Reshoring Decisions for Adjusting Supply Chains in a Changing World: A Case Study from the Apparel Industry

Pourya Pourhejazy and Alison Ashby
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Pourya Pourhejazy: Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei 10608, Taiwan
Alison Ashby: Exeter Business School, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4PU, UK

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 9, 1-13

Abstract: Global conditions for manufacturing are evolving rapidly and the myopic financial factors that once made overseas locations attractive for offshoring are now in favor of revising it. Besides, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for restoring the previously offshored competencies. As a strategic decision, reshoring requires a balance of short- and long-term financial and non-financial considerations. This study extends the reshoring literature by exploring the underpinnings of the decision. For this purpose, the extended fuzzy Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) is used to study the interrelationship among the decision criteria and explore the sequential effect of the prominent criteria on reshoring decisions. Data from the UK apparel industry is used as a baseline to provide insights for other industry situations. Findings are supportive of the supply process complexity as the prominent considerations with the highest potential impact on the financial criterion. Along with supply process complexity, environmental sustainability appears to have had the highest influence on cost-efficiency as the major driver of past offshoring decisions. Overall, the research findings provide insights for deeper analysis of the manufacturing location decisions for a globalized setting.

Keywords: decision analysis; reshoring; supply chain; competitive factors; sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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