How is the coronavirus impacting the supply chain?

There are over 80,000 global cases of the coronavirus worldwide.

China has been the worst-hit, with 77,658 cases and 2,663 deaths reported. But how is the deadly virus impacting the supply chain? Supply Chain Digital takes a closer look.

Despite there being more visibility in supply chains than ever before, companies are still monitoring how destructive the coronavirus will be to their operations. 

Research from The Hackett Group has shown the importance of supply chain visibility. Josh Nelson, Supply Chain Principal of The Hackett Group’s Strategy and Business Transformation Practice, affirms it’s vital to understand the risks in order to ensure the best approach. "The best thing that companies can do is simply know their supply chain risks, and preemptively develop mitigation approaches. It can also be helpful to consider increasing the levels of buffer inventory," says Nelson.

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"For now, if your company or its key suppliers carries limited raw material inventory and relies heavily on Asian sources of supply, you are at high risk of disruption.  Those that are currently in this predicament are actively evaluating inventory and production levels of critical components and developing alternative plans. As in other areas of business, those companies who identify specific supply risks and actively manage it, will find solutions or at least mitigate the impact. Those that don’t are at the mercy of the virus and the public response."

However, due to the coronavirus there has been a significant boom in handheld game downloads. The outbreak in China has accelerated downloads of apps and games from millions of quarantined households. The findings from analytics platform, App Annie, has shown that there has been over 222 million downloads in China from Apple’s online store since the start of February. Figures surged by 40% compared to the average for the entirety of 2019.

For more information on all topics for Procurement, Supply Chain & Logistics - please take a look at the latest edition of Supply Chain Digital magazine.

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