Ep 86: When Politics Snares Supply Chains feat. Juliette Rowsell

If you feel like working in supply chain and procurement has become a political minefield, you’re not alone. Between increased regulations, high stakes geopolitics, and administrative differences, complexity is up and the pace of change is accelerating.

 In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Juliette Rowsell. Juliette is a reporter at Supply Management magazine, the hard copy publication from CIPS. In the April-June 2022 edition, she wrote an article titled, What happens when politics snares supply? that opens with the following quote, “Amid Russia’s war on Ukraine, already stretched global supply chains went into meltdown over access to commodities and how suppliers reflect political alliances.” 

In this conversation, Juliette shares her media-based perspective on the current state of supply chain management as related to geopolitics and global disruption:

• What it has been like covering supply chains as a journalist over the 18 months
• How political supply chain management has gotten and why professionals can’t afford to avoid it
• The challenge faced by professionals who want to stay informed without being polarized by sensationalized media coverage 
• How the rise of national trade protectionism continues to challenge global supply chains