OVER the years, organisations have been struggling under the weight of persistent supply chain disruptions. The intricate logistical movement of goods from the vendor to the doorstep of the end user often goes unnoticed and overlooked.
The threat of supply chain disruption is ever-present. Change is no longer episodic. It is constant. The supply chain landscape pivots.
Global supply chain events reshuffle priorities overnight. Supply chain disruption has become the defining condition of modern business, creating a complex trade environment that shifts with little warning.
It is a scenario that keeps supply chain professionals awake at night. For them, it often feels like a tightrope walk over a pit of chaos. The opportunity to break the supply chain disruption cycles has escaped many procurement professionals for some time.
There is need to acknowledge and content with the current heightened economic volatility.
Supply chain disruptions have become more than just industry talk.
It, therefore, implies that planning for them has become the default language of management.
However, it must also be noted that even with the best laid plans, it must never be assumed that the world will behave itself.
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Anyone paying attention to daily news bulletins can attest that the world has stopped behaving. The world has become volatile and uncertain; we only need to read the news headlines to understand that. A quick skim of recent social media posts bears this out.
Supply chain disruptions should now be classified as everyday business realities with direct consequences for industry and commerce. Conventional wisdom has always maintained that the trick with supply chain disruptions is not to avoid them altogether.
Every day gives supply chain professionals the opportunity to level up. In today’s volatile world, seeing around corners is now a strategic value proposition. The supply chain is composed of countless moving parts, which implies that even a small supply chain disruption can wreak havoc on the supply chain ecosystem.
Procurement professionals must ensure that they must remain standing upright despite the existence of supply chain disruptions. The ability of the supply chain to stretch, adapt and rebound without breaking is now table stakes.
Supply chain disruptions must be treated as negative experiences that hold the seed of future positive outcomes, turning negativity into opportunity. Under the circumstances, the dynamic fusion of faith and action is jointly required to move the needle forward.
The mysteries of supply chain disruptions have always been an impetus for supply chain professionals to peak, poke and prod for solutions. There is need to cultivate grit and stamina to bounce back from the next supply chain disruption, finding pride and purpose amid uncertainty.
Global events such as trade wars, pandemics, extending to military conflicts have demonstrated the vulnerability of the interconnected global supply chain ecosystem.
As we step into the year 2026, global economic uncertainty looms larger than ever, presenting a multifaceted challenge for supply chains worldwide.
Natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, wildfires and tornadoes are unpredictable and could easily be a significant cause of catastrophic supply chain disruptions.
As the geopolitical landscape lurches from crisis to crisis, the question of whether your organisations will be subjected to a supply chain disruption is not a matter of if, but when.
Climate change must no longer be regarded as a distant concern. Natural disasters disrupt the supply chain in various ways. They have been associated with the intensive destruction of critical business infrastructure such as damaging roads, port facilities, major bridges, airports, warehouses, manufacturing plants and power stations.
The damaged infrastructure can cause delays in logistics management, which will create a domino effect throughout the supply chain ecosystem.
This could easily create-long lasting cascading effects that ripple through the entirety of the supply chain networks. Supply chain professionals are required to take a more granular approach that gives them the opportunity to assess their exposure.
Geopolitical instabilities are known to upend well-established trade routes, requiring corporates to seek new sources of key raw materials for use in strategic operational activities.
Supply chain disruptions must no longer be regarded as a rare stress test — they must be regarded as a backdrop of the modern workplace. The real question is no longer whether a supply chain disruption will come but what organisations will become when it does come.
Global economies are buckling under the weight of supply chain disruptions. Most organisations are caught up in this swirl and roil of supply chain disruptions.
It keeps supply chain professionals on the edge. Supply chain professionals are forced to cross the line to resolve the prevailing challenges. But there is always light in all darkness. It is old wisdom that is increasingly forgotten.
To provide light, supply chain professionals must always shift their focus to the strategic planning phase of the organisation to allow for a more proactive approach to minimise supply chain disruptions way before they happen.
Risk mitigation is not necessarily about surviving the present, but it involves adequate preparation for the near future. Recognising these potential challenges could easily turn out to be the first step in preparing for the reduction of supply chain challenges.
Organisations will be required to establish a robust foundation because continuity tomorrow is a function of critical decisions that are made today. Preventing negative impacts from occurring in the first place will distribute risk and lower the likelihood of a single point of failure.
Supply chain professionals will identify early warning signals, which will enhance the capacity to carry out preemptive actions to mitigate supply chain disruptions.
