Question

You are supposed to make a comprehensive web search regarding “the impact of coronavirus on supply chains” and discuss each question below in terms of the three dimensions of sustainability. Please make sure you cite the sources (books, articles, magazines etc.) within the text and list the full references of each citation at the end of the report.
•   What is coronavirus's impact on the sustainability of supply chains? (Please discuss social, environmental and economic impacts)
•   How coronavirus will affect the global supply chains?
•   How can the impacts of coronavirus be mitigated for sustainability of supply chain?
•   How can supply chain resiliency be rebuild after coronavirus?

Answer 1

•   What is coronavirus's impact on the sustainability of supply chains? (Please discuss social, environmental and economic impacts)

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses which may cause illness in animals or humans. In humans, several coronaviruses are known to cause respiratory infections ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). The most recently discovered coronavirus causes coronavirus disease COVID-19.

COVID-19 is the infectious disease caused by the most recently discovered coronavirus. This new virus and disease were unknown before the outbreak began in Wuhan, China, in December 2019.

Symptoms of COVID-19

The most common symptoms of COVID-19 are fever, tiredness, and dry cough. Some patients may have aches and pains, nasal congestion, runny nose, sore throat or diarrhea. These symptoms are usually mild and begin gradually. Some people become infected but don’t develop any symptoms and don't feel unwell. Most people (about 80%) recover from the disease without needing special treatment. Around 1 out of every 6 people who gets COVID-19 becomes seriously ill and develops difficulty breathing. Older people, and those with underlying medical problems like high blood pressure, heart problems or diabetes, are more likely to develop serious illness. People with fever, cough and difficulty breathing should seek medical attention.

How does it spread?

People can catch COVID-19 from others who have the virus. The disease can spread from person to person through small droplets from the nose or mouth which are spread when a person with COVID-19 coughs or exhales. These droplets land on objects and surfaces around the person. Other people then catch COVID-19 by touching these objects or surfaces, then touching their eyes, nose or mouth. People can also catch COVID-19 if they breathe in droplets from a person with COVID-19 who coughs out or exhales droplets. This is why it is important to stay more than 1 meter (3 feet) away from a person who is sick.

WHO is assessing ongoing research on the ways COVID-19 is spread and will continue to share updated findings.

Protection measures for everyone

Stay aware of the latest information on the COVID-19 outbreak, available on the WHO website and through your national and local public health authority. Many countries around the world have seen cases of COVID-19 and several have seen outbreaks. Authorities in China and some other countries have succeeded in slowing or stopping their outbreaks. However, the situation is unpredictable so check regularly for the latest news.

You can reduce your chances of being infected or spreading COVID-19 by taking some simple precautions:

• Regularly and thoroughly clean your hands with an alcohol-based hand rub or wash them with soap and water.
  Why? Washing your hands with soap and water or using alcohol-based hand rub kills viruses that may be on your hands.
• Maintain at least 1 metre (3 feet) distance between yourself and anyone who is coughing or sneezing.
  Why? When someone coughs or sneezes they spray small liquid droplets from their nose or mouth which may contain virus. If you are too close, you can breathe in the droplets, including the COVID-19 virus if the person coughing has the disease.
• Avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth.
  Why? Hands touch many surfaces and can pick up viruses. Once contaminated, hands can transfer the virus to your eyes, nose or mouth. From there, the virus can enter your body and can make you sick.
• Make sure you, and the people around you, follow good respiratory hygiene. This means covering your mouth and nose with your bent elbow or tissue when you cough or sneeze. Then dispose of the used tissue immediately.
  Why? Droplets spread virus. By following good respiratory hygiene you protect the people around you from viruses such as cold, flu and COVID-19.
• Stay home if you feel unwell. If you have a fever, cough and difficulty breathing, seek medical attention and call in advance. Follow the directions of your local health authority.
  Why? National and local authorities will have the most up to date information on the situation in your area. Calling in advance will allow your health care provider to quickly direct you to the right health facility. This will also protect you and help prevent spread of viruses and other infections.
• Keep up to date on the latest COVID-19 hotspots (cities or local areas where COVID-19 is spreading widely). If possible, avoid traveling to places – especially if you are an older person or have diabetes, heart or lung disease.
  Why? You have a higher chance of catching COVID-19 in one of these areas.

