STUDENTS' CORNER - 230

Disruptions to Supply Chain

Disruptions to supply chain prove disasters to  businesses

In this session we will spend some time on disruptions to supply chain and how to face the consequences.

Disruptions are in general distressful.  Routine is interrupted. Planning is thrown out of gear; man has to face the nuisance of disruptions in such a way that source of nuisance is removed and the flow of things is resumed.  Disruptions frustrate and frustration drains one’s energy and resources.

What are supposed to be major causes of disruptions? They are Natural disasters, Market forces like price and products, Global politics and Cyber-attacks.

Natural disasters affect man in so many ways like social living, business breakdown, physical damage to the buildings like factories, so on.  Sudden surge in prices may also affect supply chain; companies with no resilient features like financial back up and a strong customer base are bound to feel the impact of the market unpredictability. The open and hidden conflicts between countries ultimately influence the flow of global trade.  Ukraine war is now an obvious example.  Countries are forced to plan their acquisition of oil.  The Sri Lankan crisis comes to the fore with dollars shortage. Cyber-attacks are the recent nightmare to the industries. Digitization is prone to cyber-attacks Cybercrime cripples the entire gamut of business activities.

How to face the disruptions?  It is one of the most difficult questions to answer. We can only say being ever prepared strategically to face cybercrime is the only way. How to be prepared always? It depends on many factors like financial strength primarily to support an efficient team of IT professionals always on the lookout for cyber-attacks, market professionals always alert to the marketing dynamics with a focus on market share and market scenarios that cover product-range and customer-base, so on.