International Manufacturing Strategy in a Time of Great Flux

This book assesses the state of international manufacturing strategy and clarifies how recent developments, for example regarding configuration, technology, and the environment, are impacting on its content and direction and on its relationship to manufacturing performance. In providing up-to-date coverage of the consequences of such forces and factors for international manufacturing, this book aims to expand the debate concerning international manufacturing strategy and cast light on its current evolution.
International manufacturing is operating within a time of great flux. While offshoring of activities has dominated over recent decades, nearshoring and reshoring are increasingly being considered and observed in practice. At the same time, technologies such as 3D-printing are gaining traction and the role of ICT and data analytics is increasingly important in the international manufacturing landscape while digitization becomes more prevalent and the embrace of the Internet of Things (IOT) accelerates. Furthermore, issues related to the environment are figuring more prominently in international manufacturing considerations, and assumptions regarding the long-term cost of energy are being called into question. International manufacturing is also experiencing greater servitization.

Louis Brennan is a Fellow of Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, and a Professor within the School of Business at Trinity College. His areas of interest encompass International Business, International Manufacturing, Operations and Global Strategy, and Global Supply Chains. He has published extensively in these areas. Professor Brennan has lived and worked in the United States and in a number of countries in Asia and Europe.

Alessandra Vecchi is Assistant Professor in the Department of Management at the University of Bologna in Italy, where she holds a Marie Curie Fellowship. Additionally she holds the position of Senior Research Fellow at London College of Fashion. Besides teaching several subjects, mostly in the field of International Business and Operations Management at postgraduate level, she supervises MA and PhD students in a wide array of Fashion Management-related subjects. She has a significant track of high-profile publications and her research interests tend to be of a multidisciplinary nature and rather eclectic.