Evaluation of EU-27 countries as manufacturing location: strengths and weaknesses model

Olli-Pekka Hilmola (), Haihan Li (), Per Hilletofth () and Daniella Fjellström ()
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Olli-Pekka Hilmola: Tallinn University of Technology
Haihan Li: University of Gävle
Per Hilletofth: University of Gävle
Daniella Fjellström: University of Gävle

Operations Management Research, 2025, vol. 18, issue 3, No 4, 913-926

Abstract: Abstract In the recent years there has been an increased interest towards relocating manufacturing back to Europe. Consequently, it becomes important to develop evaluation models of manufacturing location. We use secondary data to establish model for European Union 27 (EU-27) countries. Findings reveal in pairwise model comparison, that larger European countries seem to be the best locations in general (France, Germany, Italy, and Spain), however, few smaller countries perform high as well (like Ireland, Sweden, Luxemburg and Finland). In general, small member countries have the lowest performance. Typically, these are weak in population and severance pay terms. Lower-performing countries often also miss the larger role of medical and pharmaceutical industry within exports. Results were compared to classical rank-based evaluation. We did find some differences, and it could be said that larger countries lost their higher status, but Ireland and Sweden were still in highest ranks.

Keywords: Manufacturing relocation; Reshoring; Global supply chains; European Union; International business (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1007/s12063-024-00539-4

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