Join us for the next event in Te Whare Wānaka o Aoraki Lincoln University’s Excellence Series, where we highlight leading-edge research tackling some of the most complex challenges facing Aotearoa New Zealand and the wider world. This series brings together outstanding scholars whose work deepens our understanding of interconnected systems, challenges conventional thinking, and offers new pathways toward resilience, sustainability, and innovation in an increasingly uncertain global landscape.
Global value chains have evolved into highly interconnected networks that enable efficient production and distribution across international markets. While globalization has increased economic efficiency, it has also amplified systemic vulnerabilities, making value chains susceptible to disruptions that can propagate rapidly across industries and regions. Due to their length and complexity, global value chains have been historically difficult to analyse. This presentation will use network science as a framework to model supply chains as complex adaptive systems composed of interconnected nodes and links. Network science provides valuable insights into how the topography of a network can influence both vulnerability and resilience of our global value chains.
The current crisis in the Strait of Hormuz is an illustrative example. As one of the world's most critical maritime chokepoints, the Strait facilitates the transit of approximately one-fifth of global petroleum trade. The current disruptions have not only affected energy markets, but have also triggered cascading consequences throughout global transportation, manufacturing, and logistics networks.
This presentation explores how disruptions at such critical nodes propagate through interconnected value chains, generating ripple effects that extend far beyond immediate stakeholders. It further investigates resilience strategies informed by network theory, including diversification of suppliers and transport routes, increased network redundancy, regionalization of production, and the development of adaptive response capabilities. These measures can reduce dependence on single points of failure and enhance the capacity of value chains to absorb, adapt to, and recover from shocks.
Understanding and redesigning value chain architectures through a network-based approach can improve preparedness for geopolitical and natural disruptions and contribute to more robust and sustainable global trade systems.
Join us as we explore how understanding the structure of global value chains can help build a more resilient future for New Zealand’s economy and communities.
Wednesday 1st July 2026
4.00pm-5.30pm
Inaka, Waimarie Lincoln University