Geopolitical disruptions and the manufacturing location decision in multinational company supply chains: A Delphi study on Brexit

This study investigates the impact of geopolitical disruptions on the manufacturing supply chain location decision of managers in UK multinational firms. The context of study is the UK manufacturing sector and its response to the UK's decision to leave the European Union or Brexit. The study shows that policy-related uncertainty is a primary influencing factor in the manufacturing location decision, outweighing the importance of uncertainty as an influencer of governance mode choices. The authors find that during geopolitical disruptions managers make location decisions in tight time frames with incomplete and imperfect information, in situations of high perceived uncertainty.

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