TOPIC AREA 3
INCREASING CONTINUITY IN SUPPLY CHAINS The Threat of Supply Chain Disruption
Today, it is possible to travel across the world in 24 hours. People and goods can be transported to the farthest corners of the globe at speeds that were unimaginable a century ago. Not only can goods and people move rapidly, but they can move reliably. That is to say that if you are boarding an airplane or a company is placing a container on a cargo ship, there is an exceedingly high probability that, in both situations, the person or cargo will make it to the intended destination within the intended time frame. Innovations of transportation have made it possible for people to explore the world and have changed the structure of the global economy simultaneously. As speed and efficacy of trade movement increased, it was no longer economically advantageous for a country to produce all the goods and services that it needed. Rather, the idea of comparative advantage—meaning the ability of one country to carry out a particular economic activity more efficiently than another—took hold in the global economy, and countries began to narrow and
Global Leadership at a Crossroads
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