A major disruption to global supply chains could leave many companies struggling to keep operating, according to a new Proxima report that paints a stark picture of how exposed boardrooms remain to shocks in logistics, cyber security and supplier fragility.
In the consultancy’s Global Supply Chain Resilience Outlook, part of Bain & Company, just over half of the 51% of surveyed global chief executives said their businesses would not be able to continue normal day-to-day o...
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perations for more than three weeks if a significant supply chain shock hit immediately. The findings suggest that resilience remains a strategic weakness even after several years of inflation, geopolitical strain and pandemic after-effects forced companies to rethink how they source and move goods.
The report also shows how closely supply chain risk is now tied to cyber security. Forty-five per cent of respondents said they had suffered disruption from a cyber incident in the past two years, yet only 35% said they had real-time visibility of cyber risk. That gap matters because the World Economic Forum’s Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2026 says cyber-enabled fraud and phishing are now among the top concerns for chief executives, with vulnerabilities linked to artificial intelligence emerging as a particular worry.
The threat is not limited to digital systems. More than half of the Proxima respondents, 56%, said that if their top three suppliers were disrupted for two weeks, between 11% and 20% of revenue would be at risk. A further 24% said the exposure would be even greater, putting 21% to 40% of sales in jeopardy. That aligns with McKinsey research showing that 83% of companies have already experienced raw-material shortages, while 45% still lack visibility beyond their first-tier suppliers.
Artificial intelligence is beginning to play a larger role in risk management, but the report suggests adoption remains uneven. About 51% of executives said AI is already delivering measurable value in monitoring supplier risk. Yet many also pointed to persistent obstacles: poor data quality, a lack of skills and uncertainty over return on investment. Almost four in five respondents said internal tensions can arise when firms try to adopt fast-moving tools such as AI while still meeting compliance requirements.
The broader cyber picture remains alarming. PwC’s Global CEO Survey found that 31% of chief executives see their companies as highly or extremely exposed to major financial loss from cyber threats. Meanwhile, the World Economic Forum says AI-related risks are becoming more prominent in executive risk registers, with highly resilient organisations paying especially close attention to them.
Proxima’s separate 2026 CPO Report suggests procurement leaders are increasingly shifting from reacting to disruption towards designing resilience into supply chains from the outset, with AI, data and resilience now high on their agenda. That change is also being driven by operational pressures beyond cyber risk. Prologis has reported that nearly 90% of companies experienced energy disruptions in the past year, underscoring how power reliability has become another board-level concern.
Taken together, the findings suggest that resilience is no longer a back-office issue. For many companies, it is becoming a question of whether they can operate at all when the next shock arrives.
Source: Noah Wire Services
