Blog Archives

The supply chain of the future

Instrumented, interconnected and intelligent. That is IBM’s vision of the supply chain of the future. The report features an interesting table, where these three characteristics are linked to SCM competencies and how they can be implemented.

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Supply chain disruption risk on the rise

Global supply chains are increasingly becoming more vulnerable to potential disruption to trade. Every year, Aon publishes a political risk map, and in 2009 the number of countries tagged with ‘supply chain vulnerability’ has increased from 38 to 54.

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Vulnerability in business relationships

The perceived trust and the perceived dependence in business relationships influence the perceived vulnerability. The higher the perceived dependence, the higher the perceived vulnerability. The higher the perceived trust, the lower the perceived vulnerability.

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7 out of 10 businesses without a continuity plan

Is ICT forgotten in supply chain risk management? I hope not. ICT is an integral part of any supply chain. In my humble opinion, not having an ICT contingency plan show how little businesses understand (or care) about their supply chain.

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Book Review: Supply Chain Risk

The primary purpose of this book is to collect and share various streams of research and trends in supply chain risk, predominantly from the ISCRIM (International Supply Chain Risk Management) network.

Posted in BOOKS and BOOK CHAPTERS
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Supply Chain Disruptions – Does Location Matter?

How are companies located in sparse transport networks affected by supply chain disruptions? Are businesses located in regions with sparse transportation networks more prone to supply chain disruptions than businesses located in more favorable locations? Does a sparse transportation network constrain the supply chain setup, such that it is more vulnerable and more likely to be disrupted?

Posted in my PUBLIC PRESENCE
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TRB 2009 – are you going there, too?

Are you presenting at the TRB 2009, the Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting? Below is the abstract of a paper I will present at TRB2009, the Transportation Research Board 88th Annual Meeting, in Washington, DC, 11-15 January 2009.

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Ericsson versus Nokia – the now classic case of supply chain disruption

When faced with a supply chain disruption, proactive and reactive supply chain risk management can in fact make or break a company’s existence.

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Global Risks 2008 – A prediction come true

It is now frightening to see how true the predictions in this report were in Global Risks 2008, a report prepared by the World Economic Forum. I can only hope that the global financial turmoil does not translate into a global supply chain turmoil.

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Overcoming locational disadvantage

When it comes to a business’ physical location in relation to the functioning of the supply chain, obviously there are good locations and bad locations. Can a business’ organization compensate for that?

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Sparse transportation networks and disruptions

The vulnerability of the transportation network as part of the supply chain is of particular interest in countries or regions with sparsely populated areas, and hence, a sparse transportation network, because sparse transportation networks, and thus sparse supply chains, are vulnerable to many different kinds of internal and external risks.

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Sustainability means less vulnerability?

A sustainable supply chain is a supply chain where resources are not just consumed but also replenished, and where business decisions consider long-term overall environmental and societal impacts.

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Inbound and outbound vulnerability

In ‘A conceptual framework of vulnerability in firms’ inbound and outbound logistics flows.’, Göran Svensson separates inbound and outbound flows, adds 2 categories of disturbance (quantitative and qualitative), and also adds 2 sources of disturbance (atomistic and holistic) create 4 vulnerability scenarios.

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A conceptual framework for supply chain vulnerability

Separating the chaff from the wheat and diving straight into the essence of the paper, Svensson aligns his framework along two dimensions, categories of disturbance and sources of disturbance. He then divides the categories into either quantitative or qualitative disturbances. Sources of disturbance are either atomistic (direct) or holistic (indirect).

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America’s Crumbling Infrastructure

My daily morning routine includes a cup of coffee while watching the World Business Report on BBC World News. Today they had a special report on America’s crumbling and failing infrastructure.

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Drivers of supply chain vulnerability

In her article Drivers of supply chain vulnerability: an integrated framework, Helen Peck identifies four drivers of supply chain vulnerability:Value stream, product or processes,Assets and infrastructure dependencies,Organizations and inter-organizational networks,The Environment.

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Finding the right location – minimizing disruption costs

Classical facility location models assume that once optimally located and set up, facilities will operate as planned, smoothly, and without interruption. In reality, though, operations seldom go as planned; interruptions, unscheduled downtime and failures occur every once in a while, with unplanned and unbudgeted disruption costs as a consequence.

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Accessibility Index – Transport Network Vulnerability

The starting point for this paper is the question of how to define and find critical locations in a transport network. A network node is vulnerable if loss or degradation of a small number of links diminishes the accessibility of the node. A network link is critical if loss or degradation of the links diminishes the accessibility of the network or of particular nodes

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How to Design Mitigation Capabilities

The severity of supply chain disruptions stems from supply chain design characteristics and supply chain mitigation capabilities: Supply Chain Design: supply chain density,supply chain complexity, node criticality. Supply Chain Mitigation Capability: recovery capability, warning capability.

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Supply chain vulnerability: an invisible global risk?

Supply chain disruption – a global issue? All companies and governments dependent on external suppliers are exposed to the risks of disruption in their supply chain. Even a relatively small supply chain disruption caused by a local risk event may ultimately have consequences across the global economic system.

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ARTICLES and PAPERS
Security, visibility and resilience
The numerous possibilities of disruptions and disturbances in the supply chain demand a supply chain[...]
Corridor Analysis - A timeline of evolutionary development
Locating a right-of-way for a linear facility such as a pipeline, a transmission line, a railway or [...]
BOOKS and BOOK CHAPTERS
SME Risk Management
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) make up the majority of enterprises in most countries, and[...]
Book Review - Fraud Risk
Last year I was approached by Gower Publishing and invited to review their Short Guides to Business [...]
REPORTS and WHITEPAPERS
Risky cities - want to work there?
If you are doing global business, do you know where you are at risk and what risk that is most perti[...]
Transport infrastructure resilience
Is it possible to devise a simple framework for assessing the resilience of the transport infrastruc[...]
from HERE and THERE
Risk Avoidance - is that all there is?
Business Week ran an article recently, stating that risk avoidance needs to be injected into employe[...]
Can you outsource risk?
While China has taken steps to address safety concerns after the recalls of last year, yet small pl[...]