There’s No Place Like a Supply Chain Close to Home

Bringing manufacturing back to Europe — what’s called “reshoring” or “onshoring” — is a reasonable, if not vital, business strategy. Over the previous two decades, manufacturers shifted production of everything from cars to cosmetics primarily eastwards to China, in an attempt to cut labor costs and protect margins. The supply chain snarls brought on by geopolitics and Covid-19 are now forcing a rethink.

Some recent developments have helped. Carlo Altomonte, professor of economics of European integration at Milan’s Bocconi University, argues the recent speed of European integration is fostering a “regionalization” of supply chains. But reshoring is still complicated — and will require difficult choices from both companies and governments.