'Maximum Care' at Maximus Air - SCLG

Guest FeatureBuilding Supply Chain Resiliencefor Competitive AdvantageMark MillarMBA, GAICD, FCILT, PMHKLAContinuing globalisation oftrade and commerce is resultingin multifaceted business scenariosinvolving increasingly complex‘supply chain ecosystems’. Withinthe context of an ever changingworld, this complexity results inlarger elements of volatility andvulnerability.Supply chain risk is progressivelymore prevalent, even becoming anagenda item at the World EconomicForum in Davos, Switzerland andbuilding resilience will consequentlybecome a key source of competitiveadvantage, where Resilience is‘the ability to recover quickly fromchange or misfortune’.Such risks generally relate toactivities, roles, and participantswithin the Internal Environmentof the supply chain ecosystem,that cause interruptions to theregular supply chain function andperformance.However, supply chain riskalso arises from events whichcause problems in the ExternalEnvironment. These disruptions,typically unpredictable, causemassive and immediate damage tothe supply chain ecosystem. Suchdisruptions are usually headlinegrabbing events, frequently withtragic consequences, for example thenatural disasters in USA (hurricaneSandy) Jakarta (floods), Japan(earthquake and tsunami), Thailand(floods) and Iceland (volcano).This article will focus on the riskswithin the Internal Environmentof the supply chain ecosystem andoutline a four-pillar frameworkthrough which to build supply chainresilience for competitive advantage.Supply Chain Risks —Common and WidespreadSupply chains that were once localor regional are now truly global andhave become exponentially morecomplex. Today’s supply chainsare multi-layered, interconnectedecosystems with numerousdependencies amongst manyparticipants. Hence our supplychain ecosystems have becomemore volatile and vulnerable and30 April 2013