FIR Conference 2021: Supply Chains and New Normal After Pandemic

On Tuesday October the 5^th Faculty of international relations hosted the FIR Annual Conference 2021: Supply Chains and New Normal after Pandemic. The main theme for the discussion this year was directly connected to the global post-Covid situation in the world: The main guests of the event were trying to answer the crucial question of supply chains destructuralization, sustainable government policies and position of the new economic equilibrium.

The conference was officially opened by a short speech from the faculty dean Josef Taušer, who summarized the main economic issues the post-pandemic world must cope with these days, such as supply chain shortages, structural changes, and difficulties in doing business.

The whole evening was commentated by Roman Chlupatý, who was leading the discussion. The first panel questions were mainly in the name of the deglobalization phenomenon: Can we still spot features of globalization process going on, or is this international wave already over? When will the global economy get back to normal? And if not, what will a new normal look like?

The invitation to the first part of the debate was accepted by Michal Kořan (President of the Board of the Global Arena Research Institute), Vladimír Dlouhý (President of the Czech Chamber of Commerce) and Beata Javorčik (Chief Economist in the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development), who commented that concerning GDP, there is no going back to the pre-pandemic stage. “Structural changes will be taking place. Transition period will take a while before the new equilibrium will be found.” Mrs. Javorčik concludes.

 After the coffee break, the second panel of discussion followed with the complex topic of supply chains: Current problems the pandemic made visible and their potential solutions. Martin Jahn (Board Member Sales and Marketing, Škoda Auto), Sébastien Miroudot (Senior Trade Policy Analyst, OECD) and Sarbani Bublu Thakar-Weigold (Chair of Logistics Management, ETH Zurich) were dealing with a question of the strategic sovereignty, the future of automotive industry and the importance of global diversification of supply chains to prevent any possible disastrous scenarios when an unexpected crisis arises.

• Sarbani Bublu Thakur-Weigold
• Vladimír Dlouhý
• Martin Jahn

Sarbani Bublu Thakur-Weigold

“It´s not about being cheap, it´s about being good.” (Supply chains and production effectiveness comment.)

Vladimír Dlouhý

“I believe that in 5 years we might probably see a more productive and digitalized European economy. More efficient, with completely different labour market.”

Martin Jahn

“Flows of data was the major flow that dramatically increased during the pandemic and we are seeing trend to digitalize the economy.”

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The commentator was also keeping the debate interactive by asking the audience some complex questions, such as “Can supply chains be relocated to Europe?”. Answers then served as a base for further discussion.

Despite coming from all over the world, holding the different job positions and introducing sometimes slightly unlike view on the situation, all guests were underlining the following: The importance of high-quality education, innovations and investment being  a strengthening tool for the economic recovery and that the Covid-19 pandemic will be followed by some inevitable structural changes not just in the economic sphere. Whether they will lead to the brighter future? Only time can reveal.