As COVID-19 continues to spread, efforts to contain infections in China have created social and economic ripples around the world – affecting both small business owners and Fortune 1000 giants. Despite the Chinese Government’s efforts to push its industries to return to work, it’s unlikely that production levels will return to normal quickly. With China’s material, labour, sourcing and labour chains disrupted, does it make sense to search for new suppliers?
It’s important to realise that no country is truly immune to the effects of the virus. As South Korea’s experience has shown, what happened in China can happen anywhere. Before making any hasty moves, advisory firm Gartner has outlined several prudent steps and phases to help you re-regulate your disrupted supply chain. In the short run, focus on identifying the compromised parts of the chain and assess how customer spending is affected; then in the coming quarter, do your best to balance supply and demand while building up buffer stock.
Should your current supplier be unable to keep up with current needs, HKTDC’s Business Matching portal can put you in touch with the region’s most reputable and reliable suppliers.
More free service/support offering to SMEs : https://smesupport.hktdc.com/
