the problem of supply chains

« colle d’anglais - BBC Video In the sixties, Marshall McLuhan coined the term « global village » to describe the increasing interconnectedness of the world as a result of the development of media technologies.

He stated that these new means of communications would lead people to form a single community where they would « live at the same time, at the same pace ». In this BBC coverage of October 2021, McLuhan’s prediction seems to be coming to life as the whole world is slowed down while it tries to get out of the pandemic. Indeed, the journalist highlights throughout the video the difficulties surrounding the engorgement of the supply chains. We will see that he firstly emphasizes on official statements, then goes on to explain the reasons behind the shortages and finally he underlines what is likely to happen in the future. To begin with, the reporter calls attention to the public statements that have been made by tboth France and US representatives regarding the situation at that time. Before an IMF meeting, French Finance Minister Bruno Lemaire explains that businesses are having a hard time facing the sudden and unexpected rise in demand following the end of the Covid lockdown. Biden adresses the problem as well in a more direct way as he calls on companies to work twice as hard in order to deal quickly with the backlog. Indeed, the journalist explains directly after that the end of the pandemic marked a spectacular increase in demand which had not been anticipated.

Companies were not prepared at all for this situation, as the correspondent underlines with the example of the cars waiting in the parking lot as they lack the key microchips because the delivery had been cancelled during the pandemic.

As a consequence, shortages and price increases are spreading across the market and the reporter seems pessimistic about it as he indicates that the situation won’t be resolved any time soon. On top of that, an interview of Barclays’ Chief Executive Staley stresses the fact that even the companies that had predicted this economic boom could not cope with it as it concerned a larger scale organization that is the supply chains and was therefore out of their reach. Lastly, the video puts into perspective what will likely happen in the future by showing an extract of Bruno Lemaire’s interview in which he says that we should try to reduce the scale of our production to something more local.

This would be a way to stop dependency on other countries, especially on key products and technology, but it would also mean higher prices in the long run. Even though this appears as a downside, the journalist highlights that with the current international context characterized by US and China tensions and the whole Brexit legislation, it could be a change for the better. Overall, the journalist underlines that this is a global economic challenge that will not go away and therefore has to be dealt with.

In my opinion, this video raises the question of globalization and its limits.

We will thus ask ourselves : has the world become too globalized ? On the one hand, the benefits of globalization are undeniable and its power in international cooperation should not be underestimated.

Nonetheless, it is causing irreversible damages to the planet and we cannot stay blind.

Therefore, what can we actually do to improve the situation ? First and foremost, in today’s international context a strong argument regarding globalization.... »