Introduction to Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM)

Supply chain management (SCM) can be described as the process of planning managing, executing, and improving the key business process that ensure effective delivery of products and services from suppliers through to the end customer as shown in Fig. 1.1 (Helmold & Terry, 2021). SCM involves the process of enabling the effective flow of information, materials, and services from suppliers from upstream supply chain with raw materials and materials to operation and to finally deliver products and services to end customer or the downstream supply chain. SCM allows the simultaneous integration of customer specifications, which is an important aspect that helps in enhancing better performance of the internal process that ultimately influences greater upstream supplier performance (Werner, 2020). Based on these definitions, it is evident that the common feature of SCM is to enhance end-to-end coordination as a result of effective integrating of both internal and external processes in the supply chain in order to deliver value to the end customer. Therefore, it can be argued to suggest that the potential benefits of an enhanced SCM can be considered to provide higher quality of products or services, effective cost savings, shorter and more reliable delivery times, fewer disruptions, and risk reduction. Customer satisfaction and effective service delivery can be seen to be the key factors that enable a business to survive in the highly competitive market (Bozarth & Handfield, 2013). Effective supply chain management (SCM) practices have become valuable in enhancing competitive advantage by reducing waste, increasing efficiency therefore, improving overall organizational performance and its strategy.