Are the Risks of Global Supply Chains Starting to Outweigh the Rewards?

The conflict in Ukraine is only the latest jolt to global supply chains. Disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, climate-related events, and geopolitical tensions were already undermining their rationale. As companies rethink sourcing, they will have to consider new factors concerning geography and geopolitics, logistics, decarbonization and sustainability, and suppliers’ health. Over the last three decades, firms have taken advantage of reliable, low-cost transportation and a benign trading environment to leverage low-cost labor to deliver a plethora of products to distant markets. In the recent past, we’ve been encouraging this, as well. But now supply-chain “resilience” is getting tangled with economic and technological “sovereignty,” a euphemism for more localized production. Are you struggling with the changing dynamics of supply chain geo-politics and other pressures? Please reach out to me to discuss some alternative strategies to consider.