Customer Reviews

Single Point of Failure: The 10 Essential Laws of Supply Chain Risk Management

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As a supply chain professor who teaches the subject, I have been looking for a book that is thorough, has a solid conceptual framework and is very practical to address the learning requirements of 30-35 year old MBAs that I teach. This is the book I have been looking for. I spent part of my Christmas immersed in the book's rich philosophy, deep executive perspectives and the globe-spanning case examples the author uses to illustrate the core concept of risk as a virus constantly evolving to attack the supply chain. Given the dynamic and multi-faceted nature of this threat (which he so vividly presents), it is entirely appropriate that a major emphasis in the text is on methods for generating and diffusing risk awareness throughout the organization. The sense of urgency conveyed in the book is directly linked to the vast experience with hundreds of organizations that the author brings. he has seen it firsthand.

The essential laws of supply chain risk management contained in the chapters all seek to to address the goal of getting the organization to acknowledge risk, create a "risk paradigm" for its specific business that defines the organization's risk drivers and stakeholder expectations and pushes managers to break through inertia and take action. Taking action is the key for survival in a global economy that the author describes as still tenuous and fragile in its trade relationships across the supply chain. This is a text not only for students but for executives in international businesses who want to get ahead of the risk curve and get ready for that next inevitable shock.

The author, Gary S. Lynch, is Global Leader, Supply Chain Risk Management Practice at Marsh Consulting, so he knows what he is talking about. The book's tagline reads "The 10 Essential Laws of Supply Chain Risk Management" and what Gary Lynch is trying to convey is that there are certain basics every manager should know, understand, and act upon. Lynch breaks down Supply Chain Management into ten basic laws, neither founded in academic theories or mathematical formulas, but simple basic principles that anyone can appreciate.

What Lynch underlines is that in supply chains, everyone is connected. It is impossible to separate the supplier from the company or the company from the customer. The only way the supply chain can work is one for all, all for one.

This book is full of universally applicable real-life examples, obviously written for the practitioner and supply chain professional, and perhaps not so much for the scholar or researcher. Nonetheless, considering the highly affordable price, this is a book that definitely should be in you bookshelf.

Much of what it comes down to in risk management is just common sense. But in the day-to-day business of managing operations and logistics, the oversight and wider implications of one's actions are often lost. Gary Lynch manages to bring this oversight into view again.

As someone who is not involved in building and maintaining supply chains I took a much different perspective on the authors analysis. As a consumer I play an integral role at the end of the supply chain and my day-to-day life heavily depends on the success of the value chain. Single Point of Failure illustrates the ubiquitous nature of risk as it applies to every participant in addition to illuminating the hot spots of risk potential. With a number of helpful examples from small and large companies alike Gary Lynch adroitly paints a vivid picture of the urgency for whistleblowers at every level of the value chain. This book is a perfect addition to any library.