Oddly, however, concerns about war remain largely off the radar. Are we fooling ourselves? And if so, what should we do differently?
Business as Unusual Data collected by SCM World in September 2016 from 1,409 supply chain professionals around the world put the risk of ‘war, terrorism or other geopolitical issues’ very low on the list of worries. Ranked by the percentage declaring themselves “very concerned”, the threat of war was 12th of 13 separate risks considered in the survey, below things like counterfeit products and natural disasters.
Does this make sense at a time when Korea, Syria, Ukraine and the southern Sahara are all making headlines with armed conflict either underway or impending? Does it make sense at a time when terrorist attacks, however low-tech, have become downright commonplace? Does it make sense at a time when nationalism is clearly and ominously rising everywhere on earth?
Foreign Policy magazine lists its top ten conflicts to watch in 2017. In addition to some like Afghanistan and Yemen, which are not important to most companies’ supply networks, the list includes Mexico and Turkey, both of which are important.
