Office notebook. Does the year 2023 usher in the era of dependencies controlled? After Covid-19 and then the energy crisis, controlling the supply chain has become a major concern, even in small businesses, which in turn say “affected by a decline in sovereignty”says Marc Debets, president of BY.0 Group, a strategy consulting firm specializing in the development of business-to-business (B2B) ecosystems.
In support of his statements, he presents the figures from the second edition of the Corporate Sovereignty Barometer to be published in the coming days. Conducted from September 26 to October 19, 2022 among 504 production, purchasing and business managers (by Opinion Way for BY.0 Group), it reveals that one in four companies do not judge themselves “sovereign”, i.e. 25% against 18% the previous year; 40% say they are dependent on foreign countries (compared to 33% in 2021). And 35% think that this dependence can affect their capacity for growth (compared to 32% in 2021), if they were to run out of lithium or cobalt for the batteries of electric cars, for example, or of paper for a press publisher.
When we discuss “sovereignty” in business, the term is restrictive: it is more often a question of autonomy and independence with regard to suppliers located in another country than of political power. To designate the goods or products on which the supply was critical, in 2021, companies quoted generic words like ” materials “ and “products”.
“Companies were confronted in 2022 with supply disruptions linked to the war in Ukraine, to the point of raising the question of the relocation of production”
In 2022, the items are much more precise: electronic components, packaging, paper, for semi-finished or aluminum products, wood, paper, plastic, oil, mustard, for raw materials, according to the Sovereignty Barometer. Marc Debets sees it “an awareness of companies on the lack of control of their supply chain and a better identification of their critical resources”.
The stakes are high. After the sudden border closures due to the health crisis, companies were faced in 2022 with supply disruptions linked to the war in Ukraine, to the point of regularly asking the question of relocating production.
But in terms of strategy and management, this is not the solution chosen by companies to rethink interdependencies in 2023. Only 5% of companies questioned have undertaken relocation actions (12% in retail), and 5% think about it (15% in industry and 15% in companies with more than 250 employees). For 90%, relocationn “is not on the agenda”.
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