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30 min read KEITH MULLIN, KM CAPITAL MARKETS: THERE’S A LOT OF CHATTER ABOUT GETTING BACK TO NORMAL. ARE WE GOING BACK TO THE ‘OLD NORMAL’ OR HAS THE WORLD MOVED ON? ARE WE GOING, TO USE THE CLICHÉ, TO ‘BUILD BACK BETTER’? Jörg Boche, Volkswagen: At least from the corporate perspective, we are certainly coming out of the crisis in a different shape to how we went into it. One trend that I’ve observed that has been catalysed, if not started, by the crisis is a significantly stronger move towards vertical integration in industry. From our perspective, that has two aspects. One is more upstream integration of parts of the value chain, particularly those that are linked to raw materials. The other, due to technological transformation, is the internalisation of technological know-how, which is relevant for things like battery cell production or software. In all these respects, we have learned that the trend of outsourcing everything to a global economy has rea ....