faster, often resulting in an increase in costs. On the other hand, functional products are more likely to be more economical. As a trade off, a slower response time to deliver the goods is generally acceptable.
As operations return to normal after business disruption, it is important to note that “normal” operations may not be the same as the pre-crisis state, at least in terms of people operating in the same everyday fashion. For example, while Japan is currently a major supply point, this may shift in the future, or at a minimum, suppliers may be diversified within the country. Japan is already far less connected to the global economy than many other developed countries. A lot of manufacturing has already been moved to China. As a result, while manufacturing was affected, the supply chain crisis that could have occurred, including lengthy plant shutdowns worldwide, did not happen. Ideally, Japan and other countries struck by disaster will be able to learn from these unfortunate events, and will adapt their practices, policies and regulations, relationships and infrastructure in attempts to be better prepared the next time disaster might strike.