Nearshoring in Central Eastern Europe

After decades of moving production to distant low-cost locations, companies are now looking to neighboring countries again. Recent years have exposed the fragility of global supply chains through the pandemic, geopolitical tensions, and climate change.
The service industry has also shifted: outsourcing now depends less on wages and more on access to skilled workers and technologies. Central and Eastern Europe, especially Poland, has become a hub, with around half a million employees in knowledge-intensive services. Swiss firms alone have created over 90,000 jobs there, mostly in services.
This event will explore these changes, their drivers, and prospects in the service sector.
Marcel Hirsiger is a lecturer and expert on Central Eastern Europe at the School of Business FHNW. He regularly travels to Poland, is a guest lecturer at the University of Warsaw and advises companies on nearshoring.