To Battle a Pandemic, Think Like the Military

摘要

IMAGINE THAT the United States entered into a major land and sea war, and that only then, after the conflict began, did the government begin commissioning contracts to design and build the aircraft carriers, fighter jets, and other weapons systems we would need for the fight. Well, the imagination needn't run too far, because in essence, that is what has happened as we were sucked into our war against the coronavirus. While there is much that can be faulted in our flat-footed response to this pandemic, especially at the federal level, one clear-cut failure should be even more obvious to anyone who has ever run a business: We had glaring gaps in our supply chain and no immediate plan to fill them.