Measuring Progress on the Road to Supply Chain Resilience

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Not long ago, supply chain issues were a concern mainly limited to operations professionals. But in the past two years, supply chain disruptions have moved up the agenda and are now widely discussed in C-suites and even the highest levels of government—essentially, because of their widespread economic impact. Even the White House has weighed in, with an order last year saying, “The United States needs resilient, diverse, and secure supply chains to ensure our economic prosperity and national security.”

The call to action to improve supply chain resilience has been loud and clear. And now, some recent surveys provide a snapshot of what companies have been doing in response, and what they plan to do.

For example, while companies are exploring a variety of new strategies for resilience, many have simply turned to a traditional approach. The most common approach to coping with disruptions over the past year has been to increase inventories of components and finished goods, according to a recent survey from McKinsey & Company, which reports that 8 out of 10 respondents increased their inventories last year.

Budgeting for Supply Chain Resilience

That approach can be effective but brings its own challenges in terms of paying for and maintaining that inventory. And it seems that many companies have seen it as a short-term, expedient solution and are now looking at other approaches. McKinsey reports that 90% now want to increase their supply chain resilience, and almost three-quarters expect to increase their budgets to accomplish that goal.

Meanwhile, many companies are planning to make “wholesale changes” to their supply-chain footprints, according to a study from the Interos supply chain technology company. It notes that 89% of surveyed executives think their suppliers are too concentrated in certain geographic locations and that 51% have plans to reshore or nearshore suppliers.

Other strategies beyond building buffer inventory include dual sourcing and engaging two suppliers for each component, which has now been implemented by 81% of respondents in the McKinsey survey, compared to 55% the year before. Forty-four percent are developing regional supply networks—presumably to shorten supply chains to reduce risk. That’s up from 25% the previous year. Many executives expect to continue to work on dual sourcing (69%) and regionalization (51%) through this year and beyond. From Dynamic’s perspective, this suggests that they see supply chain disruptions and risk as ongoing challenges in managing the supply chain.

Just Getting Started on Managing Supply Chain Risk

Companies are doing a lot to strengthen the supply chain, but they have a lot more to do—particularly on the risk-assessment front. The Interos study found that only 57% of suppliers are usually evaluated during a risk assessment. In addition, just 11% of respondents said that they monitor supplier risk on an ongoing basis.

These findings underscored the need to look further up the supply chain to understand risk, with 76% saying they have been affected by risk events occurring beyond second-tier suppliers—that is, their suppliers’ suppliers. McKinsey echoes that problem, noting that 45% of respondents in its survey can only see up the supply chain as far as their first-tier suppliers or have no visibility at all into the upstream supply chain.

Industry surveys show that the turmoil of the past few years has been a tremendous motivator for change, and supply chain professionals are working to increase resilience. There is progress being made and more is needed—and companies have clearly found powerful reasons for moving forward.

Boosting Supply Chain Resiliency with Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence

Boosting Supply Chain Resiliency

Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, many organizations are considering digital transformation as the key to ensuring supply chain resilience. Evolutions in technologies have enabled the creation of digital supply networks that can be used by companies to strengthen their procurement strategy. With new and emerging digital solutions involving artificial intelligence (AI) and analytics, companies now can harness their data to optimize inventory more effectively than ever before.

Even as the pandemic is receding, supply chain disruptions continue to be commonplace, and chief supply chain officers are under growing pressure to use and analyze real-time data to mitigate risk. According to a recent Forbes article, “43% of enterprises will continue to digitalize and integrate innovative technology into enterprise-wide systems. This means that in the coming year, the ability to augment operations and decision-making with data analytics will continue to be a transformative and highly favored capability.”

Forbes reports that implementing new data analytics capabilities is best considered as a series of digital initiatives, for which there are many options. For instance, the introduction of the metaverse is one solution that will greatly increase a company’s ability to deliver predictive insights across supply chain networks, enabling it to “reduce development times and risk, achieve higher operational efficiency, and improve resilience.”

