Ignorance towards supply chains costing mid-caps £200k a year
July 4, 2012
According to a recent report, “the UK mid-market is thoroughly unprepared for supply chain disruptions, despite significant losses last year.” It seems that the London Olympics may act as another disruption this year, but the question is, is the mid-market prepared?
The report continues, “£200,000 a year is the average loss Britain’s businesses suffer from supply-chain disruption.” It may come as surprise then that 55% of businesses are still failing to take precautions to protect themselves from any potential disruptions.
Last year, two natural disasters (the Japanese tsunami and Thai floods) lead to large financial losses, but this still “didn’t give UK businesses the incentive to prepare better for future supply chain disruption” according to the report.
The London Olympics is said to bring even greater disruption amongst the supply chain, but a vast number businesses still aren’t responding and preparing for this year’s events.
Nick Wildgoose, Global Head of Supply Chain at Zurich, revealed that he hopes businesses will prepare in order to avoid such significant losses.
“Bigger companies tend do more to prepare, because they have more resources available. But they all have room for improvement in this area. I hope this report is another catalyst to increase the awareness that this is a real issue the board should be more concerned about.”
He continued, “Companies are generally becoming more and more dependent on supply chains, but some differences across sectors are not surprising.
“The lack of preparation and business continuity planning amongst businesses, particularly those who are highly dependent on suppliers, is alarming. Businesses need to map out their key suppliers and plan for the worst case scenario, or suffer significant disruptions and associated financial impacts.”
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