Title: Production location and sustainability

Authors: Gregory Theyel

Addresses: Institute for Manufacturing, University of Cambridge, 17 Charles Babbage Road, Cambridge CB3 OFS, UK

Abstract: Economic globalisation and pressures to reduce costs have fuelled a steady increase in offshoring activities. Offshoring decisions mainly involve economic factors. Sustainability, which is quickly being regarded as a competitive necessity in most industries, has rarely been part of the decision-making. To help integrate sustainability factors, this paper assesses economic, social, and environmental benefits for firms that retain local production and collaborate with their local customers and suppliers. The paper emphasises the multiple values of retaining production and keeping it local. Insight from managers who are responsible for offshoring decisions inform the paper's findings and the paper closes with a discussion of managerial implications and an outlook on aspects for further research.

Keywords: production location; innovation; collaboration; sustainability; sustainable development; offshoring decisions; decision making; economic benefits; social benefits; environmental benefits; local production; local customers; local suppliers.

DOI: 10.1504/IJASM.2012.047680

International Journal of Agile Systems and Management, 2012 Vol.5 No.3, pp.267 - 275

Received: 02 Jul 2011
Accepted: 16 Mar 2012
Published online: 31 Jul 2014 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article