Recent rankings place the Czech Republic above Canada in terms of attractiveness for global manufacturing. The only countries to rate more promising are China, the US, and India. The rankings were based on operating conditions and cost-competitiveness, but did not take into account the pandemic's impact. This means that the Czech Republic has moved up two places since the 2019 survey.

The country’s neighbours, Poland, Lithuania, and Hungary, are also in the top ten around the globe. In general, Eastern European countries are rated quite high in terms of “bounce back,” or recovery from the COVID-19 crisis, which has disrupted economic activi-ty around the world. 
 
 In many cases, reshoring, or the returning of manufacturing to their countries of origin, might seem like a logical solution. On a large scale, however, this does not seem econom-ically feasible. Instead, manufacturers are focusing on protecting their supply chains and ensuring the delivery of raw materials and components is not interrupted.

According to the report, manufacturers should do the following to insulate themselves from the threat of another crisis:

•    Begin holding larger inventories of products and components.
•    Diversity component sourcing with an emphasis on localized providers.
•    In the long-term, begin reshoring some sectors, localizing plants, and moving the supply chain as close to the base as possible.

The Cushman and Wakefield Manufacturing Risk Index rates each country based on a number of different variables. The data comes from many sources, including Oxford Eco-nomics, The World Bank, and UNCTAD.