Massive supply chain shocks

What is notable, however, is that this dependency points to another flaw in classic free trade formulations: while in theory free trade and globalization make supply chains more resilient because you can source from anywhere, in practice free trade has destroyed resiliency. Apple CEO Tim Cook famously said in what became known as The Tim Cook... See more

It is underappreciated how fortunate we were that essential services and supply chains broadly continued to function during the Covid-19 pandemic, something I saw firsthand managing the team responsible for the supply of fresh fruit at the UK’s second-largest supermarket. Had more extreme social distancing to suppress transmission been necessary,... See more

Many companies in Europe and the US have shifted production overseas in the past years, especially to China, so that we as consumers get cheaper products. Covid-19 has exposed the fragility of these complex supply chains, and the underlined the drawbacks of offshoring that led to a shortage of face masks when the pandemic hit Europe and the US.

Even before COVID-19, many parts of the manufacturing industry were experiencing detrimental labor shortages. The use of automation and other systems that allow for distributed manufacturing would permit greater flexibility in where manufacturing sites were located.