Protection measures for persons who are in or have recently visited (past 14 days) areas where COVID-19 is spreading

• Follow the guidance outlined above (Protection measures for everyone)
• Self-isolate by staying at home if you begin to feel unwell, even with mild symptoms such as headache, low grade fever (37.3 C or above) and slight runny nose, until you recover. If it is essential for you to have someone bring you supplies or to go out, e.g. to buy food, then wear a mask to avoid infecting other people.
  Why? Avoiding contact with others and visits to medical facilities will allow these facilities to operate more effectively and help protect you and others from possible COVID-19 and other viruses.
• If you develop fever, cough and difficulty breathing, seek medical advice promptly as this may be due to a respiratory infection or other serious condition. Call in advance and tell your provider of any recent travel or contact with travelers.
  Why? Calling in advance will allow your health care provider to quickly direct you to the right health facility. This will also help to prevent possible spread of COVID-19 and other viruses.

Social Impacts :

   There is no social gathering but Social Distancing.

All marriages , festivals , functions gets cancelled due to covid-19 whcih is great loss for event planners , photographers,

skilled labours.

Environmental Impacts:

By the way the environment gets to recover due to less pollution.

All polluting factories are closed . water pollution is less , air pollution is less.

Its a great regenrative procees for the earth.

Economic Impacts :

Covid -19 affects every individual in the world either directly or indirectly.

• The IMF sees GDP per capita shrinking across 170 nations due to the coronavirus pandemic, but the projection "may actually be a more optimistic picture than reality produces."
• The IMF noted that even a short-lived outbreak would drag the world into a 3% GDP contraction.
• A resurgence of COVID-19 in 2021 could leave economies struggling for years to come.

The International Monetary Fund recently announced the "Great Lockdown" recession will drag global GDP lower by 3% in 2020, but its managing director now thinks the gloomy outlook could be too positive.

The coronavirus pandemic is set to leave 170 countries with lower GDP per capita by the end of the year, but the projection "may be actually a more optimistic picture than reality produces," Kristalina Georgieva told the BBC in an interview.

"Epidemiologists are now helping us make macroeconomic projections. Never in the history of the IMF have we had that," she added. "And what they're telling us is that the novel coronavirus is a big unknown, and we don't know whether it may return in 2021."

source : https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/04/imf-economy-coronavirus-covid-19-recession/

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•   How coronavirus will affect the global supply chains?

Reports on how the Covid-19 outbreak is affecting supply chains and disrupting manufacturing operations around the world are increasing daily. But the worst is yet to come. We predict that the peak of the impact of Covid-19 on global supply chains will occur in mid-March, forcing thousands of companies to throttle down or temporarily shut assembly and manufacturing plants in the U.S. and Europe. The most vulnerable companies are those which rely heavily or solely on factories in China for parts and materials. The activity of Chinese manufacturing plants has fallen in the past month and is expected to remain depressed for months.

Many analyses compare the current epidemic with the 2002-2003 SARS epidemic, which created just a blip in the global financial markets. This comparison is dangerous because the relative importance of China in the worldwide economic ecosystem has increased tremendously in the past 18 years: China has more than doubled its share of trade with the rest of the world between the SARS epidemic and today, and many more industries are now heavily dependent on China. The SARS epidemic started in the Guangdong province in 2002 and led to 8,000 cases in 2003. During that year, the GDP of China represented 4.31% of the world GDP. By contrast, the number of detected cases of Covid-19 has already passed 80,000 and China represents about 16% of the world GDP, an almost four-fold increase.

Equally important, mounting pressure to reduce supply chain costs motivated companies to pursue strategies such as lean manufacturing, offshoring, and outsourcing. Such cost-cutting measures mean that when there is a supply-chain disruption, manufacturing will stop quickly because of a lack of parts. The vast majority of global companies have no idea of what their risk exposure to what is going on in Asia actually is; that’s because few, if any, have complete knowledge of the locations of all the companies that provide parts to their direct suppliers.

Given the current efforts by the Chinese government to quarantine almost one half of its population and the negative impact that’s having on transportation and manufacturing activities in the country, we can safely conclude that the impact of Covid-19 on Chinese manufacturing is at least an order of magnitude larger than that of SARS.

As a result of events such as the 2002-2003 SARS epidemic, the March 2010 Iceland’s volcano eruption, Japan’s earthquake and tsunami in March 2011, and the flood in Thailand in August 2011, companies increased the amount of inventory they keep on hand. But they still usually carry only 15 to 30 days’ worth of inventory. It is possible that the Chinese New Year week-long vacation motivated some companies to increase their inventory coverage by another week. So, for most companies, the inventory coverage they have will allow them to match their supplies with demand, with no additional supply, for between two to five weeks, depending on the company’s supply chain strategy. If the supply of components is disrupted longer, manufacturing will have to stop.

