Supply Chain Risk Overview

Principles

Definition

Supply chain risk is an academic concept and research field dedicated to identifying, assessing, and managing potential disruptions, vulnerabilities, and their negative impacts throughout complex, interconnected supply chain networks, with the objective of enhancing resilience, continuity, and performance.

Ontological type

Mitigation Strategies

Assessment Methods

Risk Typologies

Key developments

Key Figures

Risk Governance Foundations era

Martin Christopher [1], associated with Cardiff University [3] and Cranfield University [4] during this era. His key contributions include Building the Resilient Supply Chain [5] (2004), Supply chain risk management: outlining an agenda for future research [6] (2003), and Developing Market Specific Supply Chain Strategies [7] (2002), which collectively reframed risk as a governance-centered, proactive network property and underscored the need for coordinated risk management in procurement and inventory decisions. Helen Peck [2], associated with Cranfield University [4] during this era. Her contributions, notably Building the Resilient Supply Chain [5] (2004) and Supply chain risk management: outlining an agenda for future research [6] (2003), helped crystallize resilience and governance-focused risk frameworks and underscored the need for structured inquiry to operationalize risk management in practice.

Global Resilience Integration era

Brian Tomlin [1] is associated with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill [3] and Dartmouth College [4] during this era. His work on mitigating and contingency strategies for managing supply chain disruption risks [7] and the power of flexibility for mitigating supply chain risks [8] highlighted how proactive resilience levers could reduce disruption costs and enable adaptable network configurations. Christopher S. Tang [2] is affiliated with Stanford University [5] and the University of Pennsylvania [6] during this era. Tang's Perspectives in supply chain risk management [9] offered foundational viewpoints that informed cross-functional risk assessment and decision-support approaches in resilient supply chains.

Network Viability and Adaptation era

Dmitry Ivanov [1] is a prominent figure in the Network Viability and Adaptation era, with affiliations at the University of Padua [3] and the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology [4]. His papers contribute by introducing survivability in intertwined supply networks [7], documenting resilience considerations in a reconfigurable context [8], and proposing the X-network as a reconfigurable structure for adaptive supply chains [9]. Alexandre Dolgui [2] is a leading figure in this era, with affiliations at Nantes Université [5] and IMT Atlantique [6]. Dolgui's contributions span the viability framing in the intertwined supply networks [7] and the X-network reconfigurability [9], underscoring the era's emphasis on survivability, dynamic reconfiguration, and investments in responsiveness.