@Risk

Today’s supply chains are global, elongated and enormously complex.

Of course, that also means they’re riskier and more unpredictable than ever before.

How can supply chain managers maintain integrity, stability and clarity in what can easily become a nasty hornet’s nest? And now that many suppliers feel far-removed from their customers, how can you mitigate the risk of irresponsible suppliers –you know, the ones that put their own interests above yours?

Answers to questions like those are almost as complex as supply chains themselves, but Mark Vandenbosch and Stephen Sapp do a nice job breaking down the key issues in their article, Keep Your Suppliers Honest, published last week in The Wall Street Journal. According to the authors, mitigating risks from irresponsible suppliers boils down to four fundamental tasks.

In short, you need to: (more…)

Mexico continues to be a positive business proposition for many companies. However there’s no doubt that it is becoming increasingly more challenging –and more costly –to mitigate risks to operations, supply chains and personnel there.

Consider this: Since 2006, more than 24,000 people have been killed in drug violence in Mexico, and as an article in The Dallas Morning News puts it: (more…)

Already reeling because India’s garment manufacturing industry was included on the US Department of Labor’s updated EO 13126 list, the country’s apparel exporters suffered another blow last week when The Observer revealed details of an investigation that uncovered significant worker abuses at Indian “sweatshops.”

According to the article, some of Britain’s biggest retailers, including Marks & Spencer, Gap and Next, are using suppliers who pay workers pennies an hour and force them to work up to 16 hours a day in factories.

From the article: (more…)

Nearly half the retail and manufacturing companies surveyed in a recent Tompkins Supply Chain Consortium study now have a supply chain leader at or above the executive vice president level, reflecting a positive trend in supply chain leadership over the past five years.

Specifically, here’s a breakdown of the survey results by industry:

The study also found that: (more…)

There’s no doubt that globalization has been tremendously beneficial. For many businesses, it has provided improved efficiencies, increased stability and greater success.

However, globalization has its down-sides, too. Perhaps all the international complexity and interdependence will create new vulnerabilities that simply eclipse potential benefits?

Either way, one thing is clear:  there is no turning back now. Outsourcing and the internet are just two factors among many that will continue to drive global trade, and businesses today really have no alternative except to learn to manage more complex and interconnected supply chains.

But, what are the risks involved?

A new report from Lloyd’s deep dives into the issue and examines in detail how globalization has improved our society, while at the same time leading to increased political, economic, health and cyber risks. In Globalisation and Risks for Business, Lloyds calls on governments and businesses to work together at an international level to predict and prevent the aggregation of these risks in the future.

Specifically, the report urges companies to build their own resilience against systemic risks by: (more…)