In the post-COVID world, can businesses and individuals be certain they will obtain supplies needed to do business and survive? We can all remember during COVID, many drugs and medical equipment were not available. As of August 2021, many countries have only received vaccines for less than 15% of the population, even threatening developed countries like Japan's ability to host the Olympics. Ordering basic home goods currently have lead times of nearly a year. Tariffs and escalating trade wars are resulting in inflation as raw materials and minerals grow scarce, best illustrated by rapidly increasing home prices. Even the bedrock of American manufacturing has seen grave impacts; Ford, for instance, is still producing trucks but cannot deliver them because they are missing vital computer chips. These issues will exacerbate in the coming years as regulations, disruptive events, and pragmatic realities impact globalized supply chains.
How serious is this crisis and what should countries, companies, and individuals do now to address it? Has it become the new norm that corporate counsel and business advisors must account for in strategic decision making?