Swiss industry is not sufficiently crisis-ready
A new study by Dun & Bradstreet reveals major gaps in the resilience of Swiss industry. This means that it is insufficiently prepared for crises.
In an international comparison, Swiss industrial companies focus particularly strongly on transparency and traceability in their supply chains, but lag far behind when it comes to resilience. This is revealed in a new study by Dun & Bradstreet. While 21% of companies state that they want to improve visibility in their supply chain as a priority, only 14% prioritize measures to strengthen resilience.
Focus on transparency - but without in-depth insight
According to the study, Swiss manufacturers continue to see regulatory changes such as customs duties and sanctions as one of the biggest risks (25%). Nevertheless, only 3% of companies monitor their entire, multi-stage supply chain. At the same time, Switzerland is pursuing the most ambitious nearshoring strategy in the region: 78% of the industrial companies surveyed plan to relocate most or all of their supply chain closer to their home market.
«Swiss industrial companies want to understand who they are working with in their supply chains, but often lack an overview of how reliable and compliant their supplier structures actually are,» explains Björn Gerster, Head of Manufacturing at Dun & Bradstreet. «Transparency is the first step, but without reliable data on dependencies, risks and scenarios, it remains a look in the rear-view mirror.»
Technology and data gap slows down progress
The study also shows that only just under a third (29%) of Swiss companies can use the existing data in its current form to make informed decisions. The majority of companies continue to work with manual processes, particularly for supplier evaluations, risk analyses and customer data. Only around 10 to 15 percent of these core processes are fully automated. In addition, there is often a lack of integrated data access: only around a third of Swiss companies have
- Information on customs duties (28 percent)
- Sanction and compliance risks (30 percent) or
- sustainability figures (28 percent) of their business partners.
This puts Switzerland well behind other markets such as the US (51% for customs data) or the UK (40%). This fragmentation makes it difficult to identify risks at an early stage and develop data-based resilience strategies.
Between transparency and real resilience
The results make it clear that although Swiss industrial companies attach great importance to transparency in their supply chains, they still too rarely translate this visibility into robust resilience strategies. A lack of data integration and low levels of automation are slowing down progress - especially in an environment that is increasingly characterized by regulatory and geopolitical risks. «Transparency is not a start, but a result,» Gerster continues. «A solid database makes it possible to identify, anticipate and manage risks in a targeted manner, and this is precisely where export-oriented companies have a decisive competitive advantage.»
Source: Dun & Bradstreet
This article originally appeared on m-q.ch - https://www.m-q.ch/de/schweizer-industrie-ist-nicht-ausreichend-krisenbereit/
