Over the past years the World Economic Forum, in collaboration with Kearney, has developed key tools, including a barometer and compass, to anticipate the ongoing reconfiguration of global value chains and mobilized the manufacturing community to identify the best responses to disruptions caused by three megatrends – Emerging Technologies, Climate Change, and Geopolitical Tensions. Yet, as global developments continue to increase in intensity and frequency, the question of which regions and countries to invest in next has become top-of-mind for manufacturing companies. Propelled by priorities such as digital operations, multi-local value chains, sustainability, and customer-driven value, companies and governments are seeking a comprehensive understanding of the factors and criteria for the reconfiguration of value chains.
Moving forward, to navigate near-term uncertainty but also to strengthen resilience in the long term, both continuous adaptation – to address disruptions as they emerge – and fundamental transformation – to react to a potential re-wiring of global value chains – are required. For that, within the scope of this initiative, organizations are driving a continuous learning journey:
– Assessing country-level readiness for the next generation of manufacturing
– Understanding how manufacturers are reconfiguring their value chains and identify where and how to manufacture next
– Investigating potential archetypes of value chain configuration in the years 2030, 2040, and 2050
– Deep diving current and potential future industrial strategies
For more information, please contact Kyle Winters - kyle.winters@weforum.org
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This article was updated on 13 April 2020.
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