Carlos Cordon

Carlos Cordon is a Professor of Strategy and Supply Chain Management. Cordon’s areas of expertise are supply chain management, digital, value chains, digital lean and process management, all of which are particularly relevant topics in the context of the supply chain challenges that businesses are facing. His research and teaching are currently focused on the reconfiguration of supply chains in the face of persistent disruptions, how supply chains are driving revenue, reshoring and onshoring, and digital strategies.

Cordon says supply chain constraints have become a driver of extraordinary growth in profits for some companies as a result of availability constraints, increased demand and higher prices. General Motors sold 20% fewer cars in 2021 than in 2019 as a result of a shortage of microchips, for example, but still managed to record a 48% rise in profits over the same period.

He is the author of numerous articles and case studies in his specialist fields and has won various awards for his work. He was named on the the Case Center list of the top 50 best-selling case authors globally in 2020/21 and was a winner in the 2017 EFMD Case Writing Competition with IMD colleagues Benoît Leleux and Beverley Lennox for a case study on Adidas.

He is also the author of four books, including the 2016 title Strategy is Digital, which explores how companies can use big data in their value chains. The book presents strategies and practices to allow companies to take advantage of the huge business opportunities arising from the advent of big data and guides them through their big data journey.

Cordon is a consultant to multinational companies in the electronics, food, chemical, pharmaceutical, and car industries, among others. He has designed and directed numerous executive development programs and has helped some of the world’s biggest companies to develop their supply chain and digital strategies, including Johnson & Johnson, Nestlé, Coca Cola, Merck, Mondelez, Unilever, Heineken, Philip Morris, Danone and Reckitt Benckiser among others. He is also a member of the Coca-Cola European Partners’ Digital Advisory Board.

He joined IMD in 1993 after completing a PhD in Management at INSEAD. He was previously a manager in Accenture’s manufacturing and distribution consulting group and MIS Manager at Grupo General Cable in Spain (now part of the Prysmian group).

Selected publications

Why sustainability targets are close to mission impossible (I by IMD, 2021)

Re-use or recycle? Designing a business model for the circular economy (I by IMD, 2021)

Physical stores' surprising comeback in the pandemic (Shanghai Daily-Shine, 2021)

The antibiotic ecosystem conundrum (IMD, 2020)

Sustainable adoption of digital health innovations: Perspectives from a stakeholder workshop (Journal of Medical Internet Research, 2019)

Strategy is Digital: How Companies Can Use Big Data in the Value Chain (Springer, 2016)

The Value Chain Shift: Seven Future Challenges Facing Top Executives (IMD, 2014)

Strategic Supply Chain Management (Routledge, 2012)

The Power of Two: How Smart Companies Create Win-Win Customer-Supplier Partnerships that Outperform the Competition (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008)

Recognition

Named on Case Centre list of top 50 best-selling case authors (2020/21)

Winner of EFMD Case Writing Competition (2017)

Education

Master's degree (Civil Engineering)

Escuela Politecnica de Barcelona

PhD (Management)

INSEAD