Logistics and Supply Chain blog Supply chain just got a bit riskier

This week’s blog in Logistics & Supply Chain carried a blog by Malory Davies, the Editor of the magazine (http://www.logisticsandsupplychain.com/supply-chain-just-got-bit-riskier/). The CIPS Risk Index produced by Dun & Bradstreet on behalf of the Chartered Institute of Procurement, has grown for the fourth consecutive quarter, rising to 81.6 from 80.8 in the second quarter. Davies states, “The uncertainty around the post-Brexit relationship between the UK and the European Union has had a negative impact on trade and business sentiment in the UK and across the region. In the UK, the resulting currency volatility is having an immediate effect on British businesses with suppliers starting to push up prices in reaction to the weaker British pound. However, there has been a positive effect on exporters.”

The survey showed a number of other negatives, including:

1. Growing disillusionment with globalisation with a number of political parties hostile to free trade are set to see gains over the next 12 months in France, Italy, Germany and The Netherlands.
2. Both US Presidential candidates have expressed concern about the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.
3. Civil war had all but eliminated international supply chains in certain countries.
4. Logistical routes have come under pressure.

Many of these issues are of course not in the hands of supply chain professionals but that doesn’t stop them being issues that have to be managed effectively with the ability ro respond to changes as quickly as possible.  A Mutable Enterprise not only has to keep abreast of market and technological changes but also political ones!