Reshoring drivers and barriers in the Swedish manufacturing industry

The paper analyses four Swedish manufacturing companies that implemented reshoring strategies; it is aimed to investigate drivers and barriers characterizing the phenomenon. A certain number of drivers have been found in all analyzed companies: quality, distance, transportation and logistics, research and development, capacity, customer and centralization. Moreover, all companies decided to reshore in order to have a better fit between customers demand and supply chain capabilities, to shorten lead times and to increase their organizational flexibility. Physical and mental distance between the home and the host countries were identified by all companies as relevant issues. Among reshoring barriers, the most cited were:  availability of capacity, cost calculation, labor market in the home and the countries;  supplier partnership and ownership of product blueprint.