When many of today’s supply chains were designed and built the world was a much different place. Instead of relative stability and a degree of predictability we now face a highly uncertain and turbulent business environment. Whereas in the past organisations could plan ahead and make forecasts with some degree of confidence, now the emphasis has to be on responding to events as they happen. This changed landscape requires a new approach to supply chain architecture and management. The challenge now is to develop solutions that are flexible, adaptive and highly responsive.
Professor Martin Christopher, a world-renowned supply chain expert from the Cranfield School of Management, UK and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Business Strategy and Innovation, presented a seminar titled, “Supply chain strategy in a turbulent and uncertain world” on 12th February 2019 at Griffith University’s South Bank campus.
Martin has been at the forefront of the development of new thinking in logistics and supply chain management for over thirty years. He helped build the Centre for Logistics and Supply Chain Management at Cranfield into a leading centre of excellence.
With more than 60 industry professionals in attendance, he explored the changes necessary for businesses is to successfully exploit the opportunities and avoid the risks that are emerging in this age of volatility and uncertainty. Topics of his talk included new competitive realities, coping with complexity, forecast-driven to demand-driven supply chains, structural flexibility and harnessing the potential of the digital supply chain.