Carlos Cordon is Professor of Strategy and Supply Chain Management. His areas of expertise are supply chain management, digital, value chains, digital lean, and process management, all of which are particularly relevant topics in the context of the supply chain challenges that businesses face today. His research and teaching are currently focused on the reconfiguration of supply chains in the face of persistent disruptions, how supply chains are driving revenue, reshoring and onshoring, and digital strategies.

Cordon says supply chain constraints have become a driver of extraordinary growth in profits for some companies as a result of availability constraints, increased demand, and higher prices. General Motors sold 20% fewer cars in 2021 than in 2019 as a result of a shortage of microchips, for example, but still managed to record a 48% rise in profits over the same period.

He is the author of numerous articles and case studies in his specialist fields and has won various awards for his work. He was named on The Case Center list of the top 50 best-selling case authors globally in 2020/21 and was a winner in the 2017 EFMD Case Writing Competition with IMD colleagues Benoît Leleux and Beverley Lennox for a case study on Adidas.

He is also the author of four books, including the 2016 title Strategy is Digital, which explores how companies can use big data in their value chains. The book presents strategies and practices to allow companies to take advantage of the huge business opportunities arising from the advent of big data and guides them through their big data journey.

Supply chains are being disrupted but they are also becoming drivers of extraordinary growth. Price increases and availability constraints have enabled some organizations to deliver record profits.

Cordon is a consultant to multinational companies in the electronics, food, chemical, pharmaceutical, and automotive industries, among others. He has designed and directed numerous executive development programs and has helped some of the world’s biggest companies to develop their supply chain and digital strategies, including Johnson & Johnson, Nestlé, Coca Cola, Merck, Mondelez, Unilever, Heineken, Philip Morris, Danone, and Reckitt Benckiser among others. He is also a member of the Coca-Cola European Partners’ Digital Advisory Board.

He joined IMD in 1993 after completing a PhD in management at INSEAD. He was previously a manager in Accenture’s manufacturing and distribution consulting group and MIS Manager at Grupo General Cable in Spain (now part of the Prysmian group).