“Amateurs talk Strategy. Professionals talk Logistics.”

“If the 20th century was an American century and the 19th the European, the 21st century will be [a] global century […].” (IESE, 2014)

Though this quote of Harvard Business School dean Nitin Nohria originally had another context, it is very suitable for describing the shape of the global economy that you already explored in the previous studymag. Now we would like to focus on the implications of global production networks for companies. Establishing smooth organizational processes is a challenge for every company and “[…] supply chain management plays a key role here. The importance of a well-performing supply chain management organization grows as the production network is globalized.” (Abele et al., 2008, p. 282). In uncertain and fast-changing business environments, it is crucial for companies to be aware of the supply chains relevant to them. Competitive advantages are most likely achieved by those companies that are able to build strong supply chain networks (Hugos, 2018, p. 2).