• Services
  • Attorneys
  • Media & Insights
  • Online Payment
Results may vary depending on your particular facts and legal circumstances. No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey. A description of the selection methodology can be found here.
  • Services
  • Attorneys
  • Media & Insights
  • About Us
  • Delivering Value
  • Diversity & Inclusion
  • Meritas
  • Contact Us
  • Online Payment
    A
    Alternative Dispute ResolutionAntitrust & Trade RegulationAppellate Practice
    B
    Banking & Financial ServicesBankruptcy, Creditors’ Rights, and Financial RestructuringBeer LawBusiness Law
    C
    Cannabis LawConstruction LawCooperative and Condominium Law (Co-op & Condo)Criminal Defense
    E
    Economic Development LawElder Care & Special Needs LawElectronic Discovery ("E-Discovery")Environmental LawERISA & Employee BenefitsEstate Planning and Administration & Wealth PreservationExecutive Compensation and Employment Strategies
    F
    Food, Beverage & HospitalityFranchise Law
    H
    Health Care & Life SciencesHealth Care ProvidersHigher EducationHospitals and Health Networks
    I
    ImmigrationInsurance CoverageIntellectual PropertyIntellectual Property Litigation, Arbitration, and Dispute ResolutionIntellectual Property Portfolio Strategy, Management & LicensingInternational BusinessInternet Law
    L
    Labor & EmploymentLiquor Law, Licensing, Manufacturing, and DistributionLitigation
    M
    Media Law & Creative Economy PracticeMergers & AcquisitionsMunicipal Law
    N
    Non-Profit Law
    P
    Patent Preparation and ProsecutionPharmaceutical / Medical Devices / Pharma ServicesProducts and Consumer Liability DefenseProfessional LiabilityPublic Utilities
    R
    Real Estate, Finance, and Land Use
    S
    SecuritiesSolar Energy
    T
    TaxationTelecommunicationsTrademark & Copyright Protection & Enforcement
    V
    Venture Tech & Emerging Growth Companies
    W
    White Collar Investigations & DefenseWorkers’ Compensation
    • New Jersey
    • New York
    • Pennsylvania
    • Blogs
    • Articles
    • Podcasts
    • COVID-19 Resources

    Categories

    Anti-Trust/Trade Regulations Banking/Financial Services Business Operations Choice of Entity Compliance Construction Corporate Finance/Securities Corporate Governance Corporate Transparency Act Economic Development Law Entity Formation Franchise Law General Liquor Law Mergers & Acquisitions Public Utilities Real Estate Tax Uncategorized
    Blogs > Biz Law Blog > The Pandemic Effect: Supply Chain...
    NM PR
    Visit Profile

    The Pandemic Effect: Supply Chain and Distribution Channels

    The Pandemic Effect: Supply Chain and Distribution Channels

    Time to learn from the past. If COVID-19 taught us anything, it is that businesses need to be ready with alternative sources of supply and distribution. Yes, we can focus on what we discussed in our previous article, “The Pandemic Effect: Sale of a Business,” like force majeure, impossibility of performance, and frustration of purpose, but it is better (and healthier) to prepare your business as though this will happen again, because experts say it will. Here are three of the most important steps you can take for your business supply or distribution channel.

    Preparation for Supply and Distribution Channels

    1. Diversify. Like an investment portfolio, your business partners should be diversified. Target relationships that are spread across a wide swath of geography to minimize the impact of local hotspots suffering from a greater impact than others. For exclusive relationships, include a carve-out from the exclusivity provision to accommodate for issues that affect the partner’s availability or effectiveness. If you are a supplier, discuss the issue with your customer about you (and not the customer) taking the lead to secure a secondary supplier as a contingency as part of your business continuity plan. View this secondary supplier as a sub-supplier with whom you have a relationship and potentially serve in the same capacity for them. Also, believe it or not, in certain business categories, in a time of extreme crisis like this one, even your competitors can be approached. You’ll be surprised to hear we know of several instances when competitors, expressing “we are in this together,” helped each other with supplies and raw materials during this time of crisis.
    2. Bend, don’t break. Have timing components of your agreements flexible. Build in extra lead time if you manufacture goods, that would give you a chance to pivot through an unstable period and make delivery timely. Strongly consider whether time of the essence clauses are reasonable given the nature of the relationship and the particular goods or services being bought or sold (or the new world we will be living in of real crises: pandemics, superstorms, even earthquakes in areas that were not previously seismically active). Make the payment terms flexible enough so that one missed payment against the backdrop of similar situations is not a default triggering termination. And importantly, build yourself a “cure” period to give you time to stave off a default or a lawsuit.
    3. Collaborate. Work into the arrangement a way for the parties to speak in good faith about the situation and to find avenues to overcome challenges. You partnered in order to do business together so that everyone could win, so think about developing a mechanism to resolve challenges as they arise in a non-judgmental way that can strengthen the partnership into the future. Escalate issues internally through a joint management working group to reach a consensus for clearing the problem-causing hurdle.

    The Pandemic Effect

    The “new normal” is not only about where we work, but it is also about how we view our partners in business. Yes, disputes will arise, and no, lawsuits will not go away because not all situations will be capable of being overcome. But the hope of building in a more holistic approach to your business partner relationships will serve to strengthen your core business delivery process and better prepare you for the major future uncertainties which await us.

    This post is one in a series of posts that we created to look to the future with the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic.

    If you have any questions about this post or any other related matters, please email the Business Law Practice Group Co-Chairs, David Blatteis at dsblatteis@norris-law.com, Dolores Laputka at dlaputka@norris-law.com, or Graham Simmons at gsimmons@norris-law.com. For other topics related to COVID-19, visit our Coronavirus Thought Leadership Connection.

    The information contained in this post may not reflect the most current developments, as the subject matter is extremely fluid and constantly changing. Please continue to monitor this site for ongoing developments. Readers are also cautioned against taking any action based on information contained herein without first seeking advice from professional legal counsel.

    NM PR
    Visit Profile

    Related Posts

    No Way Out? Real Estate Lending Becomes Riskier Swiss Miss: The Fed, Basel III, and SLR Treasury Transparency: Enhanced Regulations for Trading in Government Securities

    Share

    Tags

    #Coronavirus (COVID-19) #distribution agreements #distribution channels #state of emergency #supply agreements #supply chains

    Helpful links

    • About Us
    • News
    • Services
    • Blogs
    • Attorneys
    • Articles
    • (COVID-19)
    • Award Methodology
    • Events
    • Join our Team
    Connect
    Online Payment

    Connect with Us

    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram
    • Youtube

    Join our growing team

    We are looking for quality attorneys to help us do more for our clients. At Norris McLaughlin, each attorney has the same opportunity to succeed whether you’re at the beginning of a career or pinnacle of the profession.

    Learn More

    Subscribe to our content

    Receive timely legal information delivered to your inbox

    This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
    © , Norris McLaughlin, P.A., All Rights Reserved. Attorney Advertising.
    VIEW OUR DISCLAIMER,  TERMS OF USE,  AND PRIVACY POLICY

    We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume you consent to our cookie policy. Learn more