SCM World launched its annual Future of Supply Chain survey. According to Kevin O'Marah, who directs SCM World's cutting-edge, practitioner-driven supply chain content and research, says, "We’ve historically gotten well over 1,000 responses, and have been able to tap into the collective foresight of practitioners from every corner of the planet. It’s a pretty long survey, and I am always grateful for the time and thought people put into it.
To whet your appetite, here are three long-range, contrarian predictions that should matter to supply chain professionals.
1. Fall River Rising—Last week’s Wall Street Journal featured an article on job creation and automation titled “Workers: Fear Not the Robot Apocalypse.” The hidden story behind that headline, however, is what caught my eye: the rise of secondary cities such as Fall River, Massachusetts, whose industrial past left behind a core of decent buildings and a workforce plenty suitable to new economy ventures. Amazon is ramping up hiring in a fulfillment center there and breathing new life into the city.
2. Africa Booms—Africa believers (myself included) have been wrong so often in the past that I flinch making this prediction for the future. That said, it is hard to ignore the basic demographics of a massive continent that is expected to number 3.5 billion people by 2100.
3. The Arts Employ the Masses—Of all my predictions, this one gets rejected most consistently. And yet, the mechanics of the supply chain we are building all point to great opportunity in the arts.
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