Supply chain transformation a priority next year for businesses, survey shows

Decision-makers see an urgent need to overhaul their supply chains in 2023, HSBC poll finds

Shipping containers stacked on a dock at the Port of Oakland, California. Eleven per cent of respondents in the HSBC Holdings survey said transforming their supply chain was not a priority next year. Show more

More than 40 per cent of corporate decision-makers see an urgent need to overhaul their supply chains in 2023, with inflation, higher interest rates and weaker global trade acting as some of the stiffest economic headwinds, a survey has found.

Eleven per cent of respondents in the HSBC Holdings survey said transforming their supply chain was not a priority next year, but 42 per cent plan to do so and almost 47 per cent view it as a priority at some stage in the future.

Conducted by research company Toluna, the poll covered 2,170 executives at medium-size companies in 14 countries from September 28 to October 24, the London-based bank said.

The survey also showed concerns were broader than supply chains, with 51 per cent of respondents saying they expect the environment for international trade to be harder next year.

That lines up with the latest forecasts from the World Trade Organisation for cross-border commerce to grow 1 per cent next year, after a projected 3.5 per cent increase this year.

Asked about the biggest impediments to their businesses next year, 38 per cent respondents cited inflation, 32 per cent pointed to higher interest rates, and 27 per cent referred to an uncertain political environment, the poll showed.

Overall, there was plenty of optimism about revenue prospects for the year ahead, the survey found.

More than three quarters expect sales growth to exceed 10 per cent next year, with 19 per cent of those respondents expecting revenue to increase by more than 20 per cent.

“Businesses are operating in an increasingly complex global economic landscape, navigating a wide range of challenges,” Barry O’Byrne, chief executive of HSBC’s global commercial banking unit, said.

“Despite this, there is a strong sense of global resilience and ambition amongst mid-size businesses.”