the reshoring phenomenon might evolve as societies, worldwide, place increasing emphasis on the environmental impact of business decisions; and (d) articulate a plausible scenario in which reshoring eventually hampers employment in Western nations. We hope these assertions will, in turn, jumpstart an intellectual discourse, through scientific research, into the what, how, when, where, and why of the reshoring phenomenon.