Ensuring Continuity Throughout Disruptions

Companies are using analytics and AI to mitigate risk and ensure continuity throughout any global supply chain disruptions. These powerful tools help businesses automate tasks in a way they never could before, while gaining deeper insights for better, faster decision-making, according to Supply Chain magazine.

Supply Chain reports that digital twin technology is currently considered one of the most innovative uses of AI and data analytics in supply chains. A digital twin provides a virtual supply chain replica that enables scenario modeling to simulate the impact of disruptions, like market changes and natural disasters, allowing companies to determine how resilient their supply chain is. AI modeling also proactively identifies supply risk, such as a supplier’s inability to source needed materials, before it can become a problem.

Deloitte experts agree that “with improvements in data, analytics, computing power, and visualization, digital procurement has better evidence-based options for decision-making, which can improve both the value and accuracy of strategic decisions and the speed of execution.”

New disruptive digital supply chain technologies are altering the procurement function for the better. Deloitte recommends that procurement leaders invest in both:

  • Maturing digital solutions that are currently transforming procurement with minimal investment, such as cognitive computing/artificial intelligence, predictive/advanced analytics, intelligent content extraction, visualization, and crowdsourcing
  • Emerging digital solutions that could impact procurement in the future, such as block chain, sensors/wearables, cyber tracking, and virtual reality/spatial analytics

In the face of continuing disruption, companies must adapt to ensure supply chain resilience. Digital transformation is an incremental, multi-year journey. If your company has not yet created a digital procurement strategy and started this process, now is the time to consider the many AI and data analytics options available on the path to intelligent supply chain management.

The Supply Chain Connection with ESG Performance

The Supply Chain Connection with ESG Performance

Sustainability is a critical issue for many businesses, fueled by growing internal and external pressure to measure and strengthen environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices. As companies seek to improve their ESG performance, supply chain management is also under scrutiny.

ESG issues relate to the supply chain in many ways. For example, companies are vulnerable to risk from the actions of their suppliers involving issues that include child labor, employee safety, and corruption and bribery. Supplier problems in those areas can create reputational damage for companies and even subject them to compliance and legal risks.

The environmental component of ESG is particularly relevant to the supply chain, which typically includes carbon-heavy activities such as transportation and production. The supply chain may drive as much as 90% of a company’s total carbon impact on the environment, according to the EPA. So there’s a lot of room for sustainability-related improvement in supply chains. This is driving a greater focus on companies’ so-called “Scope 3” emissions—those created externally, by other companies outside of the organization. 

But it’s important to recognize that sustainability is no longer just a corporate-responsibility or compliance issue. It’s also a good business practice.

A Window into ESG Vulnerabilities

The key reason why sustainability has become more important to business is because it’s under scrutiny by a growing range of stakeholders. Studies show that U.S. consumers prefer sustainable brands and products, and employees are increasingly likely to say they would prefer to work at companies with strong environmental and social agendas. Institutional investors are also on board, and by 2025, some $53 trillion—about one-third of the dollars under professional management globally—is expected to be in ESG funds, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.

Altogether, this means that sustainability is now playing a big role in meeting customer expectations, attracting and retaining employees, and accessing capital. Improving supply chain sustainability can help ensure that a company finds favor with these stakeholders.

But greater sustainability can also help improve supply chains because it goes hand-in-hand with reduced risk and increased efficiency. Sustainability and efforts to cut carbon emissions typically mean using less raw material, reducing energy and water consumption, and cutting the amount of waste that needs to be processed — actions that help reduce costs and accelerate operations. Tracking ESG data also provides a better window into potential vulnerabilities in the supply chain. And companies that put efforts into supply chain sustainability are likely to find it easier to forge relationships with quality partners who are looking to improve their own supply chain ESG performance.

“Supply chain agility and resilience are inseparable from the drive for sustainability,” a recent report from The Conference Board noted. “Building sustainable practices into supply chains has direct business benefits. It helps companies manage business risks, achieve cost savings through material efficiency gains, enhance brand reputation, create growth opportunities, and manage suppliers more effectively. Harmful environmental practices and inhumane working conditions not only pose reputational risk but also direct disruption risk.”

