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The purpose of this paper is to explore the economic benefits of Individual Placement with Support programmes commissioned by NHS North in the North West and Yorkshire and Humber regions.

A literature review was conducted and data collected from supported employment programmes in four localities. An econometric analysis was performed to evaluate likely savings for local commissioners and return on investment for the Treasury.

Integration of employment support within mental health services is central to success. Econometric analysis showed that local commissioners could save £1,400 per additional job outcome by commissioning evidence-based interventions and there is a positive return on investment to the Treasury for every £1 spent there is a return to the Treasury of £1.04.

This paper demonstrates the economic and social value of evidence-based supported employment for people with severe mental illness. The economic data generated could be helpful in encouraging investment in effective employment support in other areas. The work, views and perspectives contained in this paper are those of the authors. It does not necessarily reflect the views of the organisations for whom the authors work.

The first aim of the chapter is to offer a characterization of back-reshoring as a possible step of the firm’s nonlinear internationalization process. The second aim is to review the empirical literature on back-reshoring and to complement it with the findings of an extensive data collection.

In this chapter we adopted an explorative approach building on both theoretical and empirical literature from the fields of international business and international operations Management. We also collected secondary data on back-reshoring decisions in order to define the magnitude of the investigated phenomenon and to offer a primary characterization.

Our findings confirm that, though it cannot be considered a generalized trend, back-reshoring is a very topical issue for international business scholars. It represents an autonomous phenomenon consistent with the idea of nonlinear internationalization process.

The chapter is based on cross-sectional data. Longitudinal research is required in order to address the proposed research questions and help understanding “how much” and what kind of manufacturing will be housed in western countries in the near future.

This is the first attempt to conceptualize back-reshoring as a possible step of the firms’ internationalization process. It is also the first chapter that summarizes and discusses the literature and empirical evidence on back-reshoring emerging from a wide range of countries.

Reflects on the experience of three product development teams to build a framework to aid in the process of strategic sourcing. Focuses on patterns observed across these three new product development projects in terms of challenges in strategic sourcing. Building from these observations, proposes a four‐step decision‐making framework that enables product development teams and managers to make informed product development sourcing decisions. The framework was designed to have enough structure to guide the sourcing decision process, but flexible enough to promote challenging thinking and deep analysis.

The advantages of offshoring are increasingly under scrutiny, and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has advanced the debate, calling for a redefinition of firms' production location strategies. While attention has primarily focused on the relocation of second-degree strategies, such as back-shoring, near-shoring and further offshoring, there are also other alternatives, including home country-based domestic product and process innovations, and the development of new business activities. The objective of the authors' paper is to identify which factors influence decision-makers when they select and implement such post-offshoring strategic alternatives.

The authors consider 11 Italian manufacturing companies that implemented these strategies and analyze triggers, drivers, enabling factors and barriers of the decision phase, as well as content, governance mode and timing of the implementation phase.

Based on the collected findings, the authors suggest a set of propositions for further research. First of all, firms can simultaneously manage multiple strategies by adopting an ambidextrous approach through which to mitigate supply chain risks. They may integrate their domestic and international production activities, but the home country remains central for innovations and production of high-end products and Industry 4.0 technologies increases the probability of investing in their home country. At the same time, lack of competence induces selective near- and back-shoring, while full back-shoring is mainly a consequence of managerial mistakes. Competence availability acts as a barrier to relocation in the home country, inducing the implementation of either an insourcing strategy or a combination of insourcing and outsourcing.

The authors' work identifies post-offshoring as a dynamic process and provides insights into the post-pandemic scenario. The conceptual framework may represent a useful tool for company managers in re-evaluating their initial offshoring strategies.

The primary aim of the research presented in this paper is to address the gap in the literature with regard to the factors that affect the uptake and application of e‐procurement within the public sector.

This analysis was achieved through five in‐depth case studies – based upon extensive interviews, observation and documentation reviews ‐ conducted within central and local government organisations.

The study shows that despite being very different in terms of their form and function, each of the five case study organisations had achieved similar levels of progress in terms of their adoption of e‐procurement technologies. In short every organisation had already adopted BACS, all five were also actively planning to implement: e‐tendering; e‐award; e‐contract and e‐catalogue systems, but none had any intention of adopting e‐marketplaces or e‐auctions.

The results of this study will help individual organisations to better understand their current situations and the barriers that will need to be overcome before they can significantly expand their adoption of e‐procurement technologies.

In addition to presenting one of the first detailed studies of the adoption of e‐procurement technologies, this study also breaks new ground through its use of the lens of “Institutional theory” to help interpret the findings.

The following is an introductory profile of the fastest growing firms over the three-year period of the study listed by corporate reputation ranking order. The business activities in which the firms are engaged are outlined to provide background information for the reader.