Executive summary

In a new world economy, companies’ supply chain goals are changing fast, broadening beyond just operational and cost efficiency.

A holistic approach to supply chain management is required, with new indicators of supply chain sustainability and resilience. This is further exacerbated by continuous geo-political tensions, requiring companies to calibrate their supply chain “to just-in-case”.

However, while companies regard improving the performance of the supply chain in this way as crucial for reducing risk, they realise there is a major gap between their performance today and what they need to do to achieve their goals.

Indirect or deep-tier suppliers appear to be the weakest link. Our survey data shows that companies do least to monitor their performance, and do not regard their environmental and social practices as especially important.

Because companies do not regard it as especially important, environmental and social practices in the supply chain are a major source of risk.

The financial resilience of supply chains is uncertain. While companies recognise the importance of financial stability throughout the supply chain, they are not confident about direct suppliers’ access to finance and are even less so for indirect suppliers.

While companies recognise the need to identify issues early, they struggle to react swiftly, especially when it comes to onboarding and paying new suppliers.

Collaboration throughout the supply chain ecosystem remains a challenge.

Cascading consistent standards, taking a shared problem-solving approach and agreeing shared objectives are difficult for around half of companies.

Technology and data offer tools to help increase visibility and cut through complexity.

While our research clearly shows that there is much to be done, there is also clear appetite among companies to work with their financial institutions to address the gaps.