I think the answer is, of course not. However, global supply chains are built off of the assumption of low fuel costs and low transportation costs. Neither of these are the case anymore and we have to ask ourselves if we ever will see low enough fuel costs to justify the wild supply chains we have seen in the last quarter century.
Further, global supply chains assume relative political stability and even that is in question moving forward. Imagine a company finding itself in the position of being cost non-competitive due to a complex global supply chain built up over years of assuming low cost fuel and transportation. Further, while being cost non-competitive, they also find their supply chain disrupted due to some global geo-political event. That is the double whammy creating the perfect storm that could shut down a company.
Read more at the New York Times: Shipping Costs Start to Crimp Globalization
Note: I am not making, nor do I want to engage in, a political argument about globalization. That is for a different audience and a different blog. This discussion is purely about the business case for globalization in the new world of high fuel costs.
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