Supply lead times will also have an impact. Shipping by sea to either the U.S. or Europe takes, on average, 30 days. This implies that if Chinese plants stopped manufacturing prior to the beginning of the Chinese holiday on January 25, the last of their shipments will be arriving the last week of February.

All this suggests that there will be a spike in the temporary closures of assembly and manufacturing facilities in mid-March.

Some manufacturers have already had to throttle back production in their plants outside of China, and the list gets longer by the day. For example, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV announced on February 14 that “it is temporarily halting production at a car factory in Serbia because it can’t get parts from China.” Similarly, Hyundai said that it “decided to suspend its production lines from operating at its plants in Korea … due to disruptions in the supply of parts resulting from the coronavirus outbreak in China.” These two examples are consistent with our analysis: Because lead times from China to these countries are significantly shorter than 30 days, the disruption occurs earlier.

The challenge is also significant in the high-tech industry. Indeed, on February 17, Apple announced it expected its quarterly earnings to be lower than previously expected. The company refers to two challenges, a constrained global supply of iPhones and significant drop in demand in Chinese markets.

Other industries are also being hit by this double whammy. One global consumer-packaged-goods manufacturer told us that its sales in China this month are 50% lower than in February 2019. Consider also products such as bridal gowns, many of which are produced in China and sold all over the world. According to this report, the current shutdown of Chinese manufacturing facilities specializing in these products will lead to a significant supply shortage for the upcoming summer wedding season.

The widening coronavirus epidemic is already affecting ports. Allard Castelein, the CEO of Rotterdam harbor said, “The effect of the coronavirus is already visible. The number of departures from Chinese ports has decreased by 20% these days.” Activity at the French port of Le Havre is also slowing and could drop by 30% within two months. And the anticipated impact on U.S. ports is starting to be factored into financial analyses.

In summary, we believe we should brace for a major effect on manufacturing worldwide. It will begin to hit full force in two to three weeks and could last for months.

source :https://hbr.org/2020/02/how-coronavirus-could-impact-the-global-supply-chain-by-mid-march

•   How can the impacts of coronavirus be mitigated for sustainability of supply chain?

Though it is difficult to predict the exact consequences of coronavirus, organizations might begin to see impacts across the supply chain, including:  

• Materials: Supply shortages of materials or finished goods coming from or routed through logistical hubs in impacted areas.
• Labor: White- and blue-collar labor may not be available due to quarantine guidelines or illness.
• Sourcing: Travel may be restricted to certain areas, limiting the ability to discover, qualify and certify new business or programs and to transact business.
• Logistics: Established hubs and supply networks may experience limitations in capacity and availability so that even if materials are available, they would be stuck elsewhere. Finding alternative routes and means of transportation will become difficult.
• Consumers: Consumers may be more cautious in their purchasing habits due to fears about being in public and potential exposure to the virus. Many may turn to online sales, challenging logistics networks.

Preparing supply chains for disruption

Disruptions happen. Leading supply chain organizations utilize enhanced risk management processes. They include a framework to continuously measure key risk indicators and to prepare scenarios for controllable and foreseeable uncertainties such as compliance, labor, material, capacity and financial issues.

Epidemics and pandemics present a different scenario. The main impact is a lack of access to staff, decreased productivity and a change in public behavior in terms of shopping practices and spending. “The full impact of coronavirus on supply chains might not become obvious until sometime in the next few months and beyond,” Köse says. “However, supply chain leaders should take initial steps now to monitor and prepare for the impact on their value chain.”

Short-term actions: Do it now

Develop a high risk for supply chain disruption monitoring and response programs for countries impacted by the virus and potential supply chain exposure from tier 1 and below. If lower tier transparency is missing, start building up the program and prioritize discovery to get a full picture rapidly. It’s also important to assess how customer spending might be affected.  

•   How can supply chain resiliency be rebuild after coronavirus?

Long-term actions: Do it this year

Once the initial impacts of the crisis are mitigated, it’s all about foreseeing the next “when.” Supply chain leaders and their teams can, for example, conduct a scenario planning exercise and develop action plans. This is the time to discover or develop alternative sources and diversify value chains.

Tackle strategic and concentrated supplies with high value at risk where internal risk capacities to absorb, such as alternative sources, routes, inventory and cash reserves, aren’t sufficient enough to mitigate any major disruption. Being better prepared than the competition might even open new opportunities when the next disruption comes around.

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