In the past few months, many manufacturing companies in Germany and Europe have had to learn painfully how great their dependencies are - on raw materials and preliminary products from China and currently on energy from Russia.
At this point, one has to ask the question of what contribution the responsible managers actually made in the past to reducing the extent of such threatening relationships when it was still comparatively easy.
If the answer for Russian oil and above all gas is simply “little”, a more differentiated picture emerges for China.
According to a recent survey, many manufacturers have recognized the signs of the times and are already diversifying their business or intend to do so in the near future.
It is the right answer to the drastic changes in the most populous country on earth, from the repression of minorities and restrictions on freedom of expression to the unforeseeable consequences of the rigid Covid policy.
Such a concentration of risk is no longer acceptable for many risk managers.
Now relations on markets in other countries are hastily intensified.
Unfortunately, it first took the scenario of severe import shocks to push through a change in strategy.