Supply chain management is becoming complex each year. The main influences that are occasioning evolution in this industry are the rapid globalization of supply chains. The globalization of supply chain networks often faces challenges associated with the risk of delays and confusion. As such, managers are doing their best by putting more attention to planning and coming up with contingency planning and management strategies that will address these challenges and increase customer satisfaction and performance in general. As procurement and supply chain operations increasingly adopt digitization, which is proving to be strategically necessary in the era of intense competition and increased customer demands, professionals in these areas must find ways of staying on top of things and getting data that they need in order to make the right decisions.

The COVID-19 pandemic has clearly exposed the vulnerabilities and weaknesses in global supply chains. It has demonstrated the dangers of relying on a single supply chain route and manufacturing facilities situated in one country for almost everything. As the virus continues pounding the world’s economies, the modern supply chain has been shown as having been built on shaky grounds. This has resulted in businesses and industries struggling to get the necessary materials needed during the crisis. The escalation of the pandemic has put what was seen decades ago as a supply chain process with few hitches under a test and has emerged as seriously flawed.

It is no longer a secret that supply chains have evolved into a more complex industry that ever. This can be seen in the changes that have occurred in the socio-economic and market dynamics, all of which are aimed at enabling organizations to respond to changing customer needs and outside-in demand-driven environment. Companies must now consider a host of new variables, such as the increasing protectionism and geopolitics. These factors are forcing most of the global supply chain players to re-examine the business continuity plans and risks and embrace new strategies in their sourcing approaches that will guarantee them growth. A strategic supply chain planning that factors in aspects of formulation of business strategy as well as the tactical aspects makes a supply chain firm more valuable. Here are some supply chain strategies that are designed to help supply chain companies grow amid the current competitive business environment.