Supply Chain Risk Management in Finnish Industry
Schiestl, Matias (2021)
Schiestl, Matias
2021
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2021070541157
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2021070541157
Tiivistelmä
This master thesis investigates supply chain risk management in the Finnish industry in light of the recent COVID-19 pandemic. The challenges caused by the pandemic were almost universal to all companies operating in the global marketplace. Therefore, the pandemic created a rare opportunity to benchmark Finnish companies supply chains risk management performance in a real-world setting. The goal of the study was to see how Finnish companies in general handle risk management in their supply chains. Which kind of supply chains suffered the most and which did better than others when the pandemic hit the world. The target group of the study was large Finnish companies. In other words, targeted companies are in their resources, practices, and many other ways the best the Finnish market has to offer. The empirical data for the study was gathered through an online survey. The online survey was sent to the supply chain decision-makers in the target group companies. Altogether 51 decision-makers participated the survey. The survey questions were created based on the supply chain risk management core issues and themes identified in the literature review of the study.
The findings showed that, even though the Finnish industry by its fundamentals is characterized by high dependence on functional international supply chains, most of the companies still make light of the supply chain risk management related issues. One of the data points observed in the survey is quite telling of the situation; out of all the companies participating in the study 31% did not have an existing supply chain risk management strategy. 88.2% of the survey participants had experienced a supply chain interruption caused by the pandemic. The impacts of interruptions on the companies’ operations varied significantly. Still, some similarities could be identified from the companies which supply chains performed better compared to other survey participants. Long supply chains operated by multiple parties with high complexity were most likely to suffer interruptions in the amid of pandemic caused disruptions. Another interesting finding was that the companies' possible risk exposure based on their supply chain structure does not seem to directly affect the companies' seriousness regarding supply chain risk management.
The findings showed that, even though the Finnish industry by its fundamentals is characterized by high dependence on functional international supply chains, most of the companies still make light of the supply chain risk management related issues. One of the data points observed in the survey is quite telling of the situation; out of all the companies participating in the study 31% did not have an existing supply chain risk management strategy. 88.2% of the survey participants had experienced a supply chain interruption caused by the pandemic. The impacts of interruptions on the companies’ operations varied significantly. Still, some similarities could be identified from the companies which supply chains performed better compared to other survey participants. Long supply chains operated by multiple parties with high complexity were most likely to suffer interruptions in the amid of pandemic caused disruptions. Another interesting finding was that the companies' possible risk exposure based on their supply chain structure does not seem to directly affect the companies' seriousness regarding supply chain risk management.