Abstract | For decades, manufacturing has been offshored from high- to low-cost locations. However, there is now partial evidence of back-shoring to some advanced economies (Kinkel, 2012). Yet, both phenomena are not well understood. The aim of this paper is to investigate the theoretical underpinnings on the mechanisms of development and restructuring of production networks, and to provide reasoning for alternative locations of various activities, including possible causes of back-shoring. The example of the British fashion and apparel industry is chosen. The paper is concerned with the issues of flexibility (Christopher et al., 2004; Bruce et al., 2004) typical of this industry and related decision making on location and levels of control. This research reviews academic and practitioner literature on offshoring, outsourcing, FDI and related subjects, for the fashion and apparel industry and provides the insight in industry’s ecology based on interviews with practitioners from the industry. |
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