Globalization has led many companies to source raw materials, subassemblies, and finished products from all over the world. Apple, for example, sources most of its electronics and all of its phones from China and other countries in South East Asia.
Managing these global supply chains will be vital in the years ahead especially considering the potential changes in the geopolitical balance of the world as well as further advances in telecommunications, shipping, and manufacturing technologies.
Advanced manufacturing actually may bring some production closer to markets as lot sizes go down and customized production becomes economically possible.
This role is also changing as consumers and regulators ask their companies to understand their sustainability footprint all the way down the supply chain, and many companies are re-thinking the resilience of these global networks as a result of the disturbances caused by the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
