Risk management plays a vital role in effectively operating supply chains in the presence of a variety of uncertainties. Over the years, many researchers have focused on supply chain risk management (SCRM) by contributing in the areas of defining, operationalizing, and mitigating risks. In this paper, we review and synthesize the extant literature in SCRM in the past decade in a comprehensive manner. The purpose of this paper is threefold. First, we present and categorize SCRM research appearing between 2003 and 2013. Second, we undertake a detailed review associated with research developments in supply chain risk definitions, risk types, risk factors, and risk management/mitigation strategies. Third, we analyze the SCRM literature in exploring potential gaps.

No abstract

Mitigating supply chain risk is a critical component of a company's overall risk management strategy. Drawing upon Contingency Theory, we posit that the appropriateness and effectiveness of risk mitigation strategies are contingent on the internal and external environments and that there is no one‐size‐fits‐all strategy. While literature on risk management has proposed a variety of tools and techniques for effectively evaluating and managing supply chain risks, comprehensive assessment of the efficiencies of alternative risk mitigation strategies has not been addressed in the literature. Such an assessment will help managers select the appropriate mitigation strategy for a given decision‐making environment. To this end, this study is first of its kind in evaluating and proposing efficient supply chain risk mitigation strategies in the presence of a variety of risk categories, risk sources, and supply chain configurations. We combine an empirically grounded simulation methodology with data envelopment analysis and nonparametric statistical methods to analyze and rank alternative mitigation strategies. We find that the more efficient strategies focus on flexibility rather than on redundancy for supply chain failures. Our research presents several interesting and useful managerial insights for deciding what strategies are most capable of mitigating risks in a variety of contexts.

No abstract

With growing emphasis on supply risk, consideration of risk aspects in supplier selection has become an important issue faced by firms. While current literature has proposed a variety of tools and techniques for effective supplier selection, few approaches, if any, are proposed in incorporating risk mitigation strategies in supplier selection decisions. To this end, this paper fills this gap, by considering a variety of risk factors in supplier selection, which are both quantitative and qualitative in nature, and tests the efficacy of alternative risk mitigation strategies in this context. Moreover, we argue that both upstream and downstream risk mitigation strategies should be used simultaneously rather than focusing on a single type of strategy. We further argue that alignment between upstream and downstream risk mitigation strategies is critical in reducing risk. We utilize multi-objective optimization based simulation in building a decision model in the context of this problem setting. We consider data from an automotive parts manufacturer in demonstrating the application of our approach.