Nearly three-quarters (74 percent) of businesses are taking a ‘hands on’ approach to managing supply chain risks, according to the 2009 Risk in 21st Century Supply Chains survey, the second report from global risk adviser Aon. This move to safeguard businesses is apparently being spurred on by the threats of increasing insolvency and the impact the H1N1 virus could have on producing and delivering goods. Aon is advising suppliers to up their game and prove their resilience to keep ahead of the competition.

Key findings of the survey include:

• More than half (53 percent) of firms have instituted regular communication and audit policies with suppliers.

• Compared to Aon’s previous survey in this area, some 15 percent more companies are actively managing the risks around contracts to ensure they are covered from the negotiation phase through spelling out quality controls and contingencies.

• There has been a 20 percent increase in the number of companies investigating their suppliers’ suppliers to assess the strength of the supply chain.

• Although insurance is still a vital element of risk management, there has been a dramatic 20 percent fall in the number of companies using it as the only form of mitigating risks.

• One in ten firms have placed an emphasis on evaluating the ethical issues they are being exposed to by their suppliers.

Grant Foster, head of enterprise risk management at Aon, commented: “Such uncertainty in the global economy and a greater demand for corporate accountability has meant companies are taking a far more proactive approach to managing their supply chain. The good news is that the issue of supply chain risks has been taken on board by procurement and embedded in their performance management and audit processes.

“However, 55 percent admit to having no key performance indicators in place to monitor supply chain risk management performance and we hope to see this figure increase over the next six months.”

Read the report (PDF)

•Date: 11th August 2009• Region: World •Type: Article •Topic: Operational risk
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