What Is a Polycrisis, and Why It Matters for Supply Chains

Supply chains are facing a new kind of risk. Disruptions no longer arrive one at a time. They interact, overlap, and reinforce each other across logistics, finance, data and geopolitics. This post explains what a polycrisis is, why it matters for supply chain resilience, and how to start mapping it.

Supply chains were built for variable demand and the occasional shock. They were not built for several shocks interacting at once. When disruptions overlap, they amplify one another across logistics, finance, data, the geopolitical environment and reputation.

That interaction effect is the polycrisis. It is not a headline. It is a mechanism.
Understanding that mechanism is the first step toward building systemic resilience. When leaders can see how stresses connect, they can cut decision time, protect service, and avoid paying twice: once in disruption, and again in over-correction.

Three quick takeaways

• Polycrisis = interaction, not accumulation. Five small problems that reinforce each other can be worse than one big one.
• Model the flow, not just the event. Map how a stress turns into a trigger and travels through pathways to become a crisis.
• Prioritise where you can act with effect. Focus on high exposure × controllability (E×C) areas to reduce decision latency and cost.

What we mean by “polycrisis”

A polycrisis is a system-level problem where multiple stresses interact, creating feedback loops and nonlinear outcomes.

Think of this example:
A drought reduces hydropower output. Power rationing hits smelters. Metal availability tightens. Component prices rise. Project deferrals spread. Meanwhile, a cyber incident forces manual workarounds that slow already constrained flows.

None of these on its own is unusual. The compounding interaction is what makes it disruptive.

Traditional supply chain risk management tools list these as separate issues. In reality, operators experience them as connected pathways — physical, informational, financial and reputational.

The operator’s pitfall: perfecting the incident list

Most organisations are good at cataloguing incidents and assigning owners. The gap is what happens between those incidents, how signals travel across functions and time. That’s where delay, duplication and “fix-then-re-fix” costs come from.

Two symptoms to watch for:

1. Whack-a-mole fixes. The same problem reappears one hop downstream, like port congestion replaced by premium air freight that quietly blows the budget.
2. PowerPoint resilience. Heat maps and risk registers that change colour but never change decisions.

A better frame: STC and propagation pathways

At The Signal House, we use the Stresses → Triggers → Crises (STC) model to show how risk actually behaves in complex systems.

• Stresses are background pressures that increase fragility, such as supplier concentration, limited buffers or regulatory drift.
• Triggers are discrete events or thresholds that activate those stresses — for example, a water level crossing, a cyber breach or a credit downgrade.
• Crises are the outcomes leaders feel: missed delivery targets, margin compression or reputational damage.

Propagation pathways explain how trouble travels through a network:

• Physical: capacity constraints, network chokepoints and mode shifts.
• Informational: data errors, cyber events and signal delays.
• Financial: liquidity pressure, currency shifts and counterparty risk.
• Reputational: media exposure, stakeholder scrutiny and policy intervention.

Making these pathways visible allows teams to see which stresses prime which triggers, and where they can interrupt the flow early.

Why this matters now

Modern supply chains operate with less slack and tighter cycles. Errors move faster, costs rise quicker, and stakeholder visibility is immediate.

• Shorter lead times compress diagnosis and response.
• Digital coupling means one small fault can travel across an entire network.
• External visibility increases pressure to act quickly and transparently.

The penalty for slow or mis-sequenced action is rising. But so is the upside. Organisations that can sense, model and intervene early gain steadier service, lower volatility and faster strategic pivots.

Mini-case: one shock, three pathways

A short power failure shuts down a regional cold storage site.

• Physical: diverted loads strain capacity and burn overtime at nearby facilities.
• Informational: manual rebooking creates duplicate IDs and false spoilage alerts.
• Financial: premium transport and penalties hit the P&L. Treasury raises cash buffers to protect liquidity.
• Reputational: a key account experiences a service lapse that triggers media attention.

If you only close the incident, you still absorb hidden costs in planning, cash and reputation. Mapping the pathways reveals where to intervene earlier — alternate routing, data fallback, and pre-cleared customer communication.

The one change to make this quarter

Adopt a living risk map that connects STC, propagation pathways and E×C.

In practice:

1. Run a 90-minute STC session. Identify 5–7 key stresses. Define measurable triggers and the crisis states that matter (service, cost, cash, reputation).
2. Sketch the propagation. For the top triggers, trace one hop per pathway. Keep it simple — boxes and arrows work.
3. Score E×C. Rate exposure and controllability on a 1–3 scale to identify where action has impact.
4. Create a short switch list. For the top three items, define the pre-authorised moves you can take within 48 hours.
5. Set cadence. Review monthly. Retire stale items. Promote emerging stresses. Update triggers as conditions change.

This is not a transformation programme. It is a discipline — one that turns scattered knowledge into faster, better-sequenced action.

What this means for operators

• Model the flow. Trace how a stress becomes a trigger and a crisis.
• Fund switches. Build pre-authorised actions, not just buffers.
• Track latency. Measure signal, decision and action times, and aim to shorten each.
• Standardise language. Use STC, pathways and E×C consistently across teams.

Book a 30-minute discovery call with The Signal House to explore how to map your own network and act before the next disruption.