Interesting article from CNBC that reflects how risk is being considered as part of the design and innovation activity.
Toyota is trying to make electrified vehicles less dependent on Chinese minerals.
Toyota is navigating uncertainty and managing risk by design. As a result, Toyota may be able to minimize customer/dealer delivery disruptions of it EVs (electric vehicles) arising from changing trade policies, higher sourcing cost, and/ or geo- socio-political- events (e.g. tariffs, taxes, political posturing, war).
Bottom Line: I don’t believe this is an isolated case but rather it reflects the early stages of an emerging trend. Personally, I’ve recently received a number of calls from Supply Chain and Operations Executives who are seeking greater insight and risk related data. As the discussion evolves, it is clear that their intent is to gather this data for competitive differentiation rather than defensive investment.
I’ve included several examples in my recent publication, “Uncertainty Advantage: Leadership Lessons for Turning Risk Outside-In” including an excellent example of how Rockwell Automation incrementally improved their risk and resilience investments from defensive to offensive weapons (Chapter 7, pages 242 – 244).