In the end, supply chain sustainability should not be seen as a burden or peripheral issue. Instead, it’s fast becoming something that is central to sound supply chain management. And it is another area where the supply chain can make a big contribution to competitiveness—and to the health of the planet.

Avoiding Supply Chain Imbalance Through Collaboration

Avoiding Supply Chain Imbalance Through Collaboration

When we think of supply chain disruptions, we usually only consider the shortages that became familiar during the pandemic—back-ordered or unavailable parts, empty store shelves, long delays in shipping and fulfillment. But it seems that many companies are now experiencing the opposite, in the form of significant excess inventory.

This problem is having an impact in a variety of industries, with overall manufacturer and trade inventories in June being up 18.5% compared to the previous year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Every company is different, but many appear to be experiencing inventory imbalances driven by abrupt changes in either supply or demand, or both. Managing inventory is always challenging, but the volatility of the past two years has made it especially difficult. As supplies ran short during the pandemic, many companies boosted orders to build buffer stocks. Now, with demand subsiding somewhat—or shifting to different products—some of those companies are left with too much inventory. This can lead to excessive amounts of capital being tied up in goods, along with other carrying costs for things such as storage space and insurance. And for companies focused on innovation, excess inventory increases the potential for product obsolescence, as components sit on shelves waiting to be used. 

Taming Supply Imbalance

What can companies do to reduce inventory imbalances in the future? There is no simple answer, but they can take steps such as tightening their inventory-accounting practices to gain a more timely, detailed view of the materials they and their suppliers have on hand. This can help them understand how well inventory is aligned with demand. Additionally, they can change their ordering patterns to focus on smaller, more frequent purchases; making it easier to respond quickly to changes in demand. They can also conduct assessments that proactively identify potential risks in the upstream supply chain.

More broadly, companies can re-examine just-in-time practices and look for ways to use targeted, carefully managed buffer inventory to reduce their vulnerability to shortages. Or they can consider structural changes to the supply network, including reshoring to reduce reliance on long global supply chains and bringing more suppliers into the mix to expand sourcing options.

Looking forward, effectively managing inventory imbalances in an era of “disruption as normal” will require increased visibility across larger portions of the supply chain. Here, companies can consider technologies ranging from EDI to supplier portals and cloud-based supply-chain platforms that let partners work together to understand supply and demand to optimize inventory levels.

In the end, however, the best tool for avoiding inventory imbalances will be relationships that allow partners up and down the supply chain to communicate and collaborate to identify imbalances early on. For many, this will call for new ways of working with partners to share information about risks and disruptions in production and logistics; about the design of new products; about products reaching the end of their lifecycle; and about changes in end-customer demand.

To a great extent, inventory imbalances are the result of uncertainty. Strong relationships that foster greater information-sharing will be key to cutting through that uncertainty to keep inventories at levels that will meet the needs of companies and customers alike.

Strengthen Product Supplier Partnerships to Address Current Supply Chain Dynamics

Strengthen Product Supplier Partnerships

As supply chain constraints have shifted traditional buyer-focused procurement and supply-chain systems into being more supplier-focused, some procurement experts are calling 2022 “the year of the supplier.” Businesses today are facing pressure to diversify and localize their supplier base, putting manufacturers in a stronger position.

In this new landscape, companies are increasingly adopting a supplier relationship management (SRM) approach to create better working relationships. This mindset envisions the buyer-seller dynamic as an active partnership that can bring value to your company.

When correctly implemented, SRM creates a mutually beneficial relationship where your organization and its suppliers are working together to reach common goals. It helps supply chain managers ensure safety, security, compliance, and cost savings at all stages of the process.

