20220901-Faculty-CarlosCordon-TopBannerCampus-1440×560-x2-MH-comp - IMD Business School
20220901-Faculty-CarlosCordon-TopBannerCampus-1440×560-x2-MH-comp - IMD Business School

Carlos Cordon

Professor of Strategy and Supply Chain Management

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 2021/22 and was a winner in the 2017 EFMD Case Writing Competition with IMD colleagues Benoit 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).

Academic publications
Case Study
The price of innovation: Will Medacta compromise its DNA by embracing robotics?
The price of innovation: Will Medacta compromise its DNA by embracing robotics?

Medacta Group SA is a rising star in the orthopedics market, achieving global success through innovative products and techniques, with a particular emphasis on minimally invasive techniques that br...

Strategy Innovation
16 April 2025
Case Study
Boosting and sustaining operational excellence

The case explores the principles and challenges of operational excellence through the experience of Magdi Batato, former EVP of Operations at Nestlé. It examines how he implemented Mission-Directed...

Change Management Digital Operations
24 February 2025
Book Chapter
An end-to-end perspective

Few companies nowadays match the ambitions of the early Ford Motor Company in America, which vertically integrated to control nearly every product it sold. It owned not just car part factories, but...

Sustainability Organizational Design
19 December 2024
Case Study
The journey to digitize tennis: Infosys (A), the past

Case A explores the transformative role of data analytics in the sports industry through the lens of Infosys, an innovative tech company. Infosys aims to showcase its AI and analytics expertise by ...

Digital Business to Business Disruption Strategy
10 October 2023
Case Study
The journey to digitize tennis: Infosys (B), the present

The ATP Leaderboards evolve to provide real-time insights for fans, players and coaches, while the Second Screen capability aids players in refining strategies. Innovations like MatchBeats, Rally A...

Digital Business to Business Disruption Strategy
10 October 2023
Case Study
The journey to digitize tennis: Infosys (C), the future

Infosys collaborated with the International Tennis Hall of Fame (ITHF) to create a metaverse-based digital twin, bridging tradition and innovation. The post-Covid drive for sustainability prompted ...

Digital Business to Business Disruption Strategy Sustainability
10 October 2023
Case Study
Apple’s supply chain transformation

In 2022, Apple lost US$1.5 billion in Black Friday sales due to iPhone supply constraints. One in three retail stores across the US and Europe experienced stockouts of the new iPhone 14 Pro. China ...

Operations Strategy
25 May 2023
Case Study
Celonis: Building a lean digital ecosystem
Celonis: Building a lean digital ecosystem

To maintain its position as the category leader in process mining and execution management, Celonis needed to be able to facilitate – or even automate – corrective measures on these processes to ed...

Digital Disruption Entrepreneurship
24 August 2022
Case Study
Integrate or partner? An M&A analysis from the acquiree’s point of view

Avaloq, headquartered in Switzerland, is a market leader in global digital banking. It was acquired by the leading Japanese IT conglomerate NEC Corporation at the end of 2020, despite COVID-19 pand...

Strategy Leadership Entrepreneurship Organizational Culture Sustainability
9 February 2022
Case Study
The antibiotic ecosystem conundrum

The invention of antibiotics increased the average lifespan by two decades, though WHO warns that antibiotic resistant will become the most common death by 2050 if the resistance issue cannot be ov...

Finance Strategy
31 December 2020
Case Study
PMI: Disrupting the tobacco industry

With its mission to “unsmoke the world” and its bold new purpose to replace cigarettes with less harmful tobacco products, Philip Morris International (PMI) was revolutionizing every part of its ex...

Operations
19 June 2020
Case Study
Adecco: Project management masterclass (A)

At the outset, the A case appears like a typical IT project at Adecco, the leading HR solutions company. At the end of 2017, a new IT infrastructure service provider had been selected. Adecco’s IT ...

Operations
14 May 2020
Case Study
Adecco: Project management masterclass (B)

The B case starts in June 2019 – at the project deadline – and looks back at the challenges and actions taken during the previous 18 months. The outgoing provider did not make it easy for Adecco, a...

Operations
14 May 2020
Case Study
Amazon: The trillion dollar company coming to the Swiss alps

The case describes two major dilemmas for Amazon’s expansion in Europe. First dilemma is about options to expand: Sweden has a sizeable and mature market, but Amazon is already #1 retailer through ...

Strategy
14 August 2019
Case Study
Faurecia digital transformation (A)

The case is based on a dynamic real-life story. In this case we have examined how Faurecia decorative division has used digital tools and technology, both hardware and software, to first modernize ...

Operations
13 May 2019
Case Study
Faurecia digital transformation (B)

The case describes the various industry 4.0 options which were available to Faurecia for digital transformation and finally illustrate the process of successful implementation of the digital transf...

Operations
13 May 2019
Case Study
Faurecia digital transformation (C)

The case covers real time experiences of the people involved in digital transformation, capture the lessons learned and explain how Faurecia was able to transform its plant into a culture of innova...

