Invited by Beatrice Felder, CEO of BuyIn, the $20 Billion joint venture that centralises the global procurement of Deutsche Telekom and Orange Business Services.
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Beatrice Felder, CEO of BuyIn, invited Matthew to Paris to present the Future of Supply Chains to the organisation's hundred-strong global leadership team. BuyIn is a $20 Billion joint venture between Deutsche Telekom and Orange Business Services that centralises both companies' global procurement under one umbrella.
The backdrop was a hard one. In a world where Polycrisis and Permacrisis are spoken in the same sentence, buying goods and services had become more difficult, as trade wars raged and supply chains choked, and more costly amid historic global inflation. Even so, BuyIn was one of very few organisations to outperform its KPIs and peers, as bulk buying and forward buying of everything from computer hardware to IT services paid off.
"Normal, as it was, pre-COVID-19 and pre the war in Ukraine, no longer exists."Matthew Griffin, Paris, May 2023
Paris itself made the point. As riots over the rise in the pension age spread across the city and 80,000 tonnes of uncollected rubbish burned in the streets, supply chain disruption was on full display, and the team was clearly not resting on its laurels as it looked ahead to the next five years.
Matthew argued that even as energy prices are eventually reined in and central banks raise interest rates to tame inflation, a return to normal is highly unlikely, because normal as it was before COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine no longer exists.
The session then explored the move to a bi-polar world shaped by Belt and Road Initiatives, corporate blacklisting, standards bifurcation, strategic dislocation, trade wars and a weakening global reserve currency, along with friend shoring, shifting global value chains and the potential of technology to flatten and eliminate supply chains altogether.
311 Intelligence
What this means for your leadership team
Plan for a new normal, not the old one.
Matthew was clear that the world before COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine no longer exists. Procurement plans built on a return to it will fail.
Treat geopolitics as a supply chain input.
Trade wars, corporate blacklisting and standards bifurcation now decide where and how organisations can buy.
Watch technologies that remove steps.
The session showed how technology could flatten supply chains, cutting parts and suppliers rather than just managing them better.
Three questions for your next leadership meeting
Which of our suppliers sit on the wrong side of a trade war?
How much of our procurement plan assumes a return to normal?
Which parts of our supply chain could technology remove entirely?
The trends and technologies behind this session
From the 311 Starburst, the 311 Strategic Intelligence Unit’s map of the technologies and trends shaping the next 50 years.
What does the end of normal mean for supply chains?
Organisations must plan for continued disruption from trade wars, inflation and geopolitics rather than wait for conditions to settle.
How are trade wars changing supply chains?
The 311 Starburst tracks tit for tat tariff battles that are slowing world trade and redrawing supply chains, and rates the trend Act now.
What are flattening supply chains?
3D printing, electrification and chip integration are cutting part counts and shortening supply chains. The 311 Starburst expects wide use around 2032.
How can 311 brief our leadership team on this?
Through a private executive briefing or leadership workshop, tailored to your sector, in person first.
Bring this to your leadership teamA private executive briefing or leadership workshop, tailored to your sector. In person first, anywhere in the world.
Analysis by the 311 Strategic Intelligence Unit, from Matthew Griffin’s session and 311 data.
If Matthew gave this session today
Whole industries may soon be disrupted in a day.
The codex sets out the forces accelerating global disruption and how close we are to disrupting whole industries in a day, the same forces that could flatten or eliminate today's supply chains.
