Pre-pandemic, the worldwide system of getting products where they need to go seemed to be working. Goods were produced where they could be made most cheaply: A pair of shoes might be assembled in Vietnam using leather from Brazil, polyester from China, and rubber from Malaysia before being shipped to Los Angeles and trucked to a mall in Kansas City. Businesses maximized profits by keeping the workforce lean and using just-in-time inventory management.

The COVID-19 pandemic played havoc with this process, triggering a global shortage of supply.

Berkeley Haas logistics experts Saikat Chaudhuri and Luyi Yang share insights on what’s wrong with the current system, and how to fix it.