Who waits for stability will wait in vain

The volatility we have experienced over the past few years wasn’t a storm to survive – it was a preview of permanent change.

The World Economic Forum’s latest Global Value Chains Outlook [1] confirms what many of us have sensed: we have moved from cyclical disruptions to structural volatility. Last year alone, tariff escalations reshuffled over $400 billion in trade flows, while shipping route disruptions drove container costs up forty percent year-over-year. For manufacturing leaders in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, this is not background noise – it is the new operating reality.

What strikes me most is not the volatility itself, but rather how companies are responding to it. According to the study, nearly three-quarters of business leaders now view resilience not as a cost centre or risk mitigation exercise, but as a genuine growth driver. This represents a fundamental shift in strategic thinking, and I believe it is exactly the right perspective.

The manufacturers we work with are facing the same three challenges. First, they are moving beyond reactive firefighting to build planning systems that assume disruption rather than stability. They are using scenario modelling not just for annual strategy sessions, but as a weekly operational discipline. Second, they need a unified data infrastructure that gives them genuine end-to-end visibility – not just into their own supply chain processes, but deep into customers and suppliers where the most consequential risks actually hide. Third, they are redesigning supplier relationships around collaboration and shared forecasting rather than transactional terms and pressure tactics.

The C-Level knows that volatility exists, and they understand that change is needed. But they are not building the organizational capabilities to respond effectively. Most companies have the data they need – what they lack is the governance structure to make coordinated decisions across procurement, production planning, and logistics when conditions shift rapidly.

This is where the real work lies. Building resilience is not about adding buffer inventory everywhere or duplicating your supplier base. It is about developing the planning framework and organizational agility to make different decisions faster when circumstances change. It requires honest assessment of current capabilities, thoughtful process redesign, and sustained commitment to building new muscles across the organization.

For manufacturing leaders navigating this transition, the question isn’t whether to adapt – market forces will make that decision for you. The question is whether you will build these capabilities proactively and strategically, or whether you will be forced into reactive changes under pressure.

Source:
[1]: World Economic Forum: Global Value Chains Outlook 2026: Orchestrating Corporate and National Agility [Accessed: 16 February 2026]