State of Supply Chain Sustainability 2022
Changes Over Time
Covid-19 and Supply Chain Sustainability:
Replication and Explanation
For the past two years, we have asked the
question "Since the start of Covid-19, my firm's
commitment to supply chain sustainability
has..." And for the last two years, we have received
almost identical results from the English-
language respondents. In 2021, 30% answered
that their firms' commitment had increased,
and 47% said it stayed about the same. This
means that for the second consecutive year,
roughly 80% of respondents reported that their
firms were undaunted by the global pandemic.³
This replication of results adds support to our
previous conclusion that approximately 80% of
firms held fast to their supplychain sustainability
goals during the Covid-19 pandemic.
To many, these results were counterintuitive.
How could a global pandemic not derail supply
chain sustainability (SCS) efforts?4 But this
year, our qualitative research offered another
interpretation. In our semi-structured executive
interviews, we heard several respondents
describe how the pandemic actually brought
supply chain management—and in particular,
supply chain transparency and resilience-
to the fore in a way that it never had before.
Previously, global supply chains simply ran
silently and unseen in the background of
business operations and day-to-day life. In
2020, we began to see emerging evidence of
firms shoring up-and even accelerating-their
SCS efforts as a risk management measure and a
way to strengthen their supply chain resilience.5
And in 2021, we see this idea spreading and
taking hold more broadly.
In 2021, since the start of Covid-19, my firm's
commitment to supply chain sustainability has...
Not sure
14%
Decreased
8%
Stayed about the same.
47%
Increased
30%
Figure 2: Change in supply chain sustainability (SCS) commitment in 2021 (n = 1,694)
In the face of constant disruptions, leading companies
worldwide are urgently redesigning their supply
networks and ecosystems to not only address business
continuity and resilience, but also to improve their
supply chain for sustainability, which is a very high
priority for internal and external stakeholders alike.
-Hong Mo Yang
Senior Vice President for Industry Strategy, Blue Yonder
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