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Will decentralized supply chains destabilize emerging economies? As production moves closer to the point of demand and e-commerce takes up a larger share of overall sales, demand will shift for workers’ skills and location. Emerging economies may experience the most profound changes as a result of such shifts. This has been keenly felt in Bangladesh during the pandemic, for example. 1 Under pressure Supply Unbounded Business Futures 2021 www.accenture.com/BusinessFutures2021 Ensuring positive change 1 “The supply chain ripple effect: How COVID-19 is affecting garment workers and factories in Asia and the Pacific”, International Labor Organization (2020). Available at: https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---asia/---ro-bangkok/documents/briefingnote/wcms_758626.pdf. “Collapse of Bangladesh’s garment industry during coronavirus leaves its workers more vulnerable than ever”, Forbes (2020). Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/rebeccasuhrawardi/2020/03/30/collapse-of-bangladeshs-garment-industry-leaves-its-workers- more-vulnerable-than-ever-during--coronavirus/?sh=d220dcef27e0 2 Sarah Krasley and Rubana Huq, “Creating a better future for garment manufacturing in Bangladesh,” World Economic Forum (2020). Available at: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/01/garment-apparel-manufacturing-bangladesh/; Kathy Pretz, “Shimmy Technologies Wins IEEE Contest for Technology Transforming the Retail Industry,” IEEE Spectrum (2019). Available at: https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-insti- tute/ieee-products-services/shimmy-technologies-wins-ieee-contest-for-technology-transforming-the-retail-industry Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved. Accenture and its logo are trademarks of Accenture. As companies break the limits of supply chains, they should consider the impact on vulnerable workers. of Bangladesh exports were comprised of ready-made garments prior to the pandemic. 83 % As companies decentralize their supply chains, they can support affected workers by investing in long-term skills development in partnership with government and local industry associations. factories reported order cancellations worth US$3.1 billion in the first half of 2020. 1,150 of factories still operated with under half of their pre-pandemic workforce at the start of the third quarter of 2020. 43 % Shimmy Technologies piloted the use of a browser-based tool that uses gamification to teach factory workers in Bangladesh in-demand skills such as digital pattern-making and 3D modeling to create clothes and accessories. 2 #BusinessFutures2021
