How do companies in the fast-growing industries achieve good customer satisfaction together with efficiency in supply chain management (SCM)? This inductive case study of six customer cases of Nokia Networks, one of the leading providers of mobile telecommunication technology, led to propositions exploring that question. Good relationship between the customer and the supplier contributes to reliable information flows, and reliable demand information flows in turn contribute to high efficiency-these are well-researched issues also in other industry environments. But in a fast-growing systems business such as mobile telecommunications industry, the supplier needs to be able to adapt its offering to a wide variety of customer situations and needs. Understanding the customer's situation and need together with the right offering contributes to good co-operation in improving the joint demand chain, which further leads to superior demand chain efficiency and high customer satisfaction.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent, drivers, and conditions underlying backshoring in the Finnish manufacturing industry, comparing the results to the wider ongoing relocation of production in the international context.
Design/methodology/approach
The survey of 229 Finnish manufacturing firms reveals the background, drivers, and patterns of offshoring and backshoring.
Findings
Companies that had transferred their production back to Finland were more commonly in industries with relatively higher technology intensity and they were typically larger than the no-movement companies, and with a higher number of plants. They also reported more commonly having a corporate-wide strategy for guiding production location decisions.
Research limitations/implications
Backshoring activity in the small and open economy of Finland seems to be higher compared to earlier studies in larger countries. The findings suggest that there is a transformation in the manufacturing industries with some gradual replacement of labor-intensive and lower technology-intensive industries toward higher technology-intensive industries.
Practical implications
Moving production across national borders is one option in the strategies of firms to stay competitive. Companies must carefully consider the relevance of various decision-making drivers when determining strategies for their production networks.
Social implications
Manufacturing industries have traditionally been important for employment in the relatively small and open economies of the Nordic countries. From the social perspective, it is important to understand the ongoing transformation and its implications.
Originality/value
There are few empirical studies available of the ongoing backshoring movement, utilizing data from company decision makers instead of macroeconomic factors.
By focusing on the management of entire value chains, supply chain management has gained increasing popularity in management research and in the teaching of global businesses. The right practices can take companies to great heights; lack of attention can draw companies close to peril. In teaching supply chain management to business executives, there are four major issues that need to be highlighted: flawless execution of operations, the change from supply to demand focus, outsourcing and supply base development, and partnership implementation. This article explains these four issues, and the material that is developed at IMD to teach each of them.
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