Managing Risk And Uncertainty In Supply Chains In The Face Of The Current Global Realities

Abstract

For the last two decades, there has been an increasing academic and practitioner interest in understanding uncertainty and risks, identifying their sources, and managing, reducing and mitigating them in supply chains (SCs). Many sources of risk are already identified and grouped, and some good methods to reduce or cope with them have been described as well. However, literature has not been profound yet. Indeed, certain types of risk sources lack practical definitions and/or effective management techniques (Prater, 2005; Simangunsong et al., 2012). The financial crises of national economies in the late 2000s followed by a global recession (2008-2012) have escalated the uncertainty and risk in SCs and meant further struggles for them in managing customer and financial flows. The development of information and communication technologies (ICT) eased the transmission of such risks from one SC entity to another. Consequently, the intensified global competition coupled with increased uncertainty and risk in SCs created a constant need to focus on financial and customer flows. This thesis has two main goals:* to assess the current supply chain literature and how certain supply chain risks particularly in customer and financial flows need to be changed and expanded in the face of the current global realities* to research and apply some of these recommended changes.