Background: In the last decades, with a shift in global competitive conditions, increased labor costs, developments in automation and robotics, rising environmental concerns, and increased importance of country of origin from a consumer perspective, manufacturing companies started moving their production back to their respective home countries, while others are staying offshore. To address the above-mentioned changes, reshoring can possibly become a suitable strategy for every firm, which operates in its specific industry and creates a special internal and external environment due to the interaction with its customers, suppliers, employees, and other stakeholders. However, it is yet unexplored how firm-specific factors can influence its motivation to reshore. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to explore and establish links between motivations to reshore and firm-related contingent factors and develop theoretical propositions which add value for theory and practice alike. The fulfillment of the purpose of the research is done in two stages. Firstly, firm-related factors that have contingent effects on motivations to reshore are identified. Secondly, once the factors and respective motivations are known, the influence of these firmrelated contingent factors on motivations to reshore is established. Method: To fulfill the purpose of the thesis, the qualitative case study method is applied. The chosen method with multiple cases allows to create valid propositions, which can be further tested deductively in separate studies. The data is collected via semi-structured interviews from four Swedish manufacturing companies that recently moved their production back to Sweden. The analysis is held in two stages. Each case is analyzed individually using the explanation building and logic models strategy. Later, with the purpose of developing theoretical propositions, the findings are synthesized in the cross-case analysis. Conclusion: There are two major contributions both of which are novel to the academic area. Nine firm-related factors which have contingent effects on motivations to reshore are derived and 13 theoretical propositions of how these factors are affecting motivations to reshore are developed. The results show that firm-related contingent factors and motivations to reshore are in a causal-effect relationship which depends on the respective case situation and cannot always be generalized. This thesis can be seen as an incremental step for further research possibilities in the field, whereas the firm’s specific context is vital.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:hj-39583 |
| Date | January 2018 |
| Creators | Khomenko, Valentina, Osburg, Gunnar Ruland |
| Publisher | Internationella Handelshögskolan, Högskolan i Jönköping, IHH, Företagsekonomi, Internationella Handelshögskolan, Högskolan i Jönköping, IHH, Företagsekonomi |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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