Sup­ply Chain Risk Man­age­ment

Course content

It has been argued that with the increasing level of volatility, “the days of static supply chain strategies are over” (Simchi-Levi & Fine, 2010) and that we need to manage “supply chains in the era of turbulence” (Christopher & Holweg, 2011). Indeed, the 2008 financial crisis, the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake, the 2013 Rana Plaza accident, the 2013 horsemeat scandal and the Covid-19 pandemic have demonstrated that organizations are exposed to risks outside their own boundaries. The Covid-19 pandemic is hitting the global supply chain particularly hard with observed ripple effects across a number of network elements. The magnitude and scope of these correlated disruptions have drawn global attention and brought long-term consequences. Thus, traditional supply chain management needs to be expanded by integrating the notion of risk, and traditional risk management needs to be expanded by taking a supply chain view. This leads to supply chain risk management (SCRM), i.e., “the implementation of strategies to manage both every day and exceptional risks along the supply chain based on continuous risk assessment with the objective of reducing vulnerability and ensuring continuity” (Wieland & Wallenburg, 2012).

Building on knowledge from other courses on operations and supply chain management (namely “Operations & Logistics Management” and “Logistics Clusters”), this course covers 1) The relevant processes of SCRM; 2) Phenomena related to supply chain risk from different theoretical perspectives and the relevant management approaches; 3) Quantification methods of supply chain risk management; 4) Risk issues related to sustainability and resilience. Based on interactive discussions and case studies, the participants will learn how to apply such knowledge in a managerial context.