Notes and debates Backshoring manufacturing: Notes on an important but under-researched theme Jan Stentoft Arlbjørn n , Ole Stegmann Mikkelsen Department of Entrepreneurship and Relationship Management, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark article info Article history: Received 19 December 2013 Received in revised form 4 February 2014 Accepted 6 February 2014 Available online 18 February 2014 Keywords: Offshoring Outsourcing Backshoring Insourcing abstract This note discusses the phenomenon of backshoring manufacturing relying on empirical results based on a large-scale Danish questionnaire-survey. The note argues for further research on antecedents, motivators, and barriers of the use of globalisation strategies. It further argues for using automation in order to maintain production jobs. Lastly, the note demand more research on how ambidexterity as a dynamic capability serves as a predecessor to cope with the dynamics of globalisation strategies and supply chain design. & 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Fratocchi et al. (2014) provide an important contribution to academic literature on backshoring strategies in manufacturing and globalisation strategies in general. Beyond discussing various terminologies used to describe the relocation of manufactur- ing activities from home countries to foreign destinations and back again, they also discuss current empirical evidence of this phenomenon and raise important questions for future research. This research note focuses on empirical evidence in backshor- ing activities and names future research issues that need to be addressed. 2. Conceptual clearness The phenomenon of moving manufacturing is a concept with many connotations, as discussed by Fratocchi et al. (2014). This note distinguishes between offshoring and outsourcing manufac- turing from an ownership perspective (Contractor et al., 2010). Offshoring denotes moving manufacturing out of the country to an owned subsidiary; ownership and control is kept in-house (Lewin and Peeters, 2006). In contrast, ownership and control is transferred to a third party when manufacturing is outsourced. Outsourcing is an important activity to maintain competitiveness with a focus on core competencies (Bettis et al., 1992). Offshoring, however, refers to moving parts of the whole company to a foreign location while maintaining ownership. Moving production in the opposite direction of offshoring and outsourcing is termed as backshoring or insourcing. These practices do not necessarily imply relocating manufacturing to the country where it was originally offshored or outsourced, but could mean that it is backshored or insourced to a facility in another country owned by the company. Arlbjørn and Lüthje (2012) label the pair-wise opposite movements of manufacturing locations as globalisation strategies. 3. Empirical insight into Danish manufacturers A recent study of Danish manufacturers‘ practice of globalisa- tion strategies (outsourcing, insourcing, offshoring, and backshor- ing) indicates that insourcing and backshoring activities are expected to increase in the future (Arlbjørn et al., 2013). These findings align with the findings reported by Kinkel (2012), Ellram et al. (2013) and Tate et al. (2014). From a sample of 843 Danish manufacturing companies responding to a questionnaire-survey, 200 (23.7%) companies indicated that they have outsourced production outside Denmark over the last five years, 87 (10.3%) companies have insourced production, 77 (9.1%) offshored produc- tion, and 18 (2.1%) have backshored production to Denmark. This research provides novelties to extant research within this area in terms of a clear separation of globalisation strategies and an explicit distinction in company size. The research distinguishes between three firm sizes: 1) small companies with 5–49 employ- ees, 2) medium companies from 50 to 100 employees, and 3) large Contents lists available at ScienceDirect journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/pursup Journal of Purchasing & Supply Management http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pursup.2014.02.003 1478-4092 & 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. n Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: jar@sam.sdu.dk (J.S. Arlbjørn), osm@sam.sdu.dk (O.S. Mikkelsen). Journal of Purchasing & Supply Management 20 (2014) 60–62