Horseshoes, global supply chains, and an emerging Chinese threat: Creating remedies one idea at a time

Abstract

The horseshoe shape offers a model from which the complex relationships currently linking most Chinese and United States supply chain partners can be productively visualized. Wielded metaphorically, the horseshoe also illustrates how a momentous global trend may be rising within many Chinese-American supply chains, and why that trend might impose serious threats against United States economic interests for years to come. Because the trend exists independent of almost all domestic firms’ potential responses, only rarely can an associated domestic threat be eliminated within a particular United States/Chinese supply chain. Most United States firms possess a critical capability that could diminish the force of the emerging Chinese threat: the ability to manage and execute key supply chain functions more creatively. As the horseshoe illustrates, many domestic firms may soon be compelled to become more creative. To address this need, a supply chain creativity matrix model is developed in this article. The model demonstrates how domestic supply chain firms can stimulate and identify superior ideas amongst their managerial and subordinate ranks, therefore expanding the firm's creative efficiency in the strategic execution of key supply chain functions. Those firms should be better able to defend themselves against these emerging Chinese threats.