This will turn supply chain resilience into a driver of sustainable value creation. Supply chain professionals are encouraged to build redundancies such as multiple transportation routes and backup facilities with a view to mitigate supply chain disruptions.
As these supply chain challenges become more frequent and interconnected, it must be remembered that risk mitigation should no longer be considered as a secondary consideration — it must be regarded as a core strategic imperative.
Organisations that play half the playbook are in a better position to recover faster from shocks and easily adjust more fluidly to shifting business conditions.
Data is the new currency in this highl-volatile business environment. Although it will not show on the balance sheet, it can have a significant effect on a company’s success and ability to respond to supply chain disruptions.
Supply chain decisions should ideally be guided by accurate, precise insights coupled with full relevant business context.
Supply chain professionals are required to mobilise near real-time information and share same with a view to detecting business trends at an early stage and making fact-based decisions.
The establishment of a robust platform of digital technologies is a crucial way out for mitigating supply chain risks. Technologies such as internet of things could be relied upon to enhance supply chain transparency, providing real-time visibility into supply chain operations, thereby enabling quicker response times.
Sensors can be useful for the provision of real-time tracking of goods during transit. The adoption and reliance on advanced technologies such as internet of things sensors, RFID tags and blockchain could be of significant value to the business since such technologies can be used to track inventory levels while monitoring shipment status across the entire supply chain network.
Sensors could also be very useful for environmental monitoring of temperature, especially for overly sensitive items, such as pharmaceuticals and perishable goods. Technology and automation enhance visibility, efficiency and agility.
An interconnected supply chain arena implies a faster connectivity business environment, but it is also a sign that supply chain disruptions are never far away.
Technological developments, although generally regarded as significantly important, are often an opening to cyber-attacks. We are fully aware that the supply chain ecosystem is increasingly becoming more digitalised and interconnected.
Such developments will increase the number of attack surfaces and business vulnerabilities from determined criminal elements bend to create chaos for their benefit.
Supply chain professionals will be required to collaborate with IT security experts to continuously update and reinforce security protocols to ensure that supply chains are protected against evolving cyber threats.
Cybersecurity threats can be a source of supply chain disruption by targeting the digital systems and supply networks that undergird the modern business environment.
Those organisations that are fortunate enough to establish strong firewalls, intrusion detection systems and endpoint security will increase their chances of detecting and blocking malicious activity before it negatively affects business operations. It is also critical to conduct regular employee training development programmes designed to build a cybersecurity-conscious culture.
Supply chain professionals must never let a good crisis go to waste. Even with the best of intentions and well-laid plans, things can still go horribly wrong . It is always important to remember to use that information to be better prepared for future supply chain disruptions, turning every challenge into a growth opportunity for your business.
Remember, a resilient supply chain is not just about surviving disruptions but thriving despite them. Conducting scenario analysis further enhances risk assessment efforts.
Modelling different risk scenarios, such as factory outages, port closures or cyber-attacks could be of significant use to the organisation. Scenario planning becomes more critical to tracking slowdowns and planning for major sudden detours.
Organisations should be seen to be developing alternative scenario plans for both optimistic and worst-case unknown situations, bringing to the forefront the once-invisible threads that can easily affect the supply chain ecosystem. It will involve undertaking regular scenario planning sessions designed to stress-test the organisation’s preparedness.
This will facilitate in the identification of critical supply chain nodes and potential points of failure in the supply chain ecosystem. Predefined contingency plans tailor-made to mitigate the various supply chain disruption scenarios can be of use to enable rapid response as and when something terrible happens.
At the back of our minds, we must always remember that supply chain disruptions are the bane of supply chain management.
A key proviso is that suppliers must not always be regarded as a source of risk but could easily be treated as allies in avoiding supply chain disruptions. There is need to nurture a comprehensive supply chain network so you can pivot between a diverse supply base of vendors.
Collaboration can result in better communication, joint problem-solving and shared risk management with critical supply chain partners. The current supply chain’s purview far extends beyond the traditional concerns such as cost, speed and efficiency.
It is common knowledge that supply chains are a business’s lifeblood. They are highly regarded as a bedrock of efficient business operations. They are a force of stability that anchors daily operational activities.
They will always remain part of the everyday business lexicon. In a world that is growing more fragmented, the pressures on global supply chains are unparalleled.
Based on anecdotal observations, our world is increasingly uncertain and vulnerable. Supply chain disruptions have become an all-too-common challenge in the supply chain landscape.
The supply chain’s intensive grind will be required to shape up what is regarded as pivotal in minimising supply chain disruptions going into the future.
Nyika is a supply chain practitioner based in Harare. — [email protected]
