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is concerning for several reasons. The trend for many suppliers to be privately owned (by venture capital firms, for example) means that their requirement to publish corporate information is relatively low. This acts as a barrier to both due diligence and risk monitoring across the supply chain. In addition, the centre of economic gravity is moving towards emerging markets where corporate information requirements are typically less stringent than they are in developed economies. According to thinkers such as Nassim Nicholas Taleb, the media typically report on threats and issues that have already occurred, rather than those that are likely to happen in the future. This rear-mirror view can deflect an organisation from understanding potential risks and hence increase its vulnerability to those risks. This does not disregard the fact the news media provides a wealth of information, but it needs to be supplemented by targeted, in-depth market intelligence from specialist companies, thorough due diligence on perceived risks or particular supply chains. One in 5 organisations (21.3%) does not systematically collect information on supply chain risks – double the percentage of the global sample. Meanwhile, the third of Greek procurement practitioners who said that an internal risk function consults them on potential threats in the supply chain generally work for larger organisations (by turnover). We recommend a practical approach to collecting risk-related information. In parallel to collecting market intelligence from specialist organisations or customised reports, we believe that the wealth of information that is required for proactive risk management resides within the organisation and at its suppliers. Strategies and tactics to mitigate risks Risk mitigation falls into one of the following categories: prevention (stops a threat from occurring or from having any impact), reduction, transference (e.g. via an insurance policy or penalty clause), contingency (actions planned to come into force when a risk occurs) or acceptance (when nothing can be done at a reasonable cost or the likelihood and impact of the risk occurring is low). Acceptance is the approach chosen by just 13.5% of respondents in the Greek survey, compared to 45% in State of Flux’s global survey. For the remaining Greek organisations that have chosen to act upon potential risks, multiple sourcing and stock control are the two most popular responses, both on 71.9%. Aside from these two responses, global organisations appear to be more active than Greek organisations in employing additional strategies to respond to supply chain risks.
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