I recently mentioned I am watching three trends. Trend 2- Red, Gold and Green- Supply Chains are driving deals is next to explore.
Since the pandemic, the global supply chain has been in crisis. From turkey shortages for Christmas in the Uk to no tissue paper, people not getting their home furniture for months on end, customers and consumers felt the pain of the gap with retail supply chains. The cracks were not just for retailers.
Since the pandemic, the global supply chain has been in crisis. From turkey shortages for Christmas in the Uk to no tissue paper, people not getting their home furniture for months on end, customers and consumers felt the pain of the gap with retail supply chains. The cracks were not just for retailers.
A syringe shortage in Japan was the cause of discarding millions of vaccines during the Pfizer COVID-19 roll-out. The Semi-conductor manufacturing industry was severely impacted because microchip production was essentially non-existent. Silicon Valley and car manufacturers heavily dependent on these chips dealt with either a stand-still or a severe backlog. It was simple. The demand skyrocketed, but there was and continues to be no supply in most cases. Supply Chain Management is in red status.
So what does this means for the future?
While companies adapted the strategy to stockpile items in the short-term, the longer-term plan in some cases is to capacity build. Capacity building takes years and millions of investments. While the short-term approach may bring companies into gold status, i.e. there are mitigation plans for addressing the supply chain issues. The goal for everyone is to get the global supply chain back to green. A situation where customers, consumers, and companies get what they need when they need it. Getting to green creates an opening for businesses, particularly SMEs, to fill the capacity and demand gap.
Companies offering a sustainable solution to the supply chain will be one of the success factors in coping with demand. Therefore, supply chains are driving deals. Delivery has always been important; however, in 2022, supply chains is a USP for businesses doing business. Although the world has opened up, the supply chain crisis isn't closed. Intelligent companies will effectively leverage their ability to deliver glocally (globally and locally) to win.