79
■ Environmental ■ Political ■ Social ■ Economical
Oct 2012 – Hurricane Sandy strikes North America
Mar 2011 – Earthquake / tsunami in Japan & Fukushima nuclear disaster
Apr 2009 – Swine flu pandemic begins in Mexico
May 2012 – Sahel drought in West Africa
Dec 2010 – Major protests in Algeria
Jan 2012 – Faulty breast implants identified in France
Aug 2011 – London riots
Jan 2010 – Haiti earthquake
Aug 2011 – Libyan revolution
Apr 2010 – Icelandic volcano
May 2013 – Clothing factory collapses in Bangladesh
Jan 2010 – Scientific journals declare climate change definitely man made
Jun 2012 – The Libor scandal breaks
May 2008 – Sichuan earthquake
Jan 2012 – Greece bailed out by the European Union
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
Feb 2011 – New Zealand earthquake
Nov 2008 – Chinese milk scandal
Jan 2009 – Russia limit the supply of gas to Europe
Jan 2013 – Horse meat scandal
Dec 2009 – NASA announces the past decade was the warmest on record
Nov 2008 – Mumbai attacks
Jan 2011 – Tunisian revolution
Sep 2011 – Occupy Wall Street protests begin
Nov 2008 – BBC claim child labour in Primark’s supply chain
Mar 2011 – Civil war in Syria begins
Jan 2013 – Algerian gas plant workers held hostage
Sep 2008 – Global recession begins
Feb 2011 – Major civil protests in Bahrain
Apr 2008 – Bloomberg reports child labour in metal ore mines
Feb 2011 – Egyptian revolution
July 2011 – Thailand floods
Apr 2010 – Gulf of Mexico oil spill
Feb 2012 – Yemeni revolution
May 2013 – US reaches debt ceiling
RISK – IS IT TIME TO BRING SUPPLY CHAINS HOME?
Global sourcing has been helping businesses to reduce costs for many years, but is it time to think again about that long and vulnerable supply chain?
Many of these might be considered one-off risks that illustrate the fragility and vulnerability of global supply chains. While some of these are unavoidable, they do have the effect of undermining confidence in global supply chains and a number of them could have been predicted. Other risks emerge over time and might actually lead to specific events occurring. These include access to resources such as water, demographic shifts and climate change.
The last few years have seen extraordinary events that have had a severe impact on supply chains and illustrate the range of risks inherent in global sourcing. Businesses have been hit by a series of diverse events, both natural and manmade. Some of the major events are shown on the timeline above.
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