Introduction

You've probably heard warnings to start your holiday shopping early this year — this is why. With much of the global supply chain thrown into chaos by a combination of several complicating factors, it's impossible to tell when or if you'll be able to find exactly what you want. But a little shipping inconvenience is hardly the end of the world. What should concern us all about the current situation is what it reveals about the fragility of the systems the world uses to manufacture and move goods with pinpoint efficiency.

Has our quest for the most efficient system created a system that can't handle it when something goes awry? What are the implications of that?

GUEST: Michael LeBlanc, retailer, host of The Voice of Retail podcast, Senior Retail Advisor at the Retail Council of Canada

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