Exploring factors influencing manufacturing home-shoring strategies: insights from three diverse geographical regions

Abstract Due to the ongoing political instability and economic disruptions in the environments where firms operate, the shift towards regional value chains is redefining global supply chains. Driven by economic policies in regions such as the EU and North America that aim to enhance autonomy and resilience, factors influencing supply chain location decisions have become increasingly important for both business leaders and policymakers. In this context, our paper integrates international business, economic geography, and the global value chain framework to investigate the efficiency-seeking, knowledge-seeking, and supplier-seeking factors that influence home-shoring strategies within manufacturing activities. Our work specifically focuses on identifying which of these factors underpin three key manufacturing home-shoring strategies. Utilising unique primary sub-national-level data and a multinomial logit model, our work examines these strategies across three regions: Veneto (Italy), England (UK), and California (US). Our findings highlight the importance of efficiency-seeking factors as central pull drivers of manufacturing home-shoring strategies. For policymakers, this study underscores the need for a nuanced and regionally tailored approach, as local supplier dynamics and the availability of supportive public policies impact the success of full manufacturing home-shoring strategies across different locations.