COVID-19 Black Swan Event Accelerates Digital Transformation and Urgency for Tech-Enabled Reusables The newest Inner Loop article from the Reusable Packaging Association says smart reusable packaging solutions are available to optimize resilient supply chains and facilitate daunting challenges of COVID-19 business swings and vaccine distribution. Dec 15th, 2020 COVID-19 has been referred to as a black swan event–an unpredictable occurrence beyond the expected and with potentially severe consequences. These occurrences are characterized by their severe impact and extreme rarity. To be certain, the pandemic has disrupted global supply chains on an unprecedented scale. The Inner Loop quotes a Harvard Business Review article which says, “The supply shock that started in China in February and the demand shock that followed as the global economy shut down exposed vulnerabilities in the production strategies and supply chains of firms just about everywhere.” According to reports, over 90 percent of Fortune 1000 companies have tier 2 suppliers in the regions of China that were most affected by the initial phase of the global COVID-19 pandemic.