Outsourcing/Offshoring Insights: Going Beyond Reshoring to Rightshoring

Findings: Both the geographical and governance dimensions are part of the rightshoring decision which is an important conceptual foundation for this special issue, as it invited insightful pieces on all of these phenomena (e.g. outsourcing, insourcing, offshoring, reshoring), acknowledging that these decisions are embedded in the same context – firms making governance and location decisions. Therefore, papers 1-4 primarily focus on offshoring, whereas paper 5 focuses on insourcing and paper 6 on reshoring. Their main findings are summarized in Table II.
Research limitations/implications: Suggestions for future research out of the six papers are summarized in Table III. There is ample opportunity to further shed light on these suggestions as well as to cover parts of the “rightshoring” framework presented, that remain less covered here (e.g. insourcing and/or reshoring).
Practical implications: The array of potential “rightshoring” options fosters clarity about the phenomena studied and their implications. The main practical implications of the six papers are summarized in Table II.
Originality/value: The overall conceptual framework highlights the positioning of the final papers included into the special issue and provides guidance to scholars and managers alike.