Firms will need the tools to test every link in supply chain

Over the next decade, one of the most disruptive changes facing companies will be the need to take responsibility for every business in their supply chain, Vivek Ramachandran, CEO of Hong Kong-based digital B2B platform Serai, says in an I by IMD interview. 

The next 10 years are going to be revolutionary for global trade. Companies will find themselves having to take responsibility not just for their own actions, but also those of every business involved in the manufacture and movement of their products.  

Consumer pressure and new environmental, social and governance (ESG) regulations will force companies to not just know far more about, but also be held accountable for, what happens at every point in their supply chains. 

Global supply chains have evolved in complexity over decades to meet one primary objective: cost minimization. In meeting this objective, they have been amazingly successful. Products of all kinds can be shipped around the world with incredible…