15 April 2009

Supply Chain Managers Fear Protectionism

This article is extracted from the 15 April 2009 edition of “The Journal of Commerce”.

Supply chain managers in North America, Europe and Asia by a wide margin worry that increasing trade protectionism could push the global recession into a global depression, according to a survey by BDP International, a Philadelphia-based supply chain management company.

According to BDP, 80 percent of survey respondents expressed concern the adverse effects of nations’ protectionist policies, resulting in a significant drop in export activity within their own companies.

Richard J. Bolte, BDP chief executive, said that 17 G20 countries and others had put 50 protectionist trade measures in place since November 2008. Their actions have “dramatic implications for global supply chains.

By a margin of 81 percent, logistics executives also said that their top near-term priority was re-evaluating and lowering their transportation costs, according to the survey. …