European companies expect disruptions in global supply chains to become more frequent and many of them are considering increasing sourcing from the EU. These are the first preliminary results of a new survey conducted by RETHINK-GSC.
As part of RETHINK-GSC’s “Supply Chain Disruption Survey”, companies from Austria, Denmark, Hungary and Germany responded that since 2019 disruptions to global supply chains, relevant to their companies’ operations, were widespread, but — so far — mostly temporary. However, many respondents expect disruptions to increase, and some consider shifting from suppliers from countries outside the European Union to countries inside the EU.
Global supply chains have been facing substantial challenges over the last couple of years: the COVID-19 pandemic, the US-China trade war, the Russian invasion of the Ukraine as well as other geopolitical conflicts, and the impacts of climate change. These disruptions have revealed long-standing vulnerabilities in supply chains, especially those associated with concentration and dependence on a single economy or region for the supply of critical products.
As part of RETHINK-GSC’s company survey, the participants were asked about various aspects of their production networks, their relationships with strategic suppliers and their adaptation strategies. Among other things, the survey’s focus is on changes in production networks in the period from 2019 to today and the responses to unexpected supply bottlenecks.
The first round of the “Supply Chain Disruption Survey” was completed in spring 2024, and a detailed analysis of the data is ongoing with first publications becoming available soon.
Participating companies will also receive a dedicated benchmark report, and second round of the survey will take place in autumn 2024. Companies interested to participate in the second round of the survey can contact us.