Operations
13 May 2019
Article
Digitization of healthcare organizations: The digital health landscape and information theory

This paper builds on an integrated framework of digital opportunities, based on information theory that was initially proposed by Claude Shannon: 1) providers of infrastructure for transmitting inf...

Digital Change Management
1 April 2019
Case Study
WHEN DIGITAL MEETS LEAN: DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION AT PFA

PFA a leading Danish insurance and pension company administrating pension funds for approximately 75 billion Euro and having more than 1,1 Million customers has over that past years started a huge ...

31 December 2018
Case Study
Mary Barra and the Lyft investment: Leading GM into the sharing economy through acquisitions

The case presents the impact of the digital disruption coming from the sharing economy from the perspective of the largest American auto manufacturer, General Motors (GM). 
The car-sharing business...

Strategy Operations
30 November 2018
Insight for Executives
Article
Africa’s energy future is taking shape through Gulf capital and new alliances

The Gulf’s search for influence beyond oil now runs through Africa. Sovereign wealth fund the Qatar Investment Authority is investing $500 million in Ivanhoe Mines, a Canadian company that produces...

Sustainability Finance
28 November 2025
Article
Why the Gulf is set to be a bigger player in global supply chains despite geopolitical risks

German delivery giant DHL’s move to acquire a stake in Saudi logistics group Ajex last month underscored a paradox at the heart of global trade. Even as Houthi attacks and rising insurance costs th...

Supply Chain
25 September 2025
Article
What companies can do to mitigate risks of Middle East conflict

For years, multinational companies operated in the Middle East with the belief that while politics could flare up, trade would largely continue. That assumption, while once reasonable, is now under...

Geopolitics Economics
25 June 2025
Article
‘Designed in California, assembled in the Gulf’: Region gains traction as a friendshoring destination

Multinational businesses are recalibrating their global supply chains, with one eye focused firmly on Washington. As the Donald Trump administration reignites the use of tariffs as a blunt instrume...

Supply Chain Geopolitics
17 May 2025
Article
Why is generative AI different in supply chain?

GenAI is generating buzz across industries, and supply chain management is emerging as one of its most promising frontiers. While early experiments may have left some underwhelmed, advancements in ...

Artificial Intelligence Supply Chain Disruption Technology Management
3 April 2025
Article
Business school teaching case study: How does Temu respond to tariff threats?
Business school teaching case study: How does Temu respond to tariff threats?

The Trump administration’s recent tariff threats have increased uncertainty over the business model of Temu and other large ecommerce groups. The White House reversed its initial closure in 2025 of...

Organizational Learning Geopolitics China
14 February 2025
Report
The surprising developments of digital supply chains to raise resilience in the face of disruptions

We describe the need for resilience in supply chains given the recent stream of disruptions that the world has experienced. Based on recent events, we identify different types of disruptions that h...

Disruption Digital Resilience
1 May 2023
Article
Taking stock: A history of supply chain innovations
Taking stock: A history of supply chain innovations

From a focus on manufacturing to broader responsibility for the entire supply chain, Tetra Pak’s former head of Supply Chain Operations Eric Baudier discusses the highs and lows of supply chain man...

Innovation Supply Chain Disruption
17 March 2022
Article
Supply chain mind map: Try our tool to help make critical decisions
Supply chain mind map: Try our tool to help make critical decisions

Are you overwhelmed by supply chain problems? Martijn Lofvers and Carlos Cordon have created a detailed visual guide will help you manage your way out of a crisis.

Supply Chain
17 March 2022
Article
Physical stores' surprising comeback in the pandemic

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, while most physical retailers were scrambling to avoid bankruptcy, remarkably, one company recorded its best performance ever and a few others returned to pos...

Digital Supply Chain
2 February 2021
Article
Business supply chain strategies are evolving, can poor countries benefit?

Multiple sourcing and proximity sourcing are taking shape as long-term trends as global firms hardwire resilience and agility into their supply chains. Less developed countries face considerable ri...

Supply Chain Agility Resilience
8 October 2020
Article
How omnichannel can inspire a circular revolution

The emergence of omnichannel means that the age of the circular economy – where materials and energy are reused to minimize the negative impact of economic activity – is within grasp. For companies...

Sustainability
25 September 2020
Article
Is blockchain all hype? A financier and supply chain expert discuss

Blockchain is a technology with two ingredients: the first is a distributed ledger, meaning a database with identical copies held by everyone in a network. There is no intermediary, no central data...

Digital Supply Chain
31 January 2019
Article
Adidas Russia/CIS and the Russian Crisis: Retrentch or double down

This case is based on extensive semi-structured interviews with key adidas Russia/CIS executives who were in charge of implementing the radical IT, supply chain and omnichannel initiatives that tra...

Supply Chain
8 September 2017
Article
Challenges and new realities facing the supply chain

For the past decade and a half the decision around outsourcing has been a relatively straightforward one: it allows companies to cut costs, to make better use of their resources and to focus on gro...

Supply Chain
27 February 2011
Article
Making the power of two work for you

In this article, the authors present a tested process to transform traditional customer/supplier relationships into superior collaborative ones. It starts by managing the drivers, not the outcomes,...

Customer Centricity Supply Chain
1 September 2009
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