Coronavirus breaks global supply chains (the crisis and its future solutions)

Abstract

The sudden onset of the coronavirus and its associated transmission paralysis and quarantine have brought with it unprecedented effects of supply chains worldwide, and the study aims to highlight the impact of the coronavirus on global supply chains compared to previous crises. The study concluded that the coronavirus pandemic is the strongest crisis to hit international supply chains, that the defects of these chains were revealed after they were a source of competitive advantage, and that the longer the supply chain, the more vulnerable it is to the crises. It was also found that the strength of the crisis lies at the beginning of its spread in China, the world's factory, the major supplier of various industries and global companies by participating in all global supply chains. The study recently recommended that companies should take lessons from this crisis by going to safe supply chains (green, digital, blue, and sustainable), and make investments in mapping their supply networks so that they do not have to work blindly when the next crisis occurs. This study also recommended the necessity of switching to the (China + 1) strategy or the (China Dragon) strategy to ensure the continuity of supply.