Forty-two percent of executives planning to restructure their supply chains said that nearshoring would be their primary approach to making such changes, while another 10% said that they would engage in friendshoring, according to a recent study.

In an October 2023 survey published by the business management consultancy Inverto GmbH, entitled “Nearshoring Study 2023,” 63% of participants said they are planning to restructure their supply chain over the next five years. Conversely, 28% of participants said they are not planning to restructure their supply chains over the next five years. Nine percent did not have a response to the question.

Eastern Europe, especially the Czech Republic and Poland, emerged as a popular nearshoring area. Sixty-four percent of those planning to nearshore in the next five years said they would focus on Eastern Europe for supply – African markets were only relevant for a minority (12%).

“Both from a cost, but also from a broader perspective, opportunities for near- and friendshoring can be exhaustively evaluated for different supply categories and commodities,” wrote the study’s authors. “Based on a TCO (total cost of ownership) analysis companies should (re-) evaluate their sourcing decisions. Nearshoring may be relevant for more products than previously thought. Obviously, limitations (such as availability of raw materials in certain regions) need to be considered.”

A large majority of responders (91%) said that geopolitical conflicts have influenced their decision-making in 2023. Unfortunately, participants do not feel very confident about global tensions easing because only 11% said that they expect current conflicts to be resolved through political dialogue.

Meanwhile, respondents feel more positive about the prospects of near- and friendshoring because just 8% of participants view these actions as temporary phenomena.

Workers from 94 companies, mainly in Austria, Germany and Switzerland, and across five different industries, participated in the survey from May 4, 2023 to June 28, 2023.