De-globalisation and decoupling: post-COVID-19 myths versus realities

Abstract

It has become fashionable to argue that the post-coronavirus world will see an acceleration in de-globalisation and decoupling and that companies will substantively re-localise their supply chains (Javorcik, 2020; McKinsey, 2020). The World Economic Forum recommended that companies should ‘aggressively evaluate near-shore options to shorten supply chains’ (World Economic Forum, 2020). This commentary argues that such predictions grossly exaggerate the extent to which such restructuring will happen in practice. Even more importantly, assuming that one of the main impacts of the pandemic will be to trigger de-globalisation, decoupling, and re-shoring in the aftermath is dangerous because it muddies the waters, obscuring a much more fundamental consequence: rapidly rising flows of data and knowledge around the world. This shift will have far-reaching implications that researchers, executives, and policymakers need to understand and then address.