18 Buffalo Business Spring 2022
By Kevin Manne
BREAKING
THE CHAINS
Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, shoppers were regularly
greeted with barren shelves as stores struggled to keep up with
an unexpected surge of demand for products like toilet paper,
cleaning supplies and food staples.
Eventually these products returned to local stores as
demand waned and supply caught up. But other areas of the
supply chain continued to struggle.
In the automotive industry, a global shortage of micro-
chips created gridlock on the assembly line as manufacturers
waited for chips to finish building cars. Consumer electronics
like computers, video game consoles and smartphones were also
hard hit.
Natalie Simpson, associate
professor and chair of opera-
tions management and strategy,
says these issues are the result
of an efficiency-focused supply
chain developed over the past two
decades. During that time, compa-
nies continued to source lower
c o s t g o o d s f ro m g re a t e r
distances—a higher profit, but
somewhat riskier, way to provide
us with merchandise.
Simpson
