Entry modes in reshoring strategies: An empirical analysis

TheEntryMode(EM)choiceisafundamentalissueinreshoringinitiatives.Despiteseveralauthorshavestudied thedeterminantsofoffshoringEM,nostudyhasinvestigatedsofarthefactorsaffectingthereshoringEMandits relation with the offshoring EM. The purpose of this paper is to examine which factors influence entry mode choiceinreshoringinitiatives.WedevelopaconceptualframeworkthatexplainsthereshoringEMintermsof country-,industry-,firm-andproject-specificfactors,inadditiontotheoffshoringEMchoice.Next,wetestthis modelbyusingasampleof677cross-industryandcross-countryreshoringprojects.Basedontheresults,wefind thatoffshoringEMsignificantlyconstrainsthesubsequentreshoringEM.Moreindetail,firmsadoptingoffshore insourcing entry modes tend to retain these modes in reshoring. Furthermore, reshoring EM is explained by industry-andproject-specificfactors,whileoffshoringEMisinfluencedbyabroadersetofindustry-,country-, andfirm-specificfactors.ThisstudyfillsagapinthereshoringliteraturebyanalysinginfluentialfactorsinEM choiceandbyofferingacomparisonbetweenthedeterminantsofoffshoringandreshoringEM.