Disruption, Digitisation, Resilience

22 DISRUPTION, DIGITISATION, RESILIENCE : The future of Asia-Pacific supply chains chains were being reshaped and thought of, but most decisions seem to be targeted at the long term. Mr Menon thinks as much. He says the work he has done in the area “actually suggests that it’s not so much the pandemic but the US-China trade war that’s had the much bigger impact on the restructuring of supply chains, particularly in this region and out of China.” Among the sectors covered in our study, the one key difference is in the IT/tech/electronics sector, where 43% have picked access to working capital as their top consideration in making supply-chain decisions. Making supply chains more sustainable and durable is picked by 21.7% of all supply-chain managers as the most important measure in making supply chains better prepared for future shocks (Figure 9), while 52% in North America and 64% in Europe pick this option. When asked which operational considerations in their supply chain they are most focused on, the sustainability of suppliers was picked as the top consideration (among five) by a third of supply- chain managers (Figure 8). Eighty percent of those surveyed in North America and 76% in Europe picked the sustainability and reliability of suppliers as the top consideration in their supply chain. It is a sign that while supply chains have been reconfigured to some extent owing to covid-19, the more far-reaching changes are related to long-term supply-chain strategy. Moreover, only 13% picked logistics/product accessibility as the top consideration they are focused on. This goes to show that by and large, supply-chain disruptions in the wake of the pandemic have not greatly altered supply-chain decision-making. Yes, the pandemic had obvious immediate and short-term implications on how supply Figure 8: Focused on sustainable suppliers Operational considerations in supply-chains respondents are most focused on (% of respondents ranking #1) Sustainability of suppliers Costs Access to working capital Logistics/product accessibility Inventory management Source: The Economist Intelligence Unit 33.1% 25.1% 24.0% 12.6% 5.1%