One of my readers suggested this book to me via a comment on my supply chain literature list pages, so I decided to find a copy for a proper review. Stephan M Wagner and Christoph Bode are renown authorities within supply chain risk research and as editors for Managing Risk and Security they have come up with a book that focuses specifically on security risks, as seen from the perspective of logistics service providers. And indeed, it was a suggestion well worth investigating, as supply chain security is something that every supply chain manager needs to take seriously.
Contents
The book contains nine chapters written by 20 leading academics. Some of them are known to me and already have publications reviewed on this blog, others are new acquaintances and promising review subjects that I will take a closer look at in my future posts.
1 Risk and Security – A Logistics Service Industry Perspective by Christoph Bode and Stephan M. Wagner serves as an introductory chapter, discussing various aspects of risk management and security, but first and foremost it is aimed at establishing a nomenclature for supply chain risk management by describing and defining supply chain risk source, supply chain risk, supply chain disruption and supply chain vulnerability.
The same figure appears in Wagner, S., & Neshat, N. (2009) Assessing the vulnerability of supply chains using graph theory
2 Risk Management in Supply Chains under Uncertainty by Robert de Souza, Mark Goh, and Fanwen Meng is an innovative framework for supply chain risk management.
3 Risk and Security Management for Logistics Service Providers: Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities by Eleftherios Iakovou, Dimitrios Vlachos, and Anastasios Xanthopoulos presents an analytical methodological framework for the design and execution of efficient and resilient logistics processes in an adverse environment.
4 Understanding Context Risk in Southeast Asia: A Logistics Industry Perspective by Ruth Banomyong describes and compares the complex risk issues faced by the logistics service industry in the ASEAN countries.
5 Global Supply Chain Security for Logistics Service Providers by Zachary Williams, Robert Lorin Cook, and O. Keith Helferich explains how to deal with catastrophic incidents in supply chains, and discus what risk management tools are applicable to what kind of companies.
6 Security, Risk Management, and Crime Prevention in Supply Chains
by Daniel Ekwall
examines the relationship between security, risk management and crime prevention in supply chains.
Much of this article is based on Ekwall’s previous work on the difference between legal and illegal supply chains.
7 Business Risk in Container Shipping by Tsz Leung Yip and Y. H. Venus Lun discusses the impact of economies of scale and how the optimal size of business in the container shipping industry.
This is a topic I felt was missing when I was reviewing this article on security in maritime supply chains.
8 Applying Risk Assessment to Secure the Containerized Supply Chain by Maarten van de Voort, Henry H. Willis, David S. Ortiz, and Susan E. Martonosi weighs costs and benefits of security measures and show how to judge the efficiency and feasibility of such measures.
This framework is very similar to Peck’s 4-level supply chain in her integrated framework for drivers of supply chain vulnerability.
9 Technology-Enabled Risk Management along the Transport Logistics Chain by Alexander C. H. Skorna, Christoph Bode, and Stephan M. Wagner points out that a smart combination of positioning, sensor and communication technologies offers interesting capabilities to reduce theft and damages in transportation and warehousing.
Conclusion
Many papers (and books) on supply chain risk do not deal explicitly with supply chain security; at best it is one of many aspects of discussion. This books takes supply chain security a long step forward, as it provides a cross-section of current research and future issues that are bound to receive not less but more attention in an increasingly uncertain and perhaps insecure world. Supply chain security is not something that is added on to a supply chain, it ought to be something that is integrated into every supply chain.
Reference
Wagner, S. & Bode, C. (Eds.) (2009) Managing Risk and Security: The Safeguard of Long-Term Success for Logistics Service Providers. Bern: Haupt Verlag.
Author links
- linkedin.com: Prof. Dr. Stephan M. Wagner
- linkedin.com: Dr. Christoph Bode
Publisher link
- shulthess.com: Managing Risk and Security
