Risk and Visibility in Supply Chains

Abstract

The emergence of complex supply chains is one of the most important consequences of globalization. The management of these supply chains requires increased efforts by organizations that, on one hand, are increasingly pressured by customers in terms of service levels, on the other hand, must manage their suppliers from various locations and with different local requirements. In this context, an appropriate management of information flows is needed to create the adequate visibility level for managing supply chain risk. This chapter presents an overview on the concepts of risk management, visibility and information management in supply chains. This study proposes a conceptual framework for the selection of risk mitigation strategies in the supply chain and characterizes the external and internal information flows decision makers need to implement two categories of risk mitigation strategies: redundancy and flexibility.