I was very, very, very disappointed to come across this recent article on The “New Normal” and Its Effects on Supply Chain Management in the Supply Chain Management Review because it’s one of the few publications in the place I hold in high regard and, as I pointed out in a recent post, there is no new normal. This means that there is definitely no new new normal either.
The author, who pointed out that senior managers in many businesses are using the catchphrase “The New Normal” as if it were a prescient view of the way things will be from now on, suggested that — since most decisions today are driven by economic conditions — we should consider a New New Normal, defined as a frame of mind where we choose to take the risk of utilizing practices that always work whatever the conditions are. Huh? And double Huh?
First of all, as I said in my last post on the topic, there is no new normal. We’re just in a transitory state on the way to the old normal … coming back after an extended hiatus. Secondly, no practice will always work. Markets always evolve, and practices that work regardless of economic state need to evolve with them. Third, smart companies are already using flexible practices that can adapt with the markets. In short, kill this new normal and new new normal BS and kill the new new new normal BS before it starts. Dust off those old business and economic texts from 20 years ago and start remembering how things in stable economies work — and if you need a reminder, look at the European economies which have been around longer. Then we can get back to the business of running the supply chain.