Book review: Supply Chain Risk Management

Posted on 2008-06-14 by

Revised on: 2015-09-09

Edited by Robert B. Handfield, the book Supply Chain Risk Management: Minimizing Disruptions in Global Sourcing (Resource Management), is not what I thought it would be. Looking at the cover I expected a richly and colorfully illustrated handbook. It is not. I have to say that I am actually rather disappointed at this book, and I will tell you exactly why. That said, it is far from worthless, by all means, and there are many things that are worth reading, but it’s just not what I expected.

Three things that annoy me

First of all, this book looks exclusively on the supply (hence “sourcing”) side of the supply chain. Secondly, the colorful graphics are mere black and white or gray shade images, very hard to read, and some are hardly legible. I don’t mind gray shade figures and illustrations, if they are designed that way; here, obviously, color print was too expensive, so they opted for black and white instead, big mistake. Thirdly, the typographical layout is terrible; headings and sub-headings are so similar they are hard to separate and what’s worse, they are not numbered. All in all, this looks more like at set of papers written in MS Word, put together in a book.

Do not judge the book by the cover

Ok, so it doesn’t make a visual impression…but what about the content? Is that better?

Visible and in plain sight flaws aside, this book is a good read. The authors demonstrate a solid hands-on practical knowledge of their field. It does not dwell on theory but relies on in-depth analysis and case studies. It really provides, as the cover states:

A thorough analysis of the importance of risk and its critical elements.
Detailed case studies from major corporations
How you can build a more resilient supply chain

Handfield is considered a thought leader in the field of supply chain management, and is an industry expert in the field of strategic sourcing, supply market intelligence, and supplier development. This book proves that.

Not for researchers

Unfortunately, most of the chapters lack a bibliography list. Thus, the text itself is free of any references, and academically, to me as a researcher, this book is interesting, but not so valuable. In research, reference is king.

Book or infomercial?

Oh, as I found out, the “Risk Wheel” that so prominently features on the front cover, was developed by

…Supply Chain Redesign LLC, a consulting firm that focuses an supply chain management, and has created a framework and process to better understand the drivers that create supply chain disruptions and mitigate the risk more proactively…
(p. 76)

Having a look at www.supplychainredesign.com I then discovered that it is in fact run by Handfield himself. So, the book is probably written using case studies from his consultancy practice? Hm…very clever marketing…