State of Supply Chain Resilience - The Procurement Initiative

Key insights about the current state of supply chain resilience based on a quantitative survey:

• Resilience moves up the ladder: 85% of companies indicate that resilience has become a top priority and led to a de-prioritization of other value drivers.
   
• Focus on supply continuity: 68% of companies face increasing resource limitations (e.g., suppliers, raw materials). In addition, a large proportion of suppliers is classified as critical (32% of total spend on tier-1 suppliers).
   
• Survival mode in a BANI (brittle, anxious, non-linear, incomprehensible) world: Going forward, 59% of companies see financial stability and securing liquidity as a long-term priority in an inflationary environment.

The figures – that confirm our pre-defined hypotheses – paint an evocative portrait of a Procurement function in a stranglehold between short-term (e.g. building inventory to ensure supply continuity) and long-term perspectives (e.g. nearshoring to boost sustainability). 

This is happening although legislation (e.g. the German Supply Chain Act) mandates a long-term perspective (e.g. alignment with the 1.5 C target). In this field of tension between necessary short-term and long-term perspectives, Procurement has the opportunity to take responsibility and navigate the strategic course.