Risk considerations in Purchasing

Today I start an irregular series on doctoral dissertations on Supply Chain Risk Management. An immense effort and dedication is spent on these works only to find the results hidden in libraries. So the goal is raise interest in their research.

Author / Topic

The first dissertation was written by Ingo Schneider in 2009 as his doctoral thesis at the Helmut Schmidt University in Hamburg, Germany. It was published by Shaker, Aachen and can be ordered here from amazon.deor your local library. The title translates in:

Risk as Strategic Part of the Supply Chain Design: Analysis and Case Study in the German Automobile Industry

Summary

The goal of this dissertation is to create a framework for finding strategies to optimally design the supply side of a supply chain. The author starts with basic thoughts about the risk management in supply chain design and uses a case study to test his results within the German automobile industry.

His research finishes with an eight step framework that should lead to optimal supply chain design.

1. Develop strategies to consistently assess risks within the supply chain
2. Work out the possible structural decisions for the SC
3. Determine packages of measures that should be used
4. Assemble the necessary price and cost information
5. Develop a concept for the risk management and analyze the supply chain
6. Calculate the cost of the risks
7. Present the optimal connections to the supply and demand side from a monetary point of view
8. Discuss the risks to reach a final decision

Conclusion

Ingo Schneider’s work shows a clear path to optimal design of the supply side of the chain. He writes very detailed about the basics of supply chain risk management and takes special care to highlight the methodological aspects of his study.