Repatriating Manufacturing: Between Dream and Reality

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted supply chains and revived many countries’ desire to achieve greater autonomy in goods production. The sentiment “never again will we depend on external supply for essential needs” echoed around the world. Should we repatriate the goods production that had been offshored in recent decades? The idea did come up. However, in light of the responses provided by entrepreneurs the world over regarding their intention to bring back the goods production that had been offshored in the past, and given the (technical, recruitment, financial, etc.) challenges that repatriating plants poses, we should not expect a wave of initiatives aimed at bringing all production chains back here.