Manufacturing Back- and Near-reshoring: A comparison of European and North American Companies

This paper explores the recent back-reshoring and near-reshoring trends in global manufacturing, summarising and discussing empirical evidence emerging from a wide range of countries. Drawing on a data-base of secondary data, the paper contrasts the motivation for reshoring in US and Europe. Findings suggest that the reduction in labor and logistics cost differentials between offshore and home locations is one of the main reasons for relocating production both in Europe and US. Differences between the two areas emerge with respect to the importance assigned to the value creation effects.