While supply chain impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic moved into the rearview mirror in 2023, data in Sphera's inaugural Supply Chain Risk Report shows that supply chains were vulnerable to a broad range of other risks — inflation and rising interest rates, natural hazard events and ESG-related risks such as human rights violations and labor practices among them.
"Sphera's Supply Chain Risk Report shows that a broad range of risks, increasing ESG regulations and compliance failures can stress businesses," says Paul Marushka, Sphera's CEO and president. "Risk exposure is dynamic, and constantly evolving supply chain risks cause ever-increasing market volatility. By optimizing the supply chain composition and diversifying suppliers, companies can better manage the uncertainty that comes with supply chain disruptions. To do this, organizations need a solution that provides actionable insights for proactive risk monitoring that enables them to get ahead of disruptive events. Staying ahead of supply chain risk helps businesses reduce potential costs associated with such risk, gain competitive advantage and build transparent, agile supply chains."
Key takeaways:
- Data in the report shows that more than one-third (36%) of the financial risk notifications warned of worsening revenue and growth outlook. High inflation rates in the EU and United States eroded suppliers' purchasing power, with insolvency under self-administration going up 23% and bankruptcies increasing 42%. Additionally, site relocations or closures increased by 26%.
- The report shows that natural hazard events hit supply chains hard in 2023 with warnings for tornadoes climbing by 45%, hailstorm warnings increasing by 26% and tropical cyclone warnings going up by 6%. Two-thirds of the global economy is affected directly or indirectly by weather conditions with industries such as agriculture, energy and transportation particularly affected.
- Data also shows that ESG-related risks in supply chains continued to rise in 2023, with indicator messages for the entire category of ESG-related risks rising 6% in volume. Human rights notifications increased 12%, labor practice issues rose 13% and ESG-related issues related to violations of environmental practices went up 1%. Increased globalization, regulatory changes and consumer and investor demands can all contribute to the greater prominence of ESG risk in supply chains.
