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In the last years, research on reshoring has gained momentum and experienced rapid development. Relying on bibliometric and content analyses of 135 articles from the Web of Science and Scopus databases, this review takes stock and guides future research on the topic. In particular, performing bibliometric performance analysis, conceptual thematic mapping and bibliographic coupling using the Bibliometrix R-package, this study identifies the main contributions to reshoring research, its conceptual structure and emerging themes. Combining the results of bibliometric and content analyses, we propose a conceptual reshoring framework characterized by five main themes: (i) antecedents, (ii) contingencies, (iii) decision, (iv) implementation, and (v) outcome. Following this framework, we organize and discuss past literature, propose a research agenda for each single theme and new avenues for future research on the conceptualization of reshoring as a process.

A growing number of firms is considering reshoring as an option to cope with the increasingly complex international business environment. However, especially when concerning only part of the activities outsourced to suppliers, reshoring may harm the firm’s business relationships in the host country and restrain access to essential resources and capabilities. This paper examines the impact that reshoring outsourced activities has on the host-country network. Building on a case study and key concepts from the business network view of internationalization, the study reveals concurring but contrasting effects for the reshoring firm: the tangible commitment of the firm and its structural embeddedness in the foreign market diminish, while the intangible commitment and relational embeddedness simultaneously increase. Accordingly, the resulting host-country network counts fewer but deeper relationships. The study advances our knowledge of both internationalization and reshoring. The former is extended by furthering the understanding of the network and nonlinear views of internationalization, while the latter by exposing the multidirectional network effects of partial reshoring and discussing it in relation to recent global disruptions.

PurposeReshoring implies the reconfiguration of supply networks. Focusing on the specific case of a born-offshored firm that engaged in reshoring of outsourced activities, this study aims to analyse how initial key suppliers in the home country can help the reshoring firm to organize a new supply network.Design/methodology/approachThe research is qualitative and based on a single exploratory case study. The data was collected from multiple primary and secondary sources, and using different techniques, such as in-depth interviews, direct observation and network pictures.FindingsThe study provides insights on how an initial key supplier can enable its customers’ reshoring in the home country. Specifically, the authors identify 10 roles played by a key supplier. The results also identify supply network formation as an essential component of the reshoring process.Originality/valueThis paper provides unique contributions. Firstly, it presents the specific and under-explored case of a born-offshored firm engaged in outsourced reshoring; secondly, it sheds light on the roles that key suppliers may play for the reshoring process; thirdly, it explores the formation of business relationships in the context of reshoring. In essence, the paper contributes to the reshoring literature, by stressing the importance of supply network formation in the reshoring process and by identifying the multiplicity of roles that key suppliers can play when implementing reshoring, and to the industrial marketing and purchasing (IMP) literature, by showing how relationships and networks develop during reshoring, a phenomenon so far understudied by IMP scholars.