According to procurementmag.com, CEOs are willing to pay a mean uplift of 17.3% to ensure supply chain resilience — a finding from Proxima’s Global Supply Chain Resilience Outlook report, which surveyed more than 500 chief executives at companies generating over US$500 million in annual revenue across the UK, US, Australia, Singapore, and Germany.
Resilience Over Efficiency
Business operations now face continuous upheaval rather than isolated disruption events — a shift that has driven leaders to prioritize resilience over efficiency. The past five years have brought compounding shocks: the COVID-19 pandemic, escalation of the Russia-Ukraine war, global semiconductor manufacturing shortages, closures of the Strait of Hormuz, the Suez Canal blockage, Donald Trump’s tariffs, and accelerating climate change impacts. These events forced companies to reroute logistics, sever long-standing supplier alliances, and onboard new partners under pressure.
Supply chains can no longer plan ahead with confidence; instead, they must react dynamically to uncertainty while minimizing operational damage. Though supply chain leaders are increasingly adopting predictive disruption modeling and scenario-based contingency planning, Proxima’s research reveals persistent pessimism: 51% of CEOs say their organizations could not maintain day-to-day operations for more than three weeks without significant disruption following a major shock.
Cost of Resilience Is Quantified
The financial commitment to resilience is now measurable and substantial. 72% of CEOs would accept a cost increase of more than 10% on current third-party suppliers to guarantee resilience. Funding mechanisms vary: 38% plan to offset costs through internal savings, 35% intend to pass price increases to customers, and 26% will absorb the expense via reduced margins.
“It is no secret that businesses are navigating a period of intense supply chain uncertainty. This research shows that CEOs are still very alert to disruption risk and that they are placing an increasing emphasis on building sustainable supply chain resilience to counteract,” said Simon Geale, Executive Vice President at Proxima. “CEOs are further recognising the substantial costs and vulnerabilities their companies could face from supply chain disruption, and it is now clear many are willing to pay a premium to guard against that risk.”
Cyber Risk Accelerates Investment
Cyber threats are a primary catalyst behind this spending surge. 45% of global supply chains have experienced cyberattacks in the past two years, whether originating internally or through third-party suppliers. In 2025, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) halted production across its Solihull, Halewood, and Wolverhampton plants in the UK following a major cyberattack — disrupting output for several weeks and affecting thousands of downstream businesses.
To address this, 42% of companies conducted full cyber resilience stress tests across critical suppliers in the past 12 months. Yet only 35% report having real-time visibility into supplier cyber risk exposure — highlighting a critical gap between intent and execution. Meanwhile, 51% of CEOs confirm AI is delivering measurable value specifically for risk monitoring, though fewer than 40% overall possess real-time supply chain visibility.
Boardroom Prioritization and Strategic Shift
Resilience has moved decisively into boardroom-level strategy — and away from purely operational concerns. As Simon Geale noted, “Resilience has become a boardroom topic and a price worth paying.” This reflects a fundamental recalibration: where prior strategies emphasized short-term cost savings, today’s leaders are investing upfront to protect assets, mitigate cascading failure, and secure long-term continuity.
The data underscores urgency: 56% of CEOs estimate that 11–20% of their annual revenue would be at risk if their top three suppliers were disrupted for just two weeks. That exposure — coupled with rising geopolitical volatility and digital interdependence — makes resilience no longer optional but foundational. Proxima, part of Bain & Company, continues to advise clients on translating these strategic imperatives into executable, metrics-driven programs — particularly as AI adoption accelerates both risk detection and attack surface expansion.
Source: procurementmag.com
Compiled from international media by the SCI.AI editorial team.
