@Risk

Japan and the US have the highest economic exposure to natural hazards.

But, new research from Maplecroft concludes that the emerging economies of China, India, Philippines and Indonesia pose the most risk to investors –because these countries lack capacity to combat the impacts of a major disaster.

According to Maplecroft’s Natural Hazards Risk Atlas 2011 (NRHA), China, India, Philippines and Indonesia are not only at ‘high’ and ‘extreme risk’ from economic exposure to natural hazards (earthquakes, tsunamis, tropical cyclones, floods, drought, etc);  they also lack the resilience to mitigate the disruption a major event would have on their societies and economies.

Maplecroft points to Japan to illustrate the point. The UN states that Japan has nearly 40 percent more people exposed to tropical cyclones than the Philippines. Yet, if both countries experienced similar sized cyclones, fatalities in the Philippines would be 17 times higher than in Japan.

What’s more, due to the rising economic power of those major emerging countries, the occurrence of a major natural disaster there may also have global economic impacts and severely affect the supply chains of business. Maplecroft advises investors who are currently diversifying portfolios into Asian countries to factor in natural hazards risks into their investment strategies. (more…)

US lawmakers are growing impatient to break China’s monopoly on global production of rare earth elements (REEs), a handful of minerals essential to the manufacture of high-tech gadgets and critical to the development of many new “green” technologies.

REEs are actually more abundant than many commonplace industrial metals. In fact, back in 2010, the US Geological Survey (USGS) released a report revealing that 13 million metric tons of rare earths exist within known deposits in 14 US states.

However, REEs are typically very difficult to extract. Consequently, the US has not mined REEs in more than a decade, and now we are completely (100 percent) dependent on foreign sources for REEs, 97 percent of which are provided by China.

Fortunately, there are new signs that perhaps this trend may be beginning to reverse its course. (more…)

As we have seen across other sectors, the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry is now in recovery mode, with companies focused on growth and opportunities for global expansion to enhance both their top and bottom lines.

But, new research shows that CPG companies will sorely miss one newly critical capability as they expand to places like China and other emerging markets. Which critical capability is lacking in developing economies?

Digital technology.

Thriving in a Connected World, an intriguing new report from the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) and PwC US, points out that today’s CPG companies have become quite savvy at leveraging digital innovation to optimize service to consumers and trading partners.

For instance, the report suggests that mobile devices have improved workforce productivity in three specific areas: (more…)

A report last year by the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security, Office of Technology Evaluation found that counterfeit electronics are present in troubling amounts in the Department of Defense supply chain.

Then, in March, the Senate Armed Services Committee launched an investigation into this growing problem.

Now, the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center) has announced “Operation Chain Reaction,” a new comprehensive initiative to target the counterfeit and pirated goods entering the supply chains of the DOD and other US government agencies.

This is the first time that IPR Center participants have come together to collectively address the threat posed by fake parts in government supply chains. The list of IPR Center participants includes:

• US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)
• US Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
• Federal Bureau of Investigation
• Naval Criminal Investigative Service
• Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS)
• US Army Criminal Investigative Command, Major Procurement Fraud Unit
• General Services Administration, Office of Inspector General
• Defense Logistics Agency, Office of Inspector General
• US Air Force, Office of Special Investigations

In a press release, ICE revealed a few examples of recent investigations involving counterfeit products entering the federal supply chain. Check out these cases, which illustrate the need for immediate attention to this critically important issue: (more…)

More than 100 global economies –including six G7 economies –have energy supplies that are at “extreme” or “high” risk in the short-term, according to a new analysis from Maplecroft.

The study, titled The Energy Security (short-term) Index, assesses immediate risks to the availability, affordability and continuity of energy supplies in 196 countries by evaluating energy imports, diversity of supplies, import security and energy costs.

Maplecroft rated three countries, Sierra Leone (1), Gambia (2) and Guinea Bissau (3), as “extreme risk” in the short-term index.

In addition, another 122 nations are rated “high risk” in the short-term index, including the G7 economies of: (more…)