Link by link, country by country, global supply chains
are today under increased scrutiny as more companies
advance new approaches for monitoring and managing
global risk. Corporate finance executives perform a
supply-chain-management balancing act that grows more
unsettling by the day. If inventories swell, costs rise
and profit plummets. If inventories get too thin,
stock-outs add cost and also reduce profits. Managing an
increasingly global supply chain is akin to walking a
never-ending balance beam - while wearing a blindfold.
2008