To adopt an effective SRM approach, four strategies suggested by operations services provider Symplr include:

  • Learning about your suppliers
  • Educating them about your organization
  • Communicating and keeping them informed about the big picture
  • Setting clear expectations and KPIs and checking on them regularly

It also makes sense that in a world where companies are highly focused on managing how customers, employees, and the general public experience their brand, they extend that focus to the supplier experience as well. In today’s supplier-focused market, some companies are going beyond SRM to practice supplier experience management (SXM), which engages suppliers through many different components like bidding, information management, communication, insights, and support.

Organizations can improve the experience they offer to suppliers by creating an SXM road map, mapping out supplier journeys through your systems, designing a supplier communication plan, and adopting new digital solutions, among other steps, according to a recent article by global management consulting firm Kearney.

Ultimately, it’s no longer sufficient for companies and product suppliers to adopt distinct buyer and seller roles. In the new supply chain environment, both must be focused on developing authentic partnerships to succeed.

Dynamic stands ready to help you with this process and serve as a true strategic partner in your supply chain’s success. We acquire products only through OEM-authorized channels. Our expertise and connections with more than 800 technology providers can help your company realize supply chain savings and plan ahead for important events including product End of Life (EOL).

Learn more about Dynamic Technology Supply Chain Management solutions.

The Supply Chain’s People Problem: What It Means for Your Business

Supply Chain’s People Problem

In a recent report, CBS News noted that at the Port of Los Angeles, incoming cargo is straining warehouse capacity.  The number of containers waiting to be shipped inland has jumped from 9,000 to 35,000, and incoming cargo ships may soon be backed up in the harbor. The cause of this disruption is not wildfires, storms, geopolitical forces, or trade barriers, but rather a lack of railroad workers to haul containers out of the port. That’s just one problem in a single location, but it illustrates the fact that labor shortages have become a major source of continuing supply chain disruptions.

Supply chain labor shortages have made headlines throughout the COVID pandemic, and they were already in evidence long before the term “the Great Resignation” was coined. While COVID clearly made labor shortages worse, it’s not the only factor driving the problem. Waves of retiring baby boomers, a lack of critical technical talent, and the new expectations of younger workers have all made it difficult to recruit and retain the right people. And the problem is not going away soon.

Gaining More Resiliency While Reducing Vulnerability

The question is what can be done about it. Much of the problem is, of course, outside of any one company’s control. Manufacturers, for example, cannot solve their suppliers’ labor problems for them. But they can work to increase visibility into their partners’ operations to identify problems early on; keep the channels of communication with partners open; expand their supplier base to reduce reliance on a limited number of partners; and build robust risk management capabilities to make supply chains more resilient and less vulnerable to the labor shortages their partners might face.

There are also internal actions companies can take. Typically, much of the supply chain is in-house and performed by a company’s employees—and that reality should prompt companies to revisit their talent strategies. A recent study from the Pew Research Center, which looked at why people quit their jobs last year, offers some insights that can inform those efforts.

Pew found that less than one-third of the people who quit their jobs last year did so for COVID-related reasons. Instead, many pointed to low pay as a top reason, cited by about two-thirds of respondents. But workers also pointed to a range of other reasons, some of which could be addressed by targeted changes to company policies. For example, child-care issues were cited by nearly half of employees with young children, which suggests that daycare programs could be an advantage in the labor market. And more than 4 out of 10 respondents cited a lack of flexibility in work hours; here, companies might consider strategies such as flex time, job-sharing, and the use of digital technology to support more remote work.

“Soft” issues are also critical. About two-thirds of respondents said they quit because “they felt disrespected at work.”  Executives should take that to heart because they set the tone for a respectful company culture. They can back that up with training and clear career paths that demonstrate respect.

Overall, addressing the supply chain labor shortage is not just about higher pay, but also about how the company relates to employees and their lifestyles. There is no silver bullet solution available. Instead, companies will need to consider “all of the above” to create a clear employee value proposition that will enable companies to attract and retain the employees they need to keep their supply chains moving.  It’s a puzzle±but those companies that crack it will be in a better position to keep their supply chains running smoothly and efficiently.

