Disruption, Digitisation, Resilience

24 DISRUPTION, DIGITISATION, RESILIENCE : The future of Asia-Pacific supply chains respondents in the Asia-Pacific region give it the same degree of importance. Through 18 months of this pandemic, governments have on occasion acted in their own self-interest, even if this puts them at odds with the rules- based trading system overseen by the World Trade Organisation (WTO). “If your citizens are literally facing life and death situations, you’re going to do what you feel is best to do, and you’re not going to be particularly worried if it violates the provisions of the WTO, or bilateral, or regional trade agreement that you’ve got,” Mr Olson says. as the top option among ten choices (Figure 10). This was followed by 21.1% picking a “breakdown in global trade system” as the top concern. But just 4% of supply-chain managers in Europe and North America say “the next pandemic” is the shock they are most worried about, compared with 39% of those based in Asia-Pacific. More than half (52%) of the respondents in each of North America and Europe rank a breakdown in the global trade system as the top supply-chain shock they are concerned about, while just 9% of Figure 10: Worrying about what comes next Future shocks to supply chains respondents are most concerned about (% of respondents ranking #1) The next pandemic Breakdown in global trade system Economic/financial crisis Export controls on key inputs Severe weather events Cyber attacks Armed conflict Geopolitical tensions Travel restrictions Terrorism Source: The Economist Intelligence Unit 29.1% 21.1% 16.0% 9.1% 8.6% 5.7% 4.6% 2.9% 1.7% 0.6%