Adapting to Volatility in B2B Supply Chains

Volatility has become the defining characteristic of B2B supply chains. From trade wars and tariff fluctuations to AI-driven disruption and supply chain reconfigurations, organizations face relentless pressure to adapt faster than ever before.  

At Enable’s Elevate UK conference, CEO Andrew Butt and BBC Policy and Analysis Correspondent Ben Chu explored how businesses can respond to this new era of economic turbulence and how strategic rebate and pricing capabilities can help turn uncertainty into competitive advantage.

The New Reality: Systems in First Gear

Many B2B organizations remain constrained by legacy systems that simply cannot keep pace with today’s speed of change. Andrew Butt shared a striking example: a manufacturing CFO lost $3.2 million because his team couldn’t adjust pricing quickly enough following a 15% spike in material costs—not due to poor strategy or planning, but due to system limitations that delayed execution by 30 days.

This story reflects a broader challenge across industries. Commercial systems are stuck in first gear while the world accelerates around them. Supply chains that took decades to establish are being reconfigured in months. Tariffs appear, change, and disappear with little warning. Traditional annual agreements and manual pricing processes cannot respond to this level of disruption.

According to Enable’s tariff survey of over 1,500 senior executives in manufacturing, retail, CPG, and wholesale distribution, 76% of businesses have already lost margin due to volatility, with 34% of cost of goods sold exposed to tariff impact. Perhaps most concerning, 93% of respondents said their current responsiveness to price changes would risk loss of profit.

Global Forces Redefining Trade

Ben Chu’s analysis revealed that the UK is particularly vulnerable in a fragmented trade environment. With trade accounting for 64% of UK GDP—higher than the global average, China, or the United States—and roughly half of total UK production relying on global value chains, the country has more to lose than most from increased protectionism.  

Chu framed the current environment as an era of “exile economics”—a movement characterized by rejection of economic interdependence, downgrading of multilateral collaboration, and nations striving for greater self-sufficiency. From Donald Trump’s “Declaration of economic independence” to China’s emphasis on self-reliance and India’s “self-reliant India” policy, major economies are pursuing strategies that prioritize domestic production over global trade.

Despite this political rhetoric, the reality of modern commerce tells a different story. Sixty percent of global trade now consists of intermediate products—parts, components, and raw materials that businesses use as inputs to produce final goods. Global value chains remain deeply embedded in manufacturing processes, with trade in intermediate inputs continuing to rise even as trade restrictions have increased.

Chu’s research demonstrates that products from vaccines to semiconductors to food rely on complex international networks. A single microchip can cross international borders more than 70 times during manufacturing, while a typical vaccine plant uses 9,000 different materials sourced from 300 suppliers across 30 countries. This isn’t dependence—it’s interdependence, where manufacturers and distributors across multiple nations all rely on each other.

From Linear Supply Chains to Real-Time Collaboration

Andrew Butt contrasted the traditional linear supply chain model—where manufacturers shipped to distributors who held inventory for contractors—with today’s reality where trading partners win or lose together, working side by side in real time.

The shift is dramatic: what was once 80% local, walk-in business has become over 50% quoted business, with distributors responding to RFPs from contractors seeking competitive bids across national providers. Success now depends on having real-time visibility into true costs and the ability to generate competitive pricing instantly.

One forward-thinking CIO described to Butt how his organization now uses AI to anticipate supplier support for customer projects, creating dynamic pricing in real time based on past transactions and claiming support retroactively. This approach enables them to serve customers at the speed of business rather than waiting days for supplier approval.

Revenue 4.0: Intelligence, Unification, and AI

Butt outlined a vision he calls “Revenue 4.0″—where human relationships and business partnerships combine with AI to create value at the pace of change. This approach emphasizes earning and retaining revenue together with trading partners, achieving higher quality revenue at better margins, and building more strategic, sticky relationships.

The foundation rests on three pillars:

1. Intelligent Pricing and Rebates: Providing optimum commercial terms to each trading partner in real time, regardless of channel—whether customers arrive in-store, via e-commerce, or through other touchpoints.
2. Unified Platforms: Breaking down silos within organizations between finance, sales, purchasing, and pricing teams, while also connecting companies with their trading partners through shared systems and collaborative workflows.
3. AI-Powered Capabilities: Leveraging AI for productivity gains like contract ingestion and data reconciliation, generating insights through scenario modeling and agreement optimization, and enabling full automation such as AI-driven negotiation with long-tail suppliers.

Turning Volatility into Advantage

As Andrew Butt concluded, “In times of volatility, there are two types of companies: those that are swept along by the storm, and companies that are harnessing those same forces for competitive advantage”.

The organizations that will thrive aren’t those attempting to retreat from global trade or reverting to manual processes. They’re the ones investing in platforms that provide real-time visibility across buy-side and sell-side relationships, enable rapid scenario modeling, and facilitate seamless collaboration with trading partners.

The most enlightened manufacturers and distributors recognize they can serve customers better together than apart—customers value both the distributor’s local market knowledge and branch network as well as the manufacturer’s exceptional products.

In an era defined by unprecedented disruption, that collaborative approach powered by intelligent technology offers the best path forward. Volatility isn’t disappearing, but with the right commercial infrastructure, it doesn’t have to be a threat. It can be an opportunity to strengthen partnerships, protect margins, and accelerate profitable growth.

Learn more about adapting your commercial strategy for uncertain times at www.enable.com.