Supply Chain: The Insights You Need from Harvard Business Review

4 SMALL BUSINESSES PLAY A BIG ROLE IN SUPPLY CHAIN RESILIENCE

by Karen G. Mills, Elisabeth B. Reynolds, and Morgane Herculano

Troy, COO of an overhead crane services company, hung up the phone and shot a worried look at the backlog of orders on his desk. An important customer had just confirmed requirements for two large industrial overhead cranes. In normal times he would be delighted, but with a 12-month backlog totaling nearly $100 million, the company was facing a dilemma. Given the disruptions and delays in his own supply chain, the strong temptation was to increase orders to be sure at least some of the parts he was waiting for might be delivered on time. But he recalled the Beer Game, a business simulation exercise developed at MIT: ...