Resilient and responsible supply chains
Across the world, economies and societies are facing tumultuous times. Wars and geopolitical tensions, growing inequalities, climate change and loss of biodiversity, natural disasters, and pandemics are occurring in increasingly rapid succession, and often in combination.
These shocks and emerging crises have put a spotlight on the importance of the way supply chains are designed and managed. One little hiccup in the supply chain – for example when the container ship Ever Given blocked the Suez Canal in 2021 – can hold up global supply chains. There is a growing realisation that global supply chains can deliver great economic efficiencies but that they also contain weaknesses and risks. Consumers, governments, civil society, and employees are calling for, if not legally demanding, more transparency and greater accountability about the choices organisations make in supply chain management (SCM) and the impact these choices have on a wide variety of stakeholders.
More and more organisations are explicitly applying environmental, social and governance (ESG) frameworks – such as the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – to help guide their sourcing processes and to make and deliver their products and services. As well as accountability and transparency, the ‘simple’ timely and reliable availability of components is also high on the agenda again, as illustrated by the recent worldwide shortages of semiconductors that have led to the temporary shutdown of automotive production lines and the delay in introducing new smartphones to market.
Availability is not just an issue for upstream supplies, but also for downstream offerings, as we have seen during the Covid pandemic that highlighted the importance of inclusive access to healthcare and vaccines.
As a consequence, SCM is becoming a matter of top priority – if it were not already. Executives are taking an ever-greater interest in how flows of material and human resources, information and financial capital are best designed and managed to ensure the delivery, maintenance and disposal of products and services.
In this special issue of RSM Discovery, our SCM faculty and senior executives shine a light on recent projects and management transitions that deal with aspects of making supply chains more resilient and responsible:
Linh Nguyen, Merieke Stevens and Rob Zuidwijk discuss the challenges of developing responsible and resilient supply chains in terms of the dynamic between competition and transparency, and aligning stakeholder interests;
Adriana Domínguez, CEO of Spanish fashion company Adolfo Domínguez, reflects on how the Covid pandemic has triggered more nearshoring and accelerated automation;
Harwin de Vries examines what business can learn from humanitarian relief organisations that have extensive expertise in dealing with ongoing disruptions and perpetual uncertainty;
Morteza Pourakbar and Albert Veenstra discuss the problem of counterfeiting and pirated articles in global supply chains, and actions that can suppress this;
Fanny Chen, Finn Wynstra and Jan van Dalen report on the prevalence of ethical challenges in buyer-supplier relations, and what companies such as FrieslandCampina are doing to maintain high ethical standards;
Pieter van den Berg and Stef Lemmens share insights from their work with Flare, a start-up company working to improve the accessibility and availability of ambulance services in emerging markets;
Cynthia Kong, Harwin de Vries and Abed Kayyal review how the design of vaccination distribution systems affects patient preferences and, subsequently, vaccine uptake.
We hope that these stories may inspire you. Together, let’s make supply chain management a force for positive change!
Finn Wynstra
Professor of Purchasing and Supply Management,
Head Supply Chain Management section, Department of Technology and Operations Management
The expertise of RSM’s SCM section – one of the largest groups of its kind worldwide – is concentrated on the processes of global logistics, sourcing, facility logistics and distribution. It primarily addresses sustainability, digitalisation, analytics and behavioural aspects. In education, we contribute to pre-experience and post-experience programmes, including highly ranked specialised MSc programmes in Supply Chain Management and Business Analytics & Management. Education and research are intertwined with our engagement with practice, which is globally inspired and locally anchored.
