Abstract

The return strategies in the home country of activities previously outsourced overseas have been defined by the academic literature with a plurality of terms ("back-shoring", "reshoring", "back-reshoring", "near-shoring", "on-shoring" and "in-shoring"). This paper analyses "back-shoring" with respect to its fragmented definitions. After presenting an articulate discussion on the state of the art in literature, we provide a quantitative analysis of this phenomenon at national level, reviewing the most significant cases of Italian companies that have decided to take the return strategies. The production system of Southern Italy is crossed only marginally by this phenomenon. Finally, thispaperfocuses on the main policy implications.