09 July 2020
Building Critical Supply Chain Resilience in the Wake of COVID-19
Executive Summary
The global economic fallout caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has starkly revealed the great extent to which firms depend upon China for supplies. Consequently, governments from both the West and Asia have emphasised the need to decouple from China and build self-sufficiency. This report makes two key arguments in the context of these developments. Firstly, that it would be challenging to attain self-sufficiency, which would not result in greater supply chain resilience. Secondly, that it would be beneficial for firms to avoid a binary approach of either completely relying or decoupling from China. Rather, firms should pursue supply chain resilience by strategically switching their operations between China and other countries when needed. In this regard, this report proposes three key strategies that are focused on diversifying supply chains, establishing circular supply chains and attaining supply chain visibility.
Source: Unsplash
The global economic fallout caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has starkly revealed the great extent to which firms depend upon China for supplies. Consequently, governments from both the West and Asia have emphasised the need to decouple from China and build self-sufficiency.
In this podcast, Yogaananthan S/O Theva, Associate Research Fellow in the Policy Studies Group at RSIS, shares his key takeaways and proposes three key strategies that are focused on diversifying supply chains, establishing circular supply chains and attaining supply chain visibility.
In this podcast, Yogaananthan S/O Theva, Associate Research Fellow in the Policy Studies Group at RSIS, shares his key takeaways and proposes three key strategies that are focused on diversifying supply chains, establishing circular supply chains and attaining supply chain visibility.
Executive Summary
The global economic fallout caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has starkly revealed the great extent to which firms depend upon China for supplies. Consequently, governments from both the West and Asia have emphasised the need to decouple from China and build self-sufficiency. This report makes two key arguments in the context of these developments. Firstly, that it would be challenging to attain self-sufficiency, which would not result in greater supply chain resilience. Secondly, that it would be beneficial for firms to avoid a binary approach of either completely relying or decoupling from China. Rather, firms should pursue supply chain resilience by strategically switching their operations between China and other countries when needed. In this regard, this report proposes three key strategies that are focused on diversifying supply chains, establishing circular supply chains and attaining supply chain visibility.
Source: Unsplash
