How Strategic Business Partnerships Can Simplify Supply Chain Issues In A Post-Pandemic World

Forbes

One of the many things the COVID-19 pandemic taught us was just how fragile most organizations’ supply chains were. In fact, a White House report indicates a majority of businesses continued to experience major disruptions over a year after the onset of the pandemic.  Even though pandemic lockdowns are now a thing of the past, many industries continue to experience supply chain instability thanks to cyber attacks, severe weather and other global events. Fortunately, the pandemic taught valuable lessons on the power of strategic partnerships to simplify and improve supply chains.  Forbes contributor Kate Vitasek illustrates four ways in which you can take control of the post-pandemic supply chain and grow your business.  0:00 Understanding Supply Chain Issues In A Post-Pandemic World 0:30 Identify Pre VS Post-Pandemic Trends 1:56 Focus On The Essentials 2:27 Emphasize Collaboration To Solve Problems 3:35 Maximize Resiliency, Agility and Sustainability  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/katevitasek/2023/06/15/how-strategic-partnerships-simplify-post-pandemic-supply-chains/?sh=7d91a3382a24  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00 [MUSIC]

00:02 One of the many things that COVID-19 pandemic taught us was just how

00:06 fragile most organization supply chains are.

00:10 A White House report indicates that a majority of businesses

00:13 experience major disruptions over a year after the onset of the pandemic.

00:19 Fortunately, we've learned some valuable lessons on the power of strategic

00:23 partnerships and how they can simplify and

00:26 improve supply chains in a post pandemic world.

00:29 One way is to understand pre versus post pandemic trends.

00:35 According to the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics,

00:39 it's important to recognize that COVID-19 wasn't what broke the global supply chain.

00:45 Instead, it revealed underlying problems that already existed.

00:50 Now this served as a long term positive,

00:53 because it helped us accelerate industry changes.

00:56 The organizations that were best able to respond to pandemic challenges

01:01 had adopted an agile approach that allowed them to quickly change their processes

01:06 as needed, and sometimes even completely pivot their processes

01:10 to address changing customer needs.

01:13 The pandemic also accelerated trends of supply chain automation and

01:17 achieving full end to end visibility to better evaluate supplier relationships and

01:22 customer behaviors.

01:24 Many of these functions rely on some form of strategic partnership to be carried out

01:30 to get the maximum effect.

01:31 For example, brands need third party software and

01:35 robotic experts to help them implement automation.

01:38 They also need improved communication with suppliers to achieve full supply chain

01:43 transparency.

01:44 Without these types of partnerships in place, and without the right partners,

01:48 efforts to implement these big picture trends will fall short of their potential.

01:54 Let's look at a second area, which is focusing on the essentials.

01:59 The pandemic also taught some companies a hard lesson about carefully judging

02:04 the value delivered by each partnership.

02:07 Sometimes, simplifying your supply chain operations means cutting out

02:11 partners who are no longer serving your business effectively.

02:16 Or being more selective regarding the partners that you do work with.

02:20 Businesses should revisit or even revitalize existing relationships to

02:25 optimize their supply chain operations.

02:27 Now let's look at number three, emphasizing collaboration to solve problems.

02:33 For many organizations, the pandemic, as well as the economic uncertainty and

02:38 inflation from the last year, has caused organizations to more critically

02:43 evaluate their supply chain partnerships.

02:45 Of course, costs are important thing to consider in a partnership, but

02:49 so too is the partner's ability to collaborate to solve other types of

02:54 pressing supply chain problems.

02:56 Because of this, transparency is essential.

03:00 Transparency can increase the value delivered in your supply chain

03:06 that help you meet your customer expectations.

03:09 Organizations that emphasize collaboration aren't going to withhold

03:14 important information from upstream or downstream partners,

03:17 because their focus is on an end-to-end facilitation of a smooth supply chain

03:23 for everyone in the supply chain, not just for themselves.

03:27 When this happens, supply chain costs decrease,

03:30 customer satisfaction increases, and everybody wins.

03:35 Now the fourth area is maximizing resiliency, agility, and sustainability.

03:40 When strategic partners have the right collaborative mindset and

03:45 are able to deliver technology or resources that streamline your supply

03:50 chain operations, they subsequently maximize your organization's resilience,

03:55 agility, and sustainability.

03:58 This is especially important in light of how consumer preferences

04:02 have changed in a post-pandemic world.

04:05 In fact, a report from McKinsey illustrates, and I quote,

04:09 "This fast-moving, fragmented, consumer-centric world will require

04:13 a different sort of supply chain.

04:16 Traditional supply chains sought to achieve stability and minimize cost.

04:20 Future supply chains need to be agile."

04:24 When vetting potential supply chain partners, organizations should consider

04:30 how that partner's capabilities, technology resources, and even their vision

04:35 can amplify your own resilience, agility, and sustainability.

04:40 The bottom line, it is your bottom line.

04:43 The better your organization is able to proactively address challenges and

04:47 changes in the global market, the better you're going to be able to respond

04:51 to everything from shifting customer demand to cost savings initiatives

04:56 to even solving tough sustainability challenges.

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