Page 6 - ISQ UK Aprl 2020

Supply Chain Disruptions

Given the increasingly globalised nature of supply chains, viral pandemics like
COVID-19 can have prolonged negative knock-on effects to the economy.

Storage

Products
Suppliers
Distribution

Retailers
Manufacturers

Consumers

The U.K. will have to learn to become a little more self-sufficient
as global supply chains and just-in-time techniques will KEY TAKEAWAYS:
pragmatically be slightly less relied upon. For a U.K. economy on • Actions by the U.K. government and the Bank of
the cusp of practically embracing a post-Brexit world, this ideally England have surprised many both in terms of their
should set off a new epoch of national entrepreneurship and size and speed of announcement;
general initiative, backed by sufficient government spending to
fund an active pro-regions policy. • Immediate objectives have to be centred on virus
control and the related subject of lockdown duration;
Flexibility and pragmatism are going to be central for any country
trying to bounce back from the extreme challenges of the • Brexit and regional policy initiatives are highly likely
COVID-19 period. These traits should play to traditional British to be postponed to 2021 at the earliest;
strengths but will require careful management by both the • The U.K. will have to learn to become a little more
government and the Bank of England. However, given the sharp self-sufficient as global supply chains and just-in-time
increase in national indebtedness that the crisis has manifested, techniques will pragmatically be slightly less relied
unless we want to spend later years in the 2020s talking about upon.
inflation or sovereign rating agency cuts, it is essential they are
successfully implemented. As with any period of huge challenge,
ultimately emerging victorious matters little if you cannot offer up
a suitably attractive peacetime.

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