Sunday Strategist: Coronavirus Hits the Global Supply Chain

We already know the nastiness the coronavirus wreaks on a body; we’re about to find out how much damage it does to the global economy.

We get a hard lesson in supply-chain disruption every once in awhile with the odd earthquake, factory fire or port strike. (The launch of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner was particularly instructive). But the coronavirus is a different scale of shock. By most accounts, the carnage will be substantial and indiscriminate—laying low giants like Apple and mom-and-pop trinket shops in turn. The disease may be particularly brutal for Amazon, which relies heavily on products from third-party merchants.