After decades of globalization and outsourcing the idea of “bringing manufacturing back
home” and the twin concepts of backshoring and nearshoring have received much attention in
recent years. Recent positive stories from the Finnish manufacturing industry suggests Finland as
an attractive target for nearshoring, yet little to none has hitherto been made of this connection.
This article (i.) examines recent relocation literature with a focus on nearshoring and manufacturing
in high-cost environments, (ii.) explores the location advantage of Finland, (iii.) analyses cases of
recent manufacturing developments in Finland within this context as single incidents or signals of
change, and (iv.) discusses this development within the perspective of Industry 4.0.