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Research Topics:
Strategy Supplier Mananagement Supplier Risk & Compliance
In the fifth (and last) of our series of short papers outlining the most disruptive supply chain risks and how to avoid or manage them, this paper looks at what we define as geo-political supply chain risk. That ranges through major world events such as wars between states and revolutions, terrorism and political unrest, as well as apparently less dramatic issues such as protectionism and tariffs. All of these though can have a major effect on businesses and therefore their customers.
It is often hard to predict where these events may fall. Egypt was considered an up and coming country for investment and a growing outsourcing location as recently as 2010, then had several years of internal turmoil. Who knows what might happen in 2017 in terms of North Korea, or even Turkey or Venezuela? It is impossible to predict accurately what will happen, but in this short paper, we look at some of the issues and drivers here, what the implications are for buyers, and most importantly, what steps can be taken to best manage this type of risk.