Disruptions Make Supply Chain Risk Scoring an Essential Management Discipline

Knowing the Score

Supply chain disruption has unfortunately become something of a norm. The interconnected, time-sensitive, and global nature of today’s supply chains means that an event can quickly have a broad ripple effect. And there is a growing range of potential disruptive triggers out there, from product recalls to cyberattacks, political turmoil, and violent storms.

Supply chain disruptions can emerge quickly and unexpectedly. As McKinsey & Company noted, “Consider the sudden eruption of a long dormant volcano that disrupts a supplier you didn’t know was in your supply chain….” Predicting such scenarios “is likely impossible for even the most risk-conscious managers.”

But being unable to predict supply chain disruptions does not mean that you can’t prepare for them.

With the broad range of threats facing operations today, companies need to have a formal, structured approach to identifying, understanding, and managing supply chain risk. Developing a disciplined approach can be a daunting challenge—but it can be made easier with a risk-scoring assessment that uncovers the supply chain’s weak points and identifies where disruptions are likely to have the biggest impact.

A Self-Diagnostic Tool Designed to Measure Supply Chain Risk Exposure

Effective supply chain risk management must be as thorough as possible. For example, our Dynamic Supply Chain Risk Scoring methodology provides a rigorous process that includes an in-depth analysis of the Bill of Materials (BOM) for products and the supply chains associated with each material. It evaluates supply chains across a set of major risk categories, based on Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FEMA).

For example, it identifies problems such as:

  • Rigid or overly specialized component specifications that can limit the ability to adjust to supply chain disruptions.
  • Over-reliance on custom products and the limited number of suppliers that can provide those products.
  • Lack of visibility into the lifecycle and likely end-of-life dates for key components.
  • Insufficient inventory buffers that increase the risk of supply stockouts.

After identifying any weaknesses and vulnerabilities, Dynamic’s methodology ranks and prioritizes specific risks based on the likelihood of a potential disruption and the level of financial, reputational, and operational harm it might cause. Armed with that prioritized list, supply chain managers can allocate resources to target their top threats and move proactively to mitigate potential risks—modifying sourcing strategies to spread risk across more suppliers, for example, or stocking up on or finding alternatives for components that are reaching the end of their life. Over time, they can use the assessment as a guide to re-evaluating specific risks as conditions change.

When performed correctly, a risk evaluation and scoring effort is of significant undertaking. It can take several weeks to complete and involves responding to dozens of detailed questions. But the task is well worth the time that’s required.

To provide insight into the range of risks that should be covered, Dynamic offers a complimentary self-diagnosis checklist consisting of 10 questions that companies can use to quickly gain initial insights into their level of supply chain exposure, and better understand how a full risk-scoring effort could help them.

In today’s environment, companies can’t predict where the next supply chain disruption will be coming from. But they can build and strengthen their risk management capabilities and make their supply chains more resilient. A thorough risk-scoring initiative can be a powerful first step in the effort to take a more comprehensive, disciplined approach to managing supply chain risk.

How Artificial Intelligence Is Driving Product Lifecycle Management

How Artificial Intelligence Is Driving Product Lifecycle Management

Today artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly being integrated into platforms across industries, and the healthcare sector is no exception, with AI being used to support medical device Product Lifecycle Management (PLM).

The ability to apply machine learning to PLM systems can help medical device manufacturers drive insights more effectively from product data that has been collected over many months, or even years, said digital transformation provider Kalypso. This sort of “product lifecycle intelligence” applies AI and automation to help users develop predictions and to recommend improvements, ultimately allowing manufacturers to prevent costly product delays and failures.

Kalypso detailed how one top medical device manufacturer addressed its global challenges by using AI and machine learning to drive measurable business results. “By combining PLM with product lifecycle intelligence,” they said, “companies can bridge the gap in PLM analytics capability today, allowing them to understand current performance, historical averages, and the variances across different business units and functions. These insights can help them develop more meaningful customer experiences, while driving business and product value.”

