Backshoring, offshoring and staying at home: evidence from the UK textile and apparel industry

Despite the rising interest for backshoring strategies by mass media, policy makers and public debates, academic research on the topic is relatively recent and still characterised by significant research gaps. Empirical evidence is scarce and often anecdotal, with a lack of studies focusing on specific industries and small-sized firms. Theoretical explanations are also fragmented with many unanswered questions. In particular, much of the existing literature has explored backshoring as a stand-alone phenomenon, independently from other production location strategies. In an attempt to fill these research gaps, we rely upon data from an original survey with around 700 firms from the UK textile and apparel industry to investigate different interrelated factors that influence backshoring strategies relative to offshoring and staying at home choices, within an analytical framework drawn from different international business perspectives, including operations and supply chain management. The paper contributes to the extant literature on backshoring by providing new empirical evidence based on originally collected firm-level data and focused on a single country and industry where smaller (and less studied) firms tend to prevail. Moreover, it helps strengthen the understanding of the phenomenon from a perspective which takes into consideration internationalisation as a non-linear process where firms adjust production location strategies based on a variety of changing conditions.

Automated summary

Despite the growing interest in backshoring strategies, there is a lack of academic research on the topic, particularly in specific industries and small-sized firms. The existing literature often focuses on backshoring as an independent phenomenon. To address these gaps, this study uses original survey data from a sample of 700 firms in the UK textile and apparel industry, drawing on different international business perspectives to investigate factors influencing backshoring strategies in comparison to offshoring and domestic production choices. The findings contribute to understanding backshoring by providing new empirical evidence and considering internationalization as a dynamic process.