Roland Berger: ASEAN Supply Chains Gain Momentum

26 Sep 2025, 10:23 WIB

John Low, Managing Partner South East Asia at Roland Berger

Kuala Lumpur, FORTUNE - The New Roland Berger Asia Supply Chain Reconfiguration report tells a broad story: insights at the Asia level, with deep dives across 9 specific countries, on how supply chain priorities have shifted from efficiency toward ensuring security and resilience and how Asia's evolving ecosystem will define how firms manage the economic cycles ahead.

Global Supply Chain in Its Asian Era

Global supply chains, long shaped by historical industrial relocations, are undergoing their most profound transformation in decades. Trade disputes, geopolitical tensions, and the green transition are accelerating a shift away from hyper-globalization toward regionalized, resilient, and sustainable networks.

Propelled by global macroeconomic shifts, Asia's value chain breakthrough will depend on three transformations from:

• the world's factory to full value chain integration;

• multi-chain (fragmented) competition to single-chain

(integrated) leadership;

• commoditized rivalry to collaborative symbiosis.

The collapse of the previous world economic order and the rise of contingent and versatile bilateral agreements drive the regionalization of trade. The response is - a more regionalized Asian economy. “This is particularly relevant for Asia and ASEAN Nations, which can count on a solid economic and demand growth in their domestic Asian market, while technology and innovation will help drive value added up,” said John Low, Managing Partner South East Asia at Roland Berger (25/9).

Southeast Asia at the Centre

Southeast Asia has become the main beneficiary of the China+1 strategy, and forms an integrated, multi-country production web that absorbs demand overflow from China. At the same time, China demonstrates strong strategic resilience driven by long-term objectives, by pragmatic approaches – Expanded presence in Asia/Global South countries.

Southeast Asia is transforming into a USD 3 trillion multi-hub supply chain platform for production and trade, powered by China+1 strategies and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) free-trade zone with:

• Low-cost manufacturing advantages;

• Resource-rich countries;

• Emerging logistic hubs beyond Singapore;

• Tariff resilient.

Unlocking this potential, however, requires navigating uneven infrastructure, talent shortages, stricter sustainability rules and geopolitical uncertainties.

Infrastructure gaps in ports, logistics, and power grids continue toconstrain efficiency, while fragmented regulations slow integration across ASEAN markets. Talent shortages are emerging as a critical barrier to scaling automation and capturing mid-tier technology opportunities. At the same time, policy uncertainty persists as the region navigates a delicate balance between US- and China-led supply chain blocs.

To sustain momentum, strategic imperatives are clear. Building infrastructure resilience — from logistics corridors to power networks — will be vital to support regional competitiveness. Investment in upskilling and digital adoption is essential to shift into higher-value manufacturing. “Firms can’t rely on one global model anymore. The real advantage lies in being able to adapt to the new multi-polar landscape” said David Zhu, Partner Roland Berger, Vice President Operations Greater China.

Equally important is regional standardization under ASEAN, which can unlock scale efficiencies and reduce trade friction. Finally, companies must position themselves in dual supply chain blocs (US and China) while leveraging RCEP to secure growth.

“Regionalized value chains are harder to manage, but they provide the resilience global companies need in a fragmented, uncertain world,” said Denis Depoux, Global Managing Director at Roland Berger

Topics

Supply Chain Asia ASEAN

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