Date of Conferral

2023

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Management

Advisor

Labrina Jones

Abstract

Over the last 25 years, offshore outsourcing has been accepted as a standard business practice, primarily for the cost advantage of operating in lower costs offshore locations. Lately, the trend is reversing; business leaders are moving their manufacturing operations back home despite the near-term negative impact of the reversal decision. This qualitative multiple case study aimed to understand the factors that influenced manufacturing business leaders of U.S.-based companies to reverse previously made offshoring decisions and reshored at a high reversal rate. In this study, I applied the conceptual framework proposed by Fratocchi et al. (2016). Data were collected from five participants from companies who had experienced reshoring in the past 5 years using a purposive sampling technique and semi-structured interviews. This study was organized using a multiple case study approach to capture the complexity of the object of this research. The qualitative data and information gathered from all the interview transcripts were compared and analyzed to identify recurring themes. The themes were coded on how they are connected with the research question, and findings were collated from the interviews for results. Three major themes emerged from the data: lower manufacturing costs, factors nullifying offshore advantages, and benefits of reshoring. Understanding the factors that incite leaders of organizations to go to the extreme of reversing previous offshoring decisions may strengthen management best practices in business strategy and may further result in positive social change through the affected companies improved operational and financial performances. The results of this study may provide new knowledge to influence business leaders to make better outsourcing decisions.

Download

Share

 
COinS