The effect of Industry 4.0 and Covid-19 on the reshoring of production activities

This Thesis explores the relationship between Industry 4.0 and Covid-19 with the process of production activities reshoring. These two phenomena will be taken into consideration as one of the reasons for reshoring and their effect on the companies' decisions to reshore will be analyzed. The analysis is based on the European Reshoring Monitor database, which was updated so that it can incorporate data for a more recent period. The research questions being studied are the tendencies of companies to implement Industry 4.0 technologies while reshoring, the likelihood of the implementation of Industry 4.0 in parallel with reshoring, and the Covid-19 pandemic effects on the location strategies of companies that already started or finished their production activities reshoring. The first research question is examined through a comparison of the reshoring cases which include the implementation of Industry 4.0 technologies with the overall number of reshoring cases in the Sample. Further insight into the geographic location of the implementation and the size of the companies that implemented these technologies is provided. The consideration of the implementation timeframe was the basis for the second research question, examining the number of reshoring cases that include the implementation in parallel with reshoring and the number of cases that include the implementation in the period after reshoring. As for the previous research question, insight into the geographic location of the implementation is provided. The third research question, regarding the Covid-19 pandemic effect, compares the number of reshoring cases affected by Covid-19 with the number of cases affected by a similar event, observed in the European Reshoring Monitor database, that has, to some extent, affected the location strategies of some companies. Finally, the concluding remarks provide an overall explanation regarding the effects of Industry 4.0 and the Covid-19 pandemic on the reshoring of production activities.