COVID-19 Pandemic Supply Chains: Seize the moment

This is an excerpt of the original article. It was written for the November 2020 edition of Supply Chain Management Review. The full article is available to current subscribers.

November 2020

Supply chains have been in the spotlight like never before over the last eight months. That hasn’t always been a good thing. The perception, reinforced by shortages of products essential to our daily lives, is that supply chains were not up to the task and failed. The reality, as argued by MIT’s Yossi Sheffi in his new book, “The New (Ab)Normal: Reshaping Business and Supply Chain Strategy Beyond COVID-19,” is that supply chains performed as designed—they did what we expected them to do.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has put supply chains simultaneously under more scrutiny and more awareness like no other phenomenon before it. It has highlighted the truly global nature of our supply chains and the interdependencies between them as disruptions in one locality immediately reverberated to others across the world.

In unprecedented fashion these disruptions have rapidly buffeted all aspects of the supply chain leaving few industries unscathed. As many companies shifted workforces to their homes and travel to densely attended events came to a standstill, communications with clients, customers and colleagues internally and externally went virtual.

Our interactions with clients have likewise gone virtual. Over the past eight months, we have virtually connected, participated in and conducted innovation events and forums across the globe. In this issue’s column, we will share a prevailing theme emerging from our discussions; that responding to the disruptions is less about what the “new normal” will look like and more about the opportunity from a “new beginning” to transform our supply chains to become more purpose-driven, resilient, agile and sustainable.

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