SPOTLIG HT G LOBALIZATION . WHAT’S NEX T ?
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STRATEGIES TO INCREASE RESILIENCE AND AGILITY IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT
Tackling uncertainty There are many strategies that can be used to respond to uncertainties affecting global trade – lobbying, contractual strategies, or financial activities such as managing currency risks, to name just a few. We will be focusing here on the areas of activity relating to production and the energy industry, where software like zenon can help to ensure success in volatile global systems.
According to historians, the globalisation of industrial production and the worldwide division of labour began in the early 16th century. Between the fall of the Berlin Wall at the end of 1989 and the global financial crisis in 2007, globalisation – also known as hyperglobalisation during this period – accelerated at an unprecedented rate. However, during the economic crisis that followed the financial crisis, the situation changed, and we have to consider and mitigate the risks of a more volatile world order in our production strategies. The accidental obstruction of the Suez Canal, natural disasters such as the eruption of the tongue-twisting Eyjafjallajökull volcano that grounded air traffic for weeks in 2010, China’s growing economic strength and its ambition to overtake the USA as the world‘s strongest economic power. These events and developments, together with the global COVID-19 pandemic and its as-yet-uncertain
consequences for the global economic fabric, have shaken – and continue to shake – the decades-old foundations of our world order. And these are just some examples of the uncertainties that we face on a day-to-day basis. The uncertainties affecting global trade pose the following specific risks for production companies: – Availability of raw materials – Availability of components and bought-in parts – Price fluctuations affecting raw materials or components – Delays in logistics – Politically motivated trade barriers – Loss of personnel Since society nowadays is networked by its very nature, virtually every company is now part of the global system – even if a company only manufactures products at one site and does not depend on any suppliers.
