Chain Reaction
Chain Reaction is the podcast 'All About Supply Chain Advantage' with Tony Hines containing regular audio snippets relevant to C suite executives, supply chain professionals, researchers, policy makers in government, students, media commentators and the wider public. New episodes each week discuss hot topics in the news and supply chain ideas relevant to everyone involved in supply chain management. There are special editions too. Our goal is to keep our listeners updated and informed about the various factors that can influence the dynamics of supply chains. As the world continues to evolve, so too do the complexities of global supply chains. By keeping an eye on these global events, we can anticipate potential challenges and opportunities, and navigate the ever-changing landscape of supply chains with agility and insight.
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News RoundUp: AI, Jobs Transformed, Not Taken, Turbulence, Geopolitics, Climate Risk
Jobs aren’t vanishing—they’re evolving fast. We dig into why AI is changing tasks more than it’s replacing roles, which jobs feel the pressure first, and how smart upskilling can turn a threat into a career tailwind. From clerical and entry-level analyst work to creative and care professions, we map the real exposure a
How 2025 Trade Hit 35 Trillion While Supply Chains Struggled With Tariffs, Talent, And Tech
Prices keep rising, lead times keep slipping, and yet global trade is still on track to break records. We dig into that paradox and make sense of a year where supply chains fought on multiple fronts: tariffs compounding at every border, inventories ballooning, and returns threatening to swallow margins. I walk through
Old ideas never really vanish; they take new shapes, get new champions, and quietly steer the rules we live by. We open the vault on Keynes, mercantilism, and the intellectual currents that still drive modern trade, monetary policy, and the supply chains that bind our lives together. Along the way, we revisit the Irish
Your inbox is shouting “40% off,” but your gut says something’s off. We dig into the Black Friday spectacle and show how urgency, scarcity, and anchoring combine to sell ordinary prices as once-a-year steals. With clear stories from the front lines of retail and supply chain, we explain why the biggest winners are ofte
Trade is no longer a straight line from factory to port to shelf—it’s a living system of policy choices, digital rails, and real-world bottlenecks. We trace the signals that matter: South Africa’s push toward a 3% inflation target, FAA turbulence exposing infrastructure fragility, and a wave of innovation from biotech
Prices at the checkout don’t lie, and this week they forced a policy shift. We dig into the sudden rollback of U.S. food import tariffs on staples like Australian beef, tomatoes, coffee, and bananas, and explain why it’s a tactical retreat to cool grocery inflation while the broader trade war keeps grinding on. From vo