Business Continuity Challenges in Global Supply Chains

Abstract

This chapter examines the relevance of business continuity to supply chain management. Business continuity has focused on the business processes of individual organizations. A business process in a supply chain can involve multiple discrete organizations. This chapter draws on the approaches used by individual organizations to implement continuity and apply them to a supply chain. Typically, supply chains are dependent on IT and workplace for staff. Both can be impacted in a disaster. If one member of a supply chain is affected, this will affect other organizations in the supply chain, magnifying the impact of the initial disaster. The chapter also examines the issues of service supply chains as well as physical goods. A practical outline plan for the development, auditing, and testing of a continuity plan for a supply chain and its management within an overall supply chain governance is proposed as a starting point for supply chain managers.