Event report
Past Event | China Plus One Strategy – Navigating the Global Supply Chain Shift
The latest installment of our ESSEC-FCCS Leadership Series focused on the increasingly popular China Plus One strategy.
Prof. Cedomir Nestorovic, Geopolitics Professor, ESSEC Business School and Academic Director of the ESSEC & Mannheim EMBA Asia-Pacific, skillfully moderated an engaging conversation with our esteemed industry experts Frederic Gomer, Managing Partner at B2G Consulting and Sachin Shikrapurkar - Director of Business Development APAC at FM Logistic.
The session explored the rising trend of companies supplementing their manufacturing bases in China with operations in other countries, such as Vietnam, India and Indonesia.
Highlights and Key Learnings:
- China remains a major manufacturing hub, but COVID has accelerated a move towards multi-country supply chains, enhancing flexibility and mitigating risks associated with single-country dependence.
- Addressing the skills gap will be crucial for a successful and sustainable diversification in the long term. Key areas for companies to focus on are investment in training and development, localized production processes by adjusting production methods to leverage existing local skills while gradually building more sophisticated capabilities and government and industry partnerships to create a pipeline of workers skilled in specific manufacturing processes needed for global supply chains.
- Situating manufacturing plants closer to consumer markets plays an increasingly strategic role in reducing costs, improving efficiency, and enhancing supply chain resilience. This shift helps companies respond to demand faster, reduce dependency on long-distance shipping, and minimize risks associated with international logistics. With this in mind, other regions also offer strong appeal due to unique advantages like workforce size, economic incentives, market proximity, and stability. Countries in Eastern Europe, Latin America, and even Africa are emerging as viable alternatives or complements to SEA for companies looking to diversify their supply chains.
Thank you to our speakers and moderator for their invaluable insights and for facilitating a dynamic discussion with the audience.
This event was kindly supported by our series partner ESSEC Asia-Pacific
For more information, please contact Vanessa Hobbs vhobbs@fccsingapore.com