A Higher Level of Guidance

AI-powered product insights platforms now exist that help companies create and market their products more effectively, and they can contribute meaningfully to every stage of the product development cycle, said AI innovator Rodrigo Pantigas, CPO and co-founder of AI-driven insights startup Birdie, in a recent article for technology news site VentureBeat. Using the right platform during the different stages of the product development cycle can help companies maximize their return on investment.

For example, when conducting competitive assessments and evaluating trends during the initial development stage, AI-driven product intelligence can provide a higher level of guidance beyond human concept testing and social listening. “Instead of latent indicators caused by surfacing reading of comments today, product intelligence platforms can crunch the totality of conversations to understand where customer preferences are going,” reported Pantigas.

Once a product has been built and is ready to launch, “the right intelligence platforms can tap into existing conversations to understand existing customer perception both about the anticipation of this launch and consumers’ ongoing opinions about the product category and competition—which can also help to identify product issues and crises early on,” said Pantigas. “It allows you to contrast your product against the competitive set, as well as identify channels that could help get your product in front of a much wider audience.”

Real-time Metrics

AI offers the ability to generate real-time metrics on a product’s health, growth, and risk factors, which is “important for successful product managers to add an additional layer of efficiency with strategic and operational decision-making,” noted Skyjed, an AI platform provider for product teams. The ability to access data about a product’s health on the fly helps teams make more effective decisions as market conditions evolve, providing them with a competitive advantage.

Dynamic Technologies has a role to play in helping your company identify and manage the lifecycles of connected hardware and software in your supply chain. Our technology supply chain management services include product sourcing, supply chain design, and management, and product procurement. Review our case studies and learn more about how we can help you with your next project.

Medical Device Cybersecurity Challenges and How to Counter Them

Cybersecurity Challenges

As cyber threats to the healthcare sector continue to ramp up in frequency and severity in the U.S. and globally, they increase the risk of rendering medical devices inoperable and disrupting patient care. In a worst-case scenario, ransomware attacks on medical devices can put protected health information at risk or even threaten lives. In this environment, healthcare cybersecurity experts report the need for improved standards and better efforts by hospitals and manufacturers to share responsibility for medical device security.

One of the challenges healthcare organizations face is defending older legacy medical devices – which often were not built with security in mind—against the growing threats of hacker attacks, according to a recent MedTech Dive article. Hospitals contend that as the end users, they bear a heavier burden for securing medical devices than medical device manufacturers do, and the American Hospital Association wants to see the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) mandate lifetime support of medical devices by manufacturers.

MedTech Dive also says the FDA has warned that unpatched medical devices “will become increasingly vulnerable to cyberattacks over time and has called for more communication from OEMs when they can no longer support software upgrades and patches needed to address their devices’ cybersecurity risks.” 

Mitigating Risk Throughout the Product Life Cycle 

According to the FDA, the need for effective cybersecurity to ensure medical device functionality and safety has become more important with the increasing use of wireless, internet- and network-connected devices; portable media like USB drives; and the frequent electronic exchange of medical device-related health information.

The agency in April released draft guidance titled “Cybersecurity in Medical Devices: Quality System Considerations and Content of Premarket Submissions,” which is intended to provide recommendations to agency staff and the industry regarding cybersecurity device design, labeling, and the documentation that the FDA recommends be included in premarket submissions for devices with cybersecurity risk.

This new draft guidance replaces an earlier 2018 draft version and is intended to further emphasize the importance of ensuring that devices are designed securely, enabling emerging cybersecurity risks to be mitigated throughout the total product life cycle, and to outline more clearly the FDA’s recommendations for premarket submission content to address cybersecurity concerns. The draft was shared for public comment between April 8 and July 7 as Docket Number FDA-2021-D-1158-0001 on the Regulations.gov website, but as of this writing, it is not yet considered final or ready for implementation.

