How should we view the current crisis in our supply chains? Did the external shock of COVID create severe, but relatively temporary problems? If so, then we should, slowly but surely, see a return to how things were before, with ‘just in time’ principles driving supply chain design and execution. Or, has the crisis revealed fundamental structural weaknesses in our pre-COVID practices? If so, we should expect significant changes in supply chain designs in a post-COVID world. Which do you predict?

Professor Michel Fender of HEC Paris, one of the world’s experts on supply chain management, joins me in this episode to talk about this question and a number of other related issues. The general theme of the discussion is on how supply chain management, once seen through a logistics lens as merely a support function, has evolved into one of the most important strategic factors determining success in competition and, ultimately, value creation for all stakeholders. 

I hope you enjoy the conversation!

Citations

• Fender, M. (2020) Next Generation Supply Chains: The Guide for Business Leaders. London: Choir Press.
• Read, L. (1958), ‘I Pencil: My Family Tree as Told to Leornard E. Read,’ The Freeman. 

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