Singapore Businesses Lead Global Peers On Supply Chain Resilience

Singapore businesses are better placed than their global peers to ride out a major supply chain shock, with 23 per cent able to sustain operations for four to six months compared with 13 per cent of companies globally, according to research from Proxima, a procurement and supply chain consultancy that is part of Bain and Company.

The 2026 Global Supply Chain Resilience Outlook surveyed 515 CEOs from businesses generating over $500 million in revenue across the UK, USA, Australia, Singapore and Germany.

Half of the global CEOs surveyed said their businesses would be unable to maintain day-to-day operations for more than three weeks if a major supply chain shock occurred tomorrow.

On the four to six month measure, Singapore’s 23 per cent was followed by 18 per cent of US firms, 10 per cent of German firms, 8 per cent of UK firms and just 5 per cent of Australian firms, which trailed every other market surveyed.

Singapore’s supply chain imperative

Singapore ranked first in the 2026 IMD World Competitiveness Ranking, which assessed 70 economies across economic performance, business efficiency, government efficiency and infrastructure.

The country’s latest Economic Strategy Review (ESR) sets out a roadmap for sustaining long-term economic growth, including a recommendation to work with key industries to identify and mitigate supply chain vulnerabilities amid growing economic pressures.

In Q1 2026, the Singapore economy grew by 6.0 per cent on a year-on-year basis, extending the 5.7 per cent expansion in the previous quarter. Exports also grew by 38.4 per cent in May 2026 compared with the same period last year, even as geopolitical tensions in the Middle East weighed on global trade sentiment.

AI viewed as both threat and opportunity

Singapore businesses ranked AI first among financial threats to their supply chains, cited by 22 per cent of respondents, and first among the threats they believe companies underestimate, at 27 per cent.

Some 93 per cent have documented and tested plans to address related disruptions, with 47 per cent indicating they are very prepared.

The technology is also being used to lift supply chain performance, with businesses applying AI to cost modelling (50 per cent) and procurement automation (48 per cent), in line with Singapore’s ambition under the ESR to become a trusted hub where AI solutions are developed, tested and deployed to tackle real-world problems at scale.

Operational challenges remain barriers to wider adoption, however, including data quality (40 per cent), integration (30 per cent) and skills gaps (29 per cent).

The ESR recommends supporting Singapore-based companies undertaking end-to-end AI transformation, with successful adopters serving as reference models for their industries. It also identifies a role for trade associations and chambers in aggregating demand, facilitating data-sharing and working with AI developers on sector-level solutions that can be deployed across businesses.

Willing to pay a premium for resilience

Almost three quarters (72 per cent) of global CEOs would accept an uplift of more than 10 per cent on their current third-party supplier costs to guarantee supply chain resilience.

Among Singapore CEOs, 44 per cent would accept paying between 11 per cent and 20 per cent more.

Asked how they would fund such an increase, 38 per cent of global CEOs pointed to cost-saving measures, 35 per cent would pass the price rises on to customers and 26 per cent would absorb the costs through reduced margins.

In Singapore, almost 40 per cent would adopt cost-saving measures, while 30 per cent would pass costs on to consumers, below every other country surveyed.

“Singapore’s performance demonstrates how trade-based economies are reshaping supply chain strategy in response to sustained global volatility, so much so that resilience has become a proactive measure that is now firmly embedded into core operating models,” Proxima Senior Vice President Chris Hampden said.

“As Singapore businesses continue to face elevated levels of risk, they continue to place an increasing emphasis on supply chain resilience. Many are willing to pay a premium to guard against that risk, where supply chain continuity is fundamental to regional and global operations,” he added.

Supplier concentration and shifting demand

The survey found supplier disruptions pose a material risk to Singapore firms, with 58 per cent saying a two-week disruption to their top three suppliers would put 11 per cent to 20 per cent of their revenue at risk. A further 22 per cent projected revenue losses of 21 per cent to 40 per cent.

Singapore firms also reported pronounced shifts in overseas demand in response to protectionist policies such as tariffs. Some 34 per cent said overseas demand for their products rose in the past 12 months, above the global average of 29 per cent, while 23 per cent reported a fall, well above the global average of 15 per cent.

The uneven impact suggests business performance depends largely on individual firms’ ability to adapt to and manage changing trade conditions, according to the report.

When addressing supply chain disruptions, 24 per cent of Singapore firms cited external advisors as their primary source of information, followed by AI-driven insights, supplier input and internal experience and judgment, each at 19 per cent.

The research was conducted by Censuswide among 515 CEOs from businesses generating over $500 million in revenue across the UK, USA, Australia, Singapore and Germany, with data collected between 21 April and 27 April 2026.

Last Updated on July 8, 2026 by Nick Ross