When securing medical devices, some of the primary challenges IT departments face include non-secure device designs, standardized configurations, patching restrictions, and insider threats, according to cybersecurity solutions provider Cybeats. They recommend the following four best practices to help healthcare organizations improve the security of their medical devices:

  • Endpoint protection – Securing not only the medical device but also the endpoints they connect to, such as workstations
  • Access management – Binding device authentication to the corporate authentication system
  • Asset management – Maintaining a reliable inventory of medical devices and software components
  • Vulnerability management – Conducting a vulnerability assessment of the software deployed on medical devices and reviewing vulnerability disclosures provided by vendors

For more medical device security guidance, visit:

Read Related Dynamic Technology Solutions Content:

Supply Chain Cybersecurity: The Ukrainian War Increases Your Company’s Risk

For Your Supply Chain Summer Reading List: A thriller, a graphic novel, and a “How-To” book

Supply Chain Summer Reading List

It’s tempting, as you head out on vacation this summer, to leave the laptop at home and turn your attention to the best-selling mystery novel you picked up at the airport while waiting for your delayed flight to finally board.  But there’s an argument to be made for filling your suitcase with books that explore—and offer thought-provoking remedies to—the critical mysteries that you wrangle with every day: How to keep your supply chain moving in the face of natural and man-made disasters. How to create and manage a product development process that maximizes profitability and remains resilient regardless of market forces. How to forecast new challenges and turn them into opportunities before they wreak havoc with your business. How to infuse the spirit of innovation, experimentation, and constant questioning throughout your company, using crises to spur growth.

Not the relaxing read you were looking for? On the contrary, we would submit that the following collection of books may well provide not only solace in this challenging time but bring you back to work both reenergized and recommitted.

In Ian Bremmer’s new book, The Power of Crisis, this renowned political scientist explores the paralysis that many business leaders have felt when confronting recent global health emergencies, climate change, and even artificial intelligence, especially when consensus on actions to take has become so difficult to reach. But, through a careful look at both historic and current strategies, he’s able to demonstrate that “governments, corporations, and every concerned citizen … can use these coming crises to create … worldwide prosperity and opportunity.”

MIT professor and serial entrepreneur Yossi Sheffi, who spoke to Dynamic in a recent edition of Value Chain, provides similar evidence in The Resilent Enterprise. Building on his 2016 volume, The Power of Resilience, Sheffi uses real-world case studies from such companies as Nokia, Dell, UPS, Apple, and Toyota to show how the flexibility—and resilience—these companies have built into their supply chains have allowed them, despite the volatile marketplace in which they operate, to balance security, redundancy, and short-term profits, reducing risk and achieving competitive advantage.

In Transforming Supply Chains, Sydney-based supply chain thought leaders John Gattorna and Deborah Ellis take a similar stance, showing how companies can successfully incorporate geopolitics, climate change, social media, and fragmenting consumer behavior into both their supply chain design and their daily operations. Toward that same end, Risk—and Your Supply Chain, by supply chain and procurement leaders Omer Abdullah and Subash Chandar, reexamines standard approaches to crisis and risk management and concludes that business leaders can not only safeguard against current crises, but prepare for those yet to come.

The mindset necessary to take this approach, argues supply chain consultant Nicolas Vandeput in Data Science for Supply Chain Forecasting, is rooted in such scientific method principles as experimentation, observation, and constant questioning. Product management veteran Matthew Fitzgerald applies this approach to product lifecycle management in Trees Don’t Grow to the Sky, warning, in the words of the German proverb from which he took his book’s title, against straight-line thinking, pointing out that “the product, the customer, the market will not continue to grow simply because they have always grown in the past.”

Still too heavy for the beach? Then consider illustrator Dean Motter’s recent graphic interpretation of the late management guru Eliyahu M. Goldratt’s 1984 best-selling business novel, The Goal, which tells the story of a harried plant manager who saves his factory after a former professor introduces him to the Theory of Constraints. Or Devil in the Chain, billed as “a supply chain management business thriller.” In business turnaround expert James Amoah’s story, a family uses the principles of supply chain management to lead their chocolate business from likely failure to success.

Inspired? Then start putting together your Christmas gift list today. One suggestion: Sustainable Procurement, due out in December, purchasing authority Jonathan O’Brien’s argument that savvy management of supply chains is intricately tied to the quest for sustainability.