Why Peter Pan Would Never Make it as a Supply Chain Professional

Peter Pan, J.M. Barrie’s mischievous character, affectionately known for his love of pixies, adventures and staying forever young, probably didn’t have a very sophisticated supply chain in *Neverland.

Researchers at the MIT Forum Supply Chain Innovation determined maturity, and ‘growing up’ actually does have advantages, and plenty of them.

The MIT group recently released a study called Supply Chain and Risk Management. As part of this study, analysis was done on supply chain operations and the risk management approaches of 209 *companies with a global footprint, because global organizations are exposed to high-risk scenarios ranging from the controllable to the uncontrollable, with the objective of assessing how global organizations address challenges and the impacts those challenges have on business operations.

Study authors determined five key principles for companies in managing risk and preparing for the future:

1. Supply chain disruptions have significant impact on company business and financial performance.
2. Mature supply chain and risk management capabilities enable companies to be more resilient in the face of disruptions.
3. Mature companies investing in supply chain flexibility are more resilient than those who don’t.
4. The same goes for companies that invest in risk segmentation.
5. Companies with mature supply chain and risk management capabilities perform better in each area surveyed by study authors than immature companies.

Determining “capability maturity” in the above five principles is based upon a framework assessing the degree to which companies apply enablers of supply chain risk reduction and other associated processes. Their relativity to competitors and others in the industry is assessed. This model allows companies to benchmark their ability to respond to risks and then respond to any shortcomings and gain competitive advantages. The study offers a variety of insights into understanding companies and supply chain management.

Maturity in supply chains lends resiliency and flexibility to companies that choose to invest in it, as well as performance and competitive advantage. Peter Pan may lack maturity, and most definitely a risk management plan, but then again, it’s hard to imagine any of the companies in Neverland aspire to be a part of the Gartner Top 25.

*Chances are, Neverland, or it’s companies, were not part of this study.

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