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The ongoing global supply chain crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic shows no sign of abating. And although many media outlets have blamed pandemic shortages on companies' practice of just-in-time inventory management, abandoning it would do little to help current supply chain problems. The author points to two other overarching causes of product and parts shortages: suppliers' inability to adjust to soaring demand, and government interventions.

However, he writes, there is an important third dimension: the detection lead time. This is the amount of warning time during which a company can prepare for the disruption and mitigate its effects. As the author explains, some disruptions involve long-term trends that are widely discussed in the media (for example, aging populations in the Western world, China, and Japan) or are prescheduled events (such as new regulations or labor union contract deadlines; some (for instance, hurricanes) occur after a short warning of a few days; while others such as fires, earthquakes, or power outages occur without warning. Still other disruptions (such as product contaminations or design defects) may not be discovered until well after they've occurred or may never be recognized (for example, industrial espionage or cyberattacks). Drawing on examples from companies including Dow Chemical, Ikea, BNSF Railway, Walgreen's, Cisco Systems, UPS, and FedEx, the article presents nine data sources that leading companies use to improve their ability to detect potential disruptions early: monitoring the weather; tracking the news; using data from sensors; monitoring the supply base; visiting suppliers; being on the alert for deception; developing traceability capabilities; monitoring social media; and tracking regulatory developments. The article then discusses four ways companies can improve their abilities to both detect and respond to disruptions: (1) mapping the supply chain to determine the locations of their suppliers to assess supplier risks, (2) assessing global events to identify potential disruptions that could affect production or revenues, (3) creating supply chain control towers with technology, people, and processes that capture and use supply chain data to enable better short- and long-term decision making, and (4) improving response time through data and analysis.

Jack Emmons, the CEO of Voici Brands, knew his apparel company needed a supply chain overhaul. Over the past couple of years, sales had dropped because of late deliveries, stock-outs, and other supply problems. Meanwhile, a major competitor had significantly reduced its time to market and boosted its bottom line by outsourcing all its product lines to a dazzlingly efficient "supply chain city" in Shanghai. Unfortunately, Jack's company was just too decentralized to use the supply chain city. Each of Voici's five units was like a subsidiary, with its own legacy, management, and suppliers. The unit heads wouldn't sit still for a supply chain consolidation; they had worked too hard to forge vendor relationships. Inspired by a magazine article, Jack decided to appoint a supply chain czar to oversee changes in logistics and procurement. He could hire Ravi Chandry, an aggressive outsider who had centralized supply chain operations for the world's second-largest snack food and beverage company. Or he could promote Tony Rini, a highly capable, trustworthy Voici veteran who had no experience consolidating supply operations but could win hearts and minds. Ravi told Jack that only a Rottweiler could do the job right. Tony lobbied for a more cautious approach: Start with low-hanging fruit, get a few quick wins, then move on to other areas. What kind of leadership will get Voici's units to pull together? Commenting on this fictional case study in R0509A and R0509Z are Shakeel Mozaffar, group vice-president of Global Supply Chain at ICI in London; Robert W. Moffat, Jr., senior vice-president of Integrated Supply Chain at IBM; John D. Blascovich, a vice-president of Chicago-based A.T. Kearney and head of its sourcing practice in North America; and Nick LaHowchic, president and CEO of Limited Logistics Services, an internal service subsidiary of Limited Brands in Columbus, Ohio.

Jack Emmons, the CEO of Voici Brands, knew his apparel company needed a supply chain overhaul. Over the past couple of years, sales had dropped because of late deliveries, stock-outs, and other supply problems. Meanwhile, a major competitor had significantly reduced its time to market and boosted its bottom line by outsourcing all its product lines to a dazzlingly efficient "supply chain city" in Shanghai. Unfortunately, Jack's company was just too decentralized to use the supply chain city. Each of Voici's five units was like a subsidiary, with its own legacy, management, and suppliers. The unit heads wouldn't sit still for a supply chain consolidation; they had worked too hard to forge vendor relationships. Inspired by a magazine article, Jack decided to appoint a supply chain czar to oversee changes in logistics and procurement. He could hire Ravi Chandry, an aggressive outsider who had centralized supply chain operations for the world's second-largest snack food and beverage company. Or he could promote Tony Rini, a highly capable, trustworthy Voici veteran who had no experience consolidating supply operations but could win hearts and minds. Ravi told Jack that only a Rottweiler could do the job right. Tony lobbied for a more cautious approach: Start with low-hanging fruit, get a few quick wins, then move on to other areas. What kind of leadership will get Voici's units to pull together? Commenting on this fictional case study in R0509A and R0509Z are Shakeel Mozaffar, group vice-president of Global Supply Chain at ICI in London; Robert W. Moffat, Jr., senior vice-president of Integrated Supply Chain at IBM; John D. Blascovich, a vice-president of Chicago-based A.T. Kearney and head of its sourcing practice in North America; and Nick LaHowchic, president and CEO of Limited Logistics Services, an internal service subsidiary of Limited Brands in Columbus, Ohio.

Jack Emmons, the CEO of Voici Brands, knew his apparel company needed a supply chain overhaul. Over the past couple of years, sales had dropped because of late deliveries, stock-outs, and other supply problems. Meanwhile, a major competitor had significantly reduced its time to market and boosted its bottom line by outsourcing all its product lines to a dazzlingly efficient "supply chain city" in Shanghai. Unfortunately, Jack's company was just too decentralized to use the supply chain city. Each of Voici's five units was like a subsidiary, with its own legacy, management, and suppliers. The unit heads wouldn't sit still for a supply chain consolidation; they had worked too hard to forge vendor relationships. Inspired by a magazine article, Jack decided to appoint a supply chain czar to oversee changes in logistics and procurement. He could hire Ravi Chandry, an aggressive outsider who had centralized supply chain operations for the world's second-largest snack food and beverage company. Or he could promote Tony Rini, a highly capable, trustworthy Voici veteran who had no experience consolidating supply operations but could win hearts and minds. Ravi told Jack that only a Rottweiler could do the job right. Tony lobbied for a more cautious approach: Start with low-hanging fruit, get a few quick wins, then move on to other areas. What kind of leadership will get Voici's units to pull together? Commenting on this fictional case study in R0509A and R0509Z are Shakeel Mozaffar, group vice-president of Global Supply Chain at ICI in London; Robert W. Moffat, Jr., senior vice-president of Integrated Supply Chain at IBM; John D. Blascovich, a vice-president of Chicago-based A.T. Kearney and head of its sourcing practice in North America; and Nick LaHowchic, president and CEO of Limited Logistics Services, an internal service subsidiary of Limited Brands in Columbus, Ohio.

This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. Many companies leave risk management and business continuity to security professionals, business continuity planners or insurance professionals. Argues that building a resilient enterprise should be a strategic initiative that changes the way a company operates and increases its competitiveness. Reducing vulnerability means both reducing the likelihood of a disruption and increasing resilience. Resilience, in turn, can be achieved by either creating redundancy or increasing flexibility. Redundancy is the familiar concept of keeping some resources in reserve to be used in case of a disruption. Although necessary to some degree, redundancy represents pure cost with no return except in the eventuality of disruption. Contends that significantly more leverage, not to mention operational advantages, can be achieved by making supply chains flexible. Flexibility requires building in organic capabilities that can sense threats and respond to them quickly. Drawing on ongoing research at the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics, the authors describe how resilient companies build flexibility into each of five essential supply chain elements: the supplier, conversion process, distribution channels, control systems, and underlying corporate culture.