Managing Supply Chain Risk: A Supply-Side Perspective

In the past, most research on supply chain management focused on initiatives that made supply chains leaner, faster and more flexible, resulting in highly efficient but more vulnerable operations. Our study draws upon the existing literature to develop a model for upstream supply chain risk management. We collected survey data from 162 companies among several manufacturing industries. In a path analytic model, we link three steps of the supply chain risk management process - risk identification, risk assessment and risk mitigation - with upstream supply chain risk performance. We also include the effect of a continuous risk management improvement process on the risk management activities in order to adapt to the requirements of a changing environment. The data provides robust support to all our hypotheses. The study contributes to the literature by elaborating some theory aspects in more detail and empirically confirming the contribution of upstream supply chain risk management activities to the actual supply chain risk performance. Managers benefit from the insights how risk identification, risk assessment and risk mitigation activities influence risk performance and which role a continuous improvement process can play.