Video
DPW NYC 2025 | Global Trade Panel
3 minutes
Description
The era of predictable global trade is over. At DPW NYC 2025, Spencer Penn led a panel on how tariffs, trade wars, and political maneuvering are reshaping direct materials sourcing.
He was joined by Ebehi Iyoha of Harvard Business School, who studies trade policy as political leverage, and David Wild of Schneider Electric, who brought hands-on insight from global procurement.
Together they cover how fast companies should react to new policy, whether large or small firms have the edge, where to invest first, and how to build resilience into the supply chain.
Speakers
Spencer Penn
CEO & Co Founder
Ebehi Iyoha
Harvard Business School
David Wild
Schneider Electric
Key moments
The ideal response cadence
How quickly should you react to new trade policy without overreacting overnight?
Large vs. small business advantage
How volatile trade hits large and small firms differently, and whether it pays to wait.
Process, technology, or data?
Lightning round: if you could invest in only one right now, which would it be?
Supply chain resilience
Why resilience has to be part of supply chain DNA, not an afterthought.
A layered strategy for resilience
Resilience starts with supplier relationships and is reinforced with layered mitigation.
The 90% problem
Direct materials are 90% of spend. So why does procurement tech focus on indirect?
See this sourcing workflow in practice.
LightSource is the AI-native sourcing platform for direct materials. See it on your own parts and suppliers.
