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Risk & continuity blog

The risk factor

7 May 2013 |

Rebecca Ellinor, managing editor, Supply ManagementWant to get your business to 
consider sustainability, but don’t know how? 
Try talking to them about risk.

That’s the advice of Professor Andrew Douglas from the University of the West of England. Addressing buyers at the Sustainable Purchasing & Supply Summit in London last month as he helped launch the CIPS Sustainability Index, Douglas said people now see the sustainability agenda as a way of managing risk. (more…)

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Five tips to manage supplier risk

26 April 2013 |

Reducing exposure to suppler risk in a global sourcing environment requires a keen eye on five key factors. Here is how to cut complexity, effort and cost from the risk mitigation process. (more…)

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Why a lottery win could be bad news for you

11 April 2013 |

Some years ago, I was working for an organisation that had just won an enormous project. The project was highly complicated, hugely important strategically and required a large amount of skilled workers to deliver. As a member of the risk committee, I spent a great deal of time looking at potential issues, monitoring these, developing mitigating actions and generally trying to make sure everything stayed on track.

Then, one day, someone raised a very curious risk to the committee. A significant number of the team had entered a lottery syndicate and the risk that was presented was “what happens if they win the jackpot?”. (more…)

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Supplier management is back on the agenda

3 September 2012 |

Graham CooperIn these days of ever-increasing pressure to reduce operational costs, companies are placing greater reliance on external providers of systems and software, outsourcing services and facilities management.

But while offering a variety of benefits, this approach generates new and sometimes unexpected challenges, which can have an impact across the organisation. (more…)

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Even minor supply chain disruption needs attention

19 July 2012 |

If you live in the UK, you are probably fed up of the seemingly continual rain we have been experiencing over the past few months. (more…)

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The positives and negatives of austere times

2 May 2012 |

Rebecca Ellinor, managing editor, Supply ManagementWhile everyone at yesterday’s Office Depot Strategic Thinking Forum in London agreed procurement and facilities management professionals (to which the event was directed) have got a higher profile as a result of the recession, there was a concern that the focus on cuts means best practice and long-term strategy would be lost. (more…)

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Don’t become a cyber victim

4 April 2012 |

As supply chain management has become dependent on electronic systems it has simultaneously grown more vulnerable to attacks from external (or internal) sources. (more…)

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Tanker drivers’ dispute demands efficient action

29 March 2012 |

It’s all over the news this morning about Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude making his jerry can comment – that to prepare for the oil tanker strike, people should store petrol at home (even though a jerry can holds 20 litres, which is above the limit of fuel that can be stored at home). Maude runs the risk of perhaps being too honest. He, like other ministers, needs to think carefully about the message being sent.    (more…)

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Leave the quiet folk alone

14 March 2012 |

Rebecca Ellinor, managing editor, Supply ManagementA UK pub has apparently heard from lawyers in California who are unhappy about its name.

The drinking and music venue in Southampton has been called ‘The Hobbit’ for more than 20 years, but now lawyers representing the company which owns the worldwide rights to brands associated with author JRR Tolkien, (including The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings) have been in touch to say it is infringing its copyright. (more…)

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Why some payments have to be made late

7 March 2012 |

Rebecca Ellinor, managing editor, Supply ManagementA lack of bank lending is one of the reasons behind later payments to suppliers, Steve Brittan, vice-president of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, told this morning’s Today programme.

Brittan, who is also the managing director of BSA machine tools, was being quizzed following business secretary Vince Cable’s proposal for the government to create a new British Business Bank that would concentrate on lending to smaller firms. (more…)

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