Manufacturing reshoring: a strategy to manage risk and commitment in the logic of the internationalization process model

Purpose This paper theorizes on the internationalization process model to explain cases of manufacturing reshoring as decisions taken to manage risk when internationalizing. Design/methodology/approach The paper has a conceptual nature. Building on the logic of the internationalization process model, we extend previous work by focusing on firms’ risk perception (determined by commitment, knowledge and uncertainty as key variables) to explain also reshoring decisions. Findings Four propositions were developed, concerning the likelihood of firms to make manufacturing reshoring decisions. The first two propositions deal with the effects of new risk contingencies, and the other two refer specifically to the effects of managerial perceptions of three different typologies of risk, namely host-country, home-country and reshoring-process specific risk. Originality/value While reshoring has been discussed mainly on the basis of economic arguments, this paper offers an alternative, behavioural view of this phenomenon as a risk-management strategic process. Therefore, it offers initial steps to theorize about reshoring from a risk-management perspective and, in doing so, opens up a number of avenues for future research.