Innovators in Supply Chain Security

Innovators in Supply Chain Security

By
Barchi Peleg-Gillai, Gauri Bhat, Lesley Sept
The Manufacturing Innovation Series. July
2006, Pages 38

Political unrest, natural disasters and many other unforeseen events such as product contamination and adulteration, shortages, border closings and strikes by ports, have made firms more aware of the vulnerability of their supply chains, and encouraged them to seek ways to reduce risk. While security initiatives—both voluntary and government mandated—allow companies to maintain their level of operations and/or to reduce risks, they require significant levels of investment. Many organizations have found it difficult to provide a business case to justify security investments, and are therefore reluctant to invest in security beyond the minimum necessary. This study documents how, when properly leveraged, investments in supply chain security can be offset by the resulting benefits.