Ten or fifteen years ago, you could not convince most procurement and supply-chain professionals to talk about risk mitigation in Supply Chain. Today you cannot get them to stop talking about it.

So what has changed? Is it inherently riskier to do business in today’s global economy? Or are procurement and supply-chain management professionals simply more aware of the risks that have been there all along?

Today’s list of supply-related risks can seem nearly infinite: supplier bankrupt­cy, tight credit, emerging capacity constraints, commodity price inflation, low inventories, product recalls, supply-chain globalization, supply-base rational­ization, corporate cost cutting, dangerous management decisions, currency fluctuations, terrorism, increased regulatory activity, outsourcing, sustain­ability, social responsibility, social media, unfair trade practices, and so much more.

The purpose of this paper is to help sourcing and procurement executives understand where their organizations stand on the maturity curve for supply-risk management and what they can do today-regardless of company size or resource availability-to start moving in the right direction.