MIT Sloan Management Review Article on Accelerating Supply Chain Scenario Planning

The pandemic showcases a need to make slow-moving supply chains nimbler. Using data and collaborating with partners on scenario planning can empower companies to adapt.

In spring 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic had disrupted supply chains across numerous major industries worldwide and showed no signs of abating, most organizations had limited vision in terms of how they should prepare to resume business activities. This lack of clarity resulted from a confluence of uncertainties, including when an effective vaccine might be widely available and what mandates governments might implement to curb the coronavirus’s spread. As organizations and their supply chain partners have turned to scenario planning to help them “see” actionable paths amid the pandemic, such planning has become faster, nearer term, more inclusive, and digital.1 Our field research has found that digital technologies, data, and collaboration with supply chain partners are central to this effort.

About the Author

Nitin Joglekar (@njoglekar) is an associate professor of operations and technology management at the Questrom School of Business at Boston University and an editor for the Industry Studies & Public Policy department at the journal Production and Operations Management. Shardul Phadnis (@shardulphadnis) is an associate professor and director of research at the Malaysia Institute for Supply Chain Innovation and a researcher with the MIT Global SCALE Network.

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