
MANAGING rISk IN THE S U P P LY CHAI N
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Reduction of the supplier base
A further prevailing trend over the last decade or so has been a dramatic reduc-
tion in the number of suppliers from which an organisation typically will procure
materials, components, services, etc. In some cases this has been extended to
‘single sourcing’, whereby one supplier is responsible for the sole supply of an
item. Several well-documented cases exist where major supply chain disruptions
have been caused because of a failure at a single source. Even though there are
many benefits to supplier base reduction it has to be recognised that it brings